Talk:Roddy McDowall

message: I removed ", which had been severely cut by 20th Century Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck after skyrocketing production costs.". 
There are two reasons.  First, when I read this, I initially thought that the *restoration* process had been severely cut off, after skyrocking costs.  The sentence was not clear, so if someone adds it back in, please make sure to clarify that it was the original production that had soaring costs, not the restoration.
The second reason I removed the fragment, is that the fragment really has no point in this article.  The initial costs of the film have nothing to do with him working on restoring it.  Was that fragment included, because the restoration was more than a restoration, and a new director's cut?  In that case, there is not enough detail provided!  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.70.111.174 (talk) 03:41, 9 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title: Removed sentence fragment

message: This passage appears to contradict itself:
:In 1974, the FBI raided the home of McDowall and seized the actor's collection of films and television series. His collection consisted of 160 16 mm prints and over 10,000 videocassettes (this was before the era of VCRs and VHS tapes).  ... 
Are we to believe he had 1000's of videocassettes before the era of VCR's?  Nonsense!  Jerry lavoie 16:33, 4 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Videocassettes existed before VCRs.  They were larger in size an film size as well.  Visit any academic research library or older television news studio in the U.S. and they'll be happy to show you the 2" videocassettes they have (and unfortunately, no equipment on which to play them).--Spacini 04:15, 8 March 2007 (UTC)

text: Indeed, the first home video-recorders (With tape-reels, not yet cassettes) were launched by 'PHILIPS' in 1969. I know because I craved one. They cost BEF 40.000 in 1969 (Approximally $ 800). After this, during the early 70's came many different cassette-systems (Too numerous to enumerate here) until finally in the early eighties the Betamax><VHS war was won by the latter. AFTER the VHS-victory Philips tried to launch the Video-2000 system but it never really took off. It is noteworthy to state here that ALL of these systems were of (Sometimes considerably) better quality than VHS. It is likely that VHS won the battle on one single feature: At the time of its launch it had the longest possible recording-time (And hence lowest picture-quality) on one single cassette (Although Philips video-2000 system doubled this recording time, by that time VHS was already too well-established). One must bear in mind that the price of one cassette was considerable in those days. In 1982 I bought my BETAMAX video for around $400 and a single 3-hour cassette (Enough for recording ONE feature film, but NOT two) was selling for $ 20. At the same price you coud easily store TWO feature-films on a VHS-cassette and that was the only thing people had in mind, too short-sighted to have an eye for quality (A bit like in the APPLE>< IBM (Or Microsoft) Battle). 87.64.164.54 18:50, 28 March 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: On the basis of the above comments, I am going to remove the contradiction tag (it was never a contradiction, anyway, just a potential error). --DrGaellon (talk | contribs) 21:41, 15 May 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Apparent contradiction

message: I have removed the reference to the online family tree.  Although superficially the linked family tree looked interesting, analyzing it more clearly shows that it is a hodge-podge of very-poorly-sourced and completely-unsourced statements, and with no clear distinction even drawn between those.  And there is no indication of the underlying source for this alleged note stuck in some book he had.  We have no way to know who created that note, nor what part of what part of this tree it's supposed to represent.  It's fairly certain that this tree is the work of an amateur, and for that reason we really cannot use it. Wjhonson (talk) 08:26, 3 September 2008 (UTC)
thread_title: Family tree

message: His NNDB page  states he had prostate cancer in the 1980s - did he? Qzm (talk) 18:57, 20 September 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Prostate cancer 

message: I know he was on Fantasy Island in one of the more notable episodes. He actually played the Devil in a battle with Mister Roarke. I didn't add it to the TV credits because I can't figure out the year of the episode. Struck out with TV.com on that one. Adam West was also in the episode, but it's not in his credits either. --PoughkeepsieNative (talk) 08:32, 20 October 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: The episode is "Lost and Found/Dick Turpin's Last Ride," episode 19 of season 7, first aired 7 April 1984.  The fantasy starring Tom Jones was Dick Turpin's Last Ride, and the fantasy starring Adam West and Carol Lynley was Lost and Found - this is the one in which Roddy McDowall very effectively plays the Devil, or Mr Roarke's Adversary, depending on which site names the character.  The episode can be found on YouTube, though a few scenes appear to be missing.  History Lunatic (talk) 23:16, 8 September 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Fantasy Island 

message: This is too well-scripted for this to be true: "the look of fright on Carol Burnett's face was reported to be genuine."  — Preceding unsigned comment added by NjtoTX (talk • contribs) 18:43, 29 March 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: It's not true.  The proof is in the video on YouTube and Carol was in on the gag (of course).  Wikipedia does not allow me to post a direct link to the clip. I corrected the statement.  History Lunatic (talk) 07:45, 2 February 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Carol Burnett appearance 

message: I came to this article having come over a reference to McDowall and realized I didn't know much about him. Basically he appears to have been popular behind the camera and dependable in front of it, which with a fantastic speaking voice, is what he used to parlay into an excellent and longstanding career. I guess I could read his bio but I'm not *that* interested, just looking up a familiar face from my boyhood. Really, this guy always seemed to be in the cinema or on TV in the 70s and 80s. 
I agree that the FBI raid has been so trimmed down as to be a head-scratcher. An unsourced fuller explanation of the events is here but there's no citation so some detective work will be needed: http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001522/bio  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 109.201.152.230 (talk) 03:35, 27 August 2013 (UTC)
thread_title:  The career section seems a touch slapdash 

message: The introduction states "McDowall was already well established in England, having first appeared in 19 British films", then describing his move to the United States in 1939. He most certainly did not appear in 19 British films before he went to the US, this is misleading. Vladeraz (talk) 20:12, 8 September 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: Multiple sources, including Biography and Turner Classic Movies, quotes McDowall appearing in numerous British films between 1938 and 1940; the number differs according to the source but appears to be near 20.  IMDB lists 18 roles before "How Green Was My Valley."  Most of these roles are uncredited, but exist nonetheless.  With small roles that may have taken only a few days to film, it would be quite possible to appear in this many films in a couple of years, and McDowall was certainly not the only actor to do so.  But since they were small, often uncredited roles, I agree he could not be considered "well established" as in a publicly recognisable actor.  History Lunatic (talk) 00:14, 9 September 2014 (UTC)
thread_title: Number of British films

message: This unsourced statement is a bit vague:  "Many of his friends visited him in his home, including a famous reconciliation between Elizabeth Taylor and Sybil Christopher (Richard Burton's first and second wives) during his illness.[citation needed] "  Did the reconciliation take place in the home during a chance meeting of the two ladies when they coincidentally were visiting at about the same time?  Or did one write or telephone the other something along the lines of "Roddy is dying; you and I should bury the hatchet before he's gone."? Casey (talk) 20:53, 5 September 2016 (UTC)
thread_title:  Reconciliation