Roddy McDowall Net Worth

Roddy McDowall's Quotes

• Intellectually, I'd love to play Stanley Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named Desire". Can't you just imagine me down in the streets yelling, "Stella! Stella!". God, the critics would have a lot of fun with that one.
• [on his more well-known roles as a child actor] I really liked Lassie, but that horse, Flicka, was a nasty animal with a terrible disposition. All the Flickas--all six of them--were awful.
• My whole life I've been trying to prove I'm not just yesterday.
• I enjoyed being in movies when I was a boy. As a child, you're not acting--you believe. Ah, if an adult could only act as a child does with that insane, playing-at-toy-soldiers concentration!
• [in 1976, on his fellow former child stars] Compare us to your high school graduating class. You'll discover there is always a percentage of successes, and those who fall by the wayside to become alcoholics, dopers, or just plain losers. Sure there are the Bobby Driscolls, the tragedies, but don't forget the others: Elizabeth Taylor, Hayley Mills, Natalie Wood, Gene Reynolds--who's a successful producer--and so many others.

Interesting Facts about Roddy McDowall

1. In December 1998, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) honored him for his acting career and critically acclaimed photography by naming its photo archive after him. The collection, which includes several million negatives and stills, will be known as the Roddy McDowall Photograph Archive at the Margaret Herrick Library.
2. He was cremated after death and his ashes were scattered in the Pacific Ocean.
3. Had appeared on three different Batman series: he played the Bookworm in Batman (1966) and the Mad Hatter (Dr. Jervis Tetch) in Batman: The Animated Series (1992) and its spin-off The New Batman Adventures (1997).
4. In addition to appearing on both the original and animated Batman series (Batman (1966) and Batman: The Animated Series (1992)), he was also the reader for the book-on-tape version of the novelization of the first Batman (1989).
5. He was a rarity among movie stars in that he appears to have made no enemies at all during his lifetime. A man with numerous friends both in and out of show business, those who knew him continue to speak well of him to this day, and his funeral drew overflow crowds.
6. In 1943, 20th Century-Fox announced that McDowall would star in "Oliver Twist", but the film was not made.
7. Won Broadway's 1960 Tony Award as Best Supporting or Featured Actor (Dramatic) for "The Fighting Cock".
8. A clerical error on the part of 20th Century-Fox cost McDowall a likely Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor for his role as Caesar Augustus Octavian in Cleopatra (1963). The studio erroneously listed him as a leading player rather than a supporting one. When 20th Century-Fox asked the Academy to correct the error, it refused, saying the ballots already were at the printer. 20th Century-Fox then published an open letter in the trade papers, apologizing to McDowall: "We feel that it is important that the industry realize that your electric performance as Octavian in Cleopatra, which was unanimously singled out by the critics as one of the best supporting performances by an actor this year, is not eligible for an Academy Award nomination in that category... due to a regrettable error on the part of 20th Century-Fox.".
9. In 1974, the FBI raided his home and seized his collection of films and television series during an investigation of copyright infringement and movie piracy. The collection consisted of 160 16mm prints and over 1,000 videocassettes. The value of the films was conservatively assessed at $5,005,426 by representatives of the movie industry. The actor was not charged and agreed to cooperate with the FBI. There was then no aftermarket for films, as the commercial video recorder had not been marketed, and studios routinely destroyed old negatives and prints of classic films they felt had no worth. Film buffs like McDowall had to purchase 16mm prints of films from the studios, or movie prints on the black market, or from other collectors. He claimed that he had once had as many as 337 movies in his collection, but at the time of the investigation he was not sure how many were still in his possession. He had bought Errol Flynn's movie collection, and had acquired other films through purchases or swaps. McDowall told the FBI that he had transferred many of his films to videotape in order to conserve space and because tape was longer-lasting than film, and subsequently had sold or traded the prints, plus other prints of movies he had lost interest in, to other collectors. He said that he collected the films due to his love of the cinema and to help protect the movies' heritage. McDowall also said that being in possession of prints of his own films allowed him to study his acting and improve his craft. One of the films he had purchased, from American-International Pictures, was The Ballad of Tam Lin (1970), a movie he himself had directed. He explained that he believed that he was not in violation of copyright, as he was not showing the films for profit, nor trying to make a profit when selling his prints as he charged only what he remembered as the price he himself paid. He believed he had purchased some of the films outright from 20th Century-Fox, but learned subsequently from his lawyer that his agreement with 20th Century-Fox meant the studio retained ownership of the prints, and that he was forbidden to sell, trade or lend them out. McDowall was forthcoming about the individuals he dealt with on the black market, and also named Rock Hudson, Dick Martin and Mel Tormé as other celebrities with film collections.
10. Introduced Carol Lawrence to Robert Goulet. In fact, she jokingly said that McDowall was responsible for hers and Goulet's first child.
11. Biography in: "American National Biography". Supplement 1, pp. 396-398. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
12. Became close, lifelong friends with Peggy Ann Garner while filming The Pied Piper (1942) with her in 1941.
13. Final stage appearance was as Ebenezer Scrooge in the New York City production of "A Christmas Carol" in 1997. He alternated performances with Hal Linden.
14. On March 10, 1965, he attended the Los Angeles premiere of The Sound of Music (1965) as the date of the movie's star, Julie Andrews.
15. Lifelong friends with Elizabeth Taylor. Taylor has since referred to him as the one friend she had to whom she confided everything, and who was always understanding.
16. An accomplished ballroom dancer, he won both the Charleston and Cha-Cha contests on the The Arthur Murray Party (1950).
17. Explained in 1995 during an interview for American cable station USA Network the limitations of his make-up on Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973). Overwhelmed by frustration over the inability to eat, touch his face and the constant itch brought on by the chimpanzee prosthetics, he admitted to crying.
18. Along with Woodrow Parfrey, Norman Burton and Eldon Burke, he is one of only four actors to appear in both Apenplaneet (1968) and Planet of the Apes (1974).
19. He was close friends with Maureen O'Hara for 57 years, from the time that they made How Green Was My Valley (1941), their first and only film together, until his death in October 1998.
20. Both of the series in which he starred were short-lived science fiction series produced in the 1970s: Planet of the Apes (1974) and The Fantastic Journey (1977).