Roddy McDowall Movies
British actor Roddy McDowall's father was an officer in the English merchant marine, and his mother was a would-be actress. When it came time to choose a life's calling, McDowall bowed to his mother's influence. After winning an acting prize in a school play, he was able to secure film work in Britain, beginning at age ten with 1938's Scruffy. He appeared in 16 roles of varying sizes and importance before he and his family were evacuated to the U.S. during the 1940 Battle of Britain. McDowall arrival in Hollywood coincided with the wishes of 20th Century-Fox executive Darryl F. Zanuck to create a "new Freddie Bartholomew." He tested for the juvenile lead in Fox's How Green Was My Valley (1941), winning both the role and a long contract. McDowall's first adult acting assignment was as Malcolm in Orson Welles' 1948 film version of Macbeth; shortly afterward, he formed a production company with Macbeth co-star Dan O'Herlihy. McDowall left films for the most part in the 1950s, preferring TV and stage work; among his Broadway credits were No Time for Sergeants, Compulsion, (in which he co-starred with fellow former child star Dean Stockwell) and Lerner and Loewe's Camelot (as Mordred). McDowall won a 1960 Tony Award for his appearance in the short-lived production The Fighting Cock. The actor spent the better part of the early 1960s playing Octavius in the mammoth production Cleopatra, co-starring with longtime friend Elizabeth Taylor.An accomplished photographer, McDowall was honored by having his photos of Taylor and other celebrities frequently published in the leading magazines of the era. He was briefly an advising photographic editor of Harper's Bazaar, and in 1966 published the first of several collections of his camerawork, Double Exposure.
McDowall's most frequent assignments between 1968 and 1975 found him in elaborate simian makeup as Cornelius in the Planet of the Apes theatrical films and TV series. Still accepting the occasional guest-star film role and theatrical assignment into the 1990s, McDowall towards the end of his life was most active in the administrative end of show business, serving on the executive boards of the Screen Actors Guild and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. A lifelong movie collector (a hobby which once nearly got him arrested by the FBI), McDowall has also worked diligently with the National Film Preservation Board. In August, 1998, he was elected president of the Academy Foundation.
One of Hollywood's last links to its golden age and much-loved by old and new stars alike -- McDowell was famed for his kindness, generosity and loyalty (friends could tell McDowall any secret and be sure of its safety) -- McDowall's announcement that he was suffering from terminal cancer a few weeks before he died rocked the film community, and many visited the ailing actor in his Studio City home. Shortly before he was diagnosed with cancer, McDowall had provided the voiceover for Disney/Pixar's animated feature A Bug's Life. A few days prior to McDowall's passing, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences named its photo archive after him. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1938
This British comedy pokes fun at Chicago gangsters as it chronicles the rivalry between to gangs battling it out aboard an ocean liner over the kidnapping of a millionaire's son. The gangs are thwarted by a porter, an ex-teacher. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Will Hay, Edgar Kennedy, (more)
- 1938
In this comedy, an aged spinster leaves her communist nephew $20,000. Before she died, he and she constantly argued about her decadent capitalistic ways, but now that he has her fortune, he begins singing a different tune. At first he decides to give his nation's unemployed an equal share of the fortune, but when he realizes that they will only get a penny a piece he begins to question the wisdom of such actions. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Marie Tempest, Belle Chrystal, (more)
- 1938
In this mystery, a nephew is accused of murdering his aunt who had just refused to loan him some money. Unfortunately, he is not the real culprit. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1938
Set in the 18th century, this melodramatic British costume drama offers the rags-to-riches tale of an honest, ethical man. A young Roddy McDowall plays a bit part in the story. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1938
Toothy, ukelele-plucking British comedian dominates the proceedings in I See Ice. The nonsensical story concerns the misadventures of a prop man (George Formby) for a travelling ice-skating troupe. Inventing a new sort of candid camera in his spare time, our hero gets into a passel of trouble when he photographs what he shouldn't. Though well directed and exceptionally well cast (Kay Walsh and Cyril Ritchard appear in support), I See Ice wouldn't amount to a hill of beans without the presence of the ebullient Formby, who halts the action every once in a while for one of his unsubtly risque comic songs. Not surprisingly, the film was infinitely more popular as a "regional" than as a big-city attraction. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- George Formby, Kay Walsh, (more)
- 1938
This children's tearjerker tells the tender story of an orphan boy and his beloved dog. The trouble begins when a rich woman with an aversion to canines adopts the boy, but refuses to let the dog live with them. The boy is utterly bored without his playful pooch and so runs away. He and his furry friend end up hiding on a barge where they befriend two crooks. Later the criminals are just about to be arrested when the clever dog disposes of the incriminating evidence. By then the two have bonded with the boy and agree to give up their criminal lives in order to take care of him. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1939
A mischievous urchin enlists the aide of his buddies to help get his father elected to the city council. Unfortunately, the children find themselves accidently involved in helping two jewel thieves escape. They feel bad about this, and so, to redeem themselves, begin investigating a rival candidates illegal conspiracy. Their involvement causes the boy's father to win the election. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1939
A case of mistaken identity is the basis for this drama. The trouble begins when a rich entrepreneur is accused of being the notorious thief, Jean Pelletier, who performed his infamous robberies in the years preceding the war. A court battle ensues. The industrialist states that he suffered amnesia during the war. His fiance found him from a newspaper picture. Pelletier's ex-lover then testifies that the man is indeed Pelletier. Another man swears that he had witnessed the robber's death during the war. The accused is acquitted and goes home. The witness waylays him and tells the man that he lied, and that if he doesn't pay him a large ransom, he will tell the court. The poor businessman is truly confused. His amnesia was quite real so there is a definite possibility that he is the thief. He becomes fixated with discovering the truth. He goes to Pelletier's ex-love, and the thief's mother. They convince him. He really is Pelletier. The man decides to turn himself in, but his lawyer convinces him not to do it. In the meantime, the mistress learning that the blackmailer is planning to spill the beans anyway, takes matters into her own hand. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Leslie Banks, Joan Marion, (more)
- 1939
The Outsider was a remake of the 1931 British film of the same name; both films were based on a popular play by Dorothy Brandon. George Sanders, on leave from Hollywood service, plays an osteopath accused of being a fraud. His talents are put to the test when he treats the crippled daughter (Mary Maguire, who like Sanders was borrowed from 20th Century Fox) of a respected surgeon (Frederick Leister). On the verge of disgrace, Sanders manages to make the girl walk again. This film should not be confused with the 1949 British release The Outsider, which was originally titled The Guinea Pig. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Mary Maguire, George Sanders, (more)
- 1939
In this psychological drama set in a small English village, the villagers become hysterical after a series of damning anonymous letters are posted accusing different residents of scandalous acts. The townsfolk are soon so panicked that murder and suicide ensue until the police hire an expert to analyze the handwriting. The results lead to the vicar's spinster sister--a virtuous, and highly respected local philanthropist. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Flora Robson, Reginald Tate, (more)
- 1940
Director Walter Forde, a past master at blending mystery, melodrama and comedy (vide The Ghost Train and Bulldog Jack), is at his best with Saloon Bar. Most of the action takes place during one busy evening in an English pub, with a rich variety of believable comic characters weaving in and out of the scene. A murder is committed, and everyone falls under suspicion. Hero and heroine Gordon Harker and Elizabeth Allen solve the mystery with becoming modesty (compare this to the wisecracking protagonists in similar American films). Saloon Bar was based on a long-running stage play by Frank Harvey. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gordon Harker, Elizabeth Allan, (more)
- 1941
A hunter finds himself in a world of danger when he decides to stalk Adolf Hitler in this taut WWII thriller. Capt. Thorndike (Walter Pidgeon) is an expert big-game hunter from England. While hunting in Bavaria, he happens upon Hitler's Berchtesgaden estate and spots the Fuhrer; he has his rifle in tow, and he toys with the idea of firing at the dictator, even raising the unloaded weapon, putting Hitler in the crosshairs, and pulling the trigger to make the gun click. Unfortunately, this draws the attention of Maj. Quive-Smith (George Sanders), a Gestapo leader assigned to guard the Führer, who promptly apprehends Thorndike, drags him off and attempts to force him to sign a confession. When he refuses, he's brutally beaten and dumped into a hole in the woods, and must climb out and make his way to safety, by hiding as a stowaway on a Danish steamer. The poor fellow then runs afoul of the menacing Mr. Jones (John Carradine), who steals his passport and identity. By the time Thorndike returns to London, the hunter has become the hunted, with Gestapo agents combing the streets looking for the would-be assassin. Thorndike finds an unlikely ally in Jerry (Joan Bennett), a seamstress and sometimes streetwalker who takes him in and helps him hide from the German forces closing in around him. And meanwhile, he must still contend with teh nefarious doings of Mr. Jones Man Hunt was directed by Fritz Lang, the great German director who fled to Paris in 1933 rather than accept a commission from Joseph Goebbels to make Nazi propaganda films. He came to America the following year. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Pidgeon, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1941
Don Ameche, an American news bureau chief stationed in London, is frustrated by the British government's censorship of his wildly speculative dispatches to the United States. Joan Bennett is the government Teletype operator assigned to make sure that Ameche doesn't send out any story that hasn't been cleared. At first adversarial towards each other, Ameche and Bennet fall in love while huddled in various bomb shelters during the 1940 London blitz. Clearly inspired by Hitchcock's Foreign Correspondent (40), Confirm or Deny was one of many "preparedness" films turned out by Hollywood in the months just prior to Pearl Harbor. Any political proselytizing, however, takes second place to the Don Ameche/Joan Bennett love story. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Don Ameche, Joan Bennett, (more)
- 1941
You Will Remember is based on the life of popular English composer Leslie Stuart (born Thomas Barrett in 1864), here played by Robert Morley. The film traces Stuart's rise to fame after the publication of his first song, follows him through his glory days in the early 1900s, then recounts his fall from grace and his comeback in the British music halls of the 1920s, shortly before his death. In true Hollywood "inventory" fashion, Stuart's hit tunes are duly cataloged and performed, including "Tell Me Pretty Maiden", "Floradora", "Sue", "Lily of Laguna" and "Dolly Daydream". Emlyn Williams fills the standard "best friend-severest critic" slot as Stuart's longtime associate Bob Slater, while Tom Finglass portrays tenor Eugene Stratton, who rose to popularity through his heartfelt performances of Stuart's melodies. Jack Raymond's perfunctory direction does not alway do full justice to his subject. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emlyn Williams, Dorothy Hyson, (more)
- 1941
The pageantlike This England was designed by the Anglo-American film corporation to boost the morale of the war-besieged island nation. The story unfolds in the ancient British community of Claverly Village, which has already weathered serveral centuries of political upheavals, both foreign and domestic. A.R. Rawlinson and Bridge Boland's screenplay traces the history of the village from the Feudal Era to the Second World War, with Emlyn Williams (who also contributed additional dialogue), John Clements and Constance Cummings enacted the roles of several Claverly citizens throughout the years. Cummings is at her best in the "Spanish Armada" sequence, portraying a fetching gypsy not unlike her Latin American charmer in Harold Lloyd's Movie Crazy (1932). Perhaps because of its episodic construction, This England is one of those unfortunate films that never seems to turn up intact when shown today. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Emlyn Williams, John Clements, (more)
Spanning 50 years, director John Ford's How Green Was My Valley revolves around the life of the Morgans, a Welsh mining family, as told through the eyes of its youngest child Huw (Roddy McDowall). Over the years, the family struggles to survive through unionization, strikes, and child abuse. As they do so, their hometown and its culture begins to slowly decline. Donald Crisp portrays Gwilym, the patriarch of the Morgan household, who dreams of a better life for young Huw. Based on the novel of the same name by Richard Llewellyn, How Green Was My Valley won five Academy Awards in 1941, including Best Director, Best Supporting Actor (Crisp), Best Art Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Picture (beating Citizen Kane). The book was later adapted into a 1975 BBC miniseries. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Walter Pidgeon, Maureen O'Hara, (more)
- 1942
Roddy McDowall stars Hugh Aylesworth, as a well-bred English youth who is evacuated to America during the London blitz. Hugh moves into the home of Mr. and Mrs. Andrews (Don Douglas and Katherine Alexander), both of whom are charmed by their little guest's impeccable manners. Less charmed is the couple's own son Don (Freddie Mercer), who not only feels neglected, but considers Hugh a royal pain in the posterior. But Hugh proves himself a "regular guy" when he helps Hugh foil a particularly scabrous schoolyard bully (Stanley Clements). For reasons unknown, On the Sunny Side never seems to show up on TV, not even in the wee small hours. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roddy McDowall, Jane Darwell, (more)
This period swashbuckler film is based on the adventure novel Benjamin Blake by Edison Marshall, who also wrote The Vikings (1958). When his brother dies, scheming Arthur Blake (George Sanders) kidnaps his own nephew, Benjamin (played as a youth by Roddy McDowall and as an adult by Tyrone Power). Arthur's purpose is to claim his brother's dukedom for himself. Put to work as a stable boy, Benjamin grows up and develops a crush on his own cousin Isabel (Frances Farmer). When Arthur discovers this, he mercilessly beats Benjamin, who runs away and sails to India on a cargo ship to make his fortune. In Polynesia, he and a friend, Caleb (John Carradine), jump ship and set up camp on a tropical island paradise. There, Benjamin and Caleb become rich mining pearls, while Benjamin falls in love with a native girl, Eve (Gene Tierney). Now that he has amassed wealth, however, Benjamin is determined to return to England and get his revenge on Uncle Arthur. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, (more)
- 1942
Monty Woolley plays an irascible Englishman who insists that he dislikes children. While on a vacation in France, the Nazis invade the country. Reluctantly, Woolley agrees to transport several French children into England. As the flight to freedom becomes more treacherous, Woolley grows fonder of his young charges and vows that they'll be kept safe. The group is detained by German officer Otto Preminger, who finally allows Woolley and the children safe passage--provided they take Preminger's niece to England as well. Pied Piper was based on a novel by British author Nevil Shute. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Monty Woolley, Anne Baxter, (more)
Female dogs tend to shed while in heat; this is why all the collies who've played doggy heroine Lassie in the movies have actually been well-disguised males. A magnificent animal named Pal was the screen's first Lassie in 1943's Lassie Come Home. Set in Yorkshire during the first World War, the film gets under way when the poverty-stricken parents (Donald Crisp, Elsa Lanchester) of young Joe Carraclough (Roddy McDowall) are forced to sell his beloved Lassie. While her new master, the duke of Rudling (Nigel Bruce), is pleasant enough, Lassie prefers the company of Joe and repeatedly escapes. Even when cared for by the duke's affectionate granddaughter, Priscilla (Elizabeth Taylor), Lassie insists upon heading back to her original home. This time, however, the trip is much longer, and Lassie must depend upon the kindness of strangers, notably farmers Dally (Dame May Whitty) and Dan'l Fadden (Ben Webster) and handyman Rowlie (Edmund Gwenn). Based on the novel by Eric Knight (originally serialized in The Saturday Evening Post), Lassie Come Home was released quite some time after Knight's death. Like all the Lassie sequels turned out by MGM between 1943 and 1951, Lassie Come Home was lensed in Technicolor. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roddy McDowall, Donald Crisp, (more)
An utterly enchanting Technicolor filmization of Mary O'Hara's novel, My Friend Flicka is the story of a beautiful colt and the boy (Roddy McDowell) who loves her. The boy's rancher father (Preston S. Foster) isn't keen on the horse that his son chooses to train: Flicka, the offspring of a tempestuous mare that has shown traces of madness. The training of Flicka is an arduous process for both boy and horse, and there are times that it appears that father was right. But by applying both love and perseverance, the boy raises the colt into a magnificent specimen. My Friend Flicka was filmed in the Rocky Mountains on a near-epic scale by director Harold Schuster and cinematographer Dewey Wrigley. The film was popular enough to spawn two theatrical sequels and a 1956 weekly TV series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Roddy McDowall, Preston S. Foster, (more)
- 1944
The White Cliffs of Dover is one of those overlong MGM wartime films that everyone seems to have seen a part of, but no one can remember the film as a sum total. Based on a poem by Alice Duer Miller, the story chronicles the trials and tribulations of one courageous woman through two world wars. Irene Dunne plays an American girl who, in 1914, falls in love with titled Englishman Alan Marshal. At the end of World War 1 in 1918, it is painfully clear that Marshal will not be returning from the battlefields. Remaining loyal to her husband, Irene vows to raise their child in England. Played by Roddy McDowell in his early scenes, Irene's son grows up to be Peter Lawford. At the outbreak of World War 2, Irene despairs at the thought of losing another loved one, but Lawford convinces her that his dad would have wanted him to answer his country's call to the colors. While working as a Red Cross volunteer, Irene finds that she must tend her own mortally wounded son. Unable to save his life, she is grief-stricken, but is gratified with the notion that neither her husband nor her boy have died in vain. Like many films of its ilk and era, White Cliffs of Dover struck a responsive chord with filmgoers, to the tune of a $4 million profit. Watch for a touching scene between Roddy McDowell and 12-year-old Elizabeth Taylor; 19 years later, lifelong friends Roddy and Liz would be playing mortal enemies in Cleopatra (1963). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Irene Dunne, Alan Marshal, (more)
Based on the novel by A.J. Cronin, The Keys of the Kingdom was the first big-budget effort of movie-newcomer Gregory Peck. This is the 137-minute chronicle of a Scottish priest (Peck), who is assigned a mission in China. Never very focused in his life or work, the priest finds plenty to keep his mind occupied in his new post; when he isn't coping with the starvation and poverty plaguing his flock, he must contend with China's bloody civil war. Nonetheless, he perseveres, and finds it difficult as an elderly man to retire. He returns to Scotland, where he finds a new purpose in life; that of ministering to youngsters who, like him, have trouble determining their place in the world. Keys of the Kingdom was one of the last 20th-Century-Fox films produced by Joseph L. Mankiewicz before his career-shift to directing; Rose Stradner, Mankiewicz' then-wife, has an important role in the film. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gregory Peck, Thomas Mitchell, (more)
- 1945
A servant with no experience ends up teaching the master of the house a thing or two in this comedy. Molly Barry (Gracie Fields) is a struggling actress who is short on money and needs paying work. When she learns that John Graham (Monty Woolley), a wealthy and respected former politician, needs a housekeeper, Molly figures that being a maid can't be that much different than playing one, and she takes the job. However, the straight-laced and prickly Graham has a habit of rubbing people the wrong way, having driven away his wife and seriously alienated his son Jimmy (Roddy McDowell). Graham's butler Peabody (Reginald Gardiner) is one of the only people willing to stand by him. But Molly tolerates no nonsense from Graham and teaches him how to better get along with people, including his son. Meanwhile, as various members of the staff quit, Molly begins to replace them with old friends from her days in the theater, until Graham's estate is practically a refuge for out-of-work thespians (Molly also makes a surprise discovery about Peabody's work history). Molly and Me also features several songs sung by Gracie Fields, a major musical comedy star in Great Britain. This proved to be her last feature film, though she remained active in television and on the stage. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Gracie Fields, Monty Woolley, (more)
