Roddy McDowall

About this actor

Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude "Roddy" McDowall (17 September 1928 – 3 October 1998) was an English-born actor and photographer. He was best known as Cornelius and Caesar in the Planet of the Apes film series. He began his long career as a child actor. McDowall was born in Herne Hill, London, the son of Winsfriede L. (nee Corcoran), an Irish-born aspiring actress, and Thomas Andrew McDowall, a Merchant Mariner. Both of his parents were enthusiastic about the theatre. He had a sister, Virginia (23 September 1927 – 8 December 2006). After he had appeared in several British films, McDowall's family came to America because of the Blitz. He then made his first well-known film appearance, at age twelve, playing Huw in How Green Was My Valley (1941). This role made him a household name. He starred in Lassie Come Home (1943), a movie which introduced a girl who would become his lifelong friend Elizabeth Taylor. He appeared too as Ken McLaughlin in the 1943 film My Friend Flicka. McDowall then...