Rod Taylor An Aussie in Hollywood eBook Stephen Vagg
Download As PDF : Rod Taylor An Aussie in Hollywood eBook Stephen Vagg 
For over 20 years Rod Taylor was the biggest Australian movie name in Hollywood, starring in such films as The Time Machine, The Birds and The VIPs. Best known for his action roles, he was equally adept at romantic comedies and dramas, working with the A-list of the 60s and 70s Doris Day, John Wayne, Hitchcock, Elizabeth Taylor, Disney, Jane Fonda, Antonioni - and many more. At a time when Australians could rarely see or hear themselves on screen, Rod Taylor helped keep his country in the public eye, and paved the way for the Aussie actors who followed him.
Rod Taylor An Aussie in Hollywood is the first full-length biography of this pioneering Australian film star. It's the thrilling story of a working-class Sydney boy who went to Hollywood, took on the Americans at their own game on their own turf in one of the toughest industries there is - and won. It's also the story of a talented actor who was almost brought down by the demons of alcohol and ego, but who ultimately overcame them to triumph. A must for all Rod Taylor fans.
Rod Taylor An Aussie in Hollywood eBook Stephen Vagg
Rod Taylor was my favorite actor and I have DVD's of almost all his movies. If you admired this actor, buy the book. I really enjoyed knowing more about him. He was a very real person and a wonderful actor. I agree with the book, he did not pick the best roles. He preferred action roles when he really delighted in romantic comedy. My favorite movie was Sunday in New York. My favorite TV program was Hong Kong. My mother actually discovered Rod when Hong Kong was put on TV. This was the era of detective programs - 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, etc. with handsome male stars. The night Hong Kong aired, my mother called me into the room and said, "Wait till you see this guy." I took one look, sat down and he became my favorite ever since. I did follow his career but this book really brought out details of his daily progression from childhood in Australia through each and every movie/TV show. Low emphasis was put on his private life. He basically worked almost continually going between movies to TV and the author provided comments from his fellow actors and movie/TV staff of just about every one he acted in. He also performed in movies all over the world, half of which I was not aware of. Readers will enjoy some of the stories about when he filmed in Tucson, AZ and he and some of the crew got drunk and ended up in jail. Movie staff had to go get them the next day to continue filming. Rod also had a trailer stocked with food and margaritas, which was always open to the movie crew. He was a very happy person who enjoyed living his life to the fullest - sometimes a bit too full, but nevertheless, he lived till 84 and I suspect enjoyed every moment of his life. God bless Rod Taylor and many thanks to the author of this book, Steven Vagg, for giving us this wonderful story.Product details
|
Tags : Amazon.com: Rod Taylor: An Aussie in Hollywood eBook: Stephen Vagg: Kindle Store,ebook,Stephen Vagg,Rod Taylor: An Aussie in Hollywood,BearManor Media,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Entertainment & Performing Arts,PERFORMING ARTS Film & Video General
People also read other books :
- Bad Cells A collection of thoughtprovoking essays and witty newspaper columns edition by Chris Geiger Health Fitness Dieting eBooks
- The Unfathomable Awesomeness of Tim Tebow eBook Mark Peters
- A Field Book of the Stars Illustrated Edition William Tyler Olcott 9781406867022 Books
- Word Problems Master Key to the GRE Volume 3 Sherpa Prep 9780996622530 Books
- Think and Grow Rich Napoleon Hill 9781518749964 Books
Rod Taylor An Aussie in Hollywood eBook Stephen Vagg Reviews
I have always wished a book would be written about Aussie Actor Rod Taylor, and here it is! I enjoyed every chapter in this book, and in fact found it hard to put down, as it was so interesting.My only negative was that Rod himself contributed very little in it's writing, but eh, you can't have everything !)
perfect transaction.
Very good overview of Rods life in hollywood.The author made a mistake from the very start.Rod Taylor was born Robert Taylor,he himself changed his name to Rod,because of another famous actor in hollywood at the same time.Cant understand why Rod did not himself contribute to the book,with his own photos and inside information.Just a shame he did not take more of an interest in his own biography.
Very good reading, quite informative, highly recommended.
A well written & researched book about a terrific actor & most likable man. I worked with Rod in the early '80's, & I enjoyed reacquainting myself with him. Just wished there were many more pictures of Rod in the book.
This book was more a review of his work history, going over every job he had than a personal one. I would have enjoyed it more if it was more personal.
Yes, about time indeed - which naturally makes me think of "The Time Machine" - the first time I ever saw Rod Taylor. The movie was powerful and poetic, thrilling and thought-provoking - and if a lesser actor was given the lead role, the entire fantasy of George Pal's classic film of H.G. Wells' classic novel might well have fallen flat on its face. Rod Taylor is completely believable in each and every frame of film - and it is through the conviction of his acting, his belief in the role he embodied that we - the audience - are likewise carried throughout the film. Not carried along as spectators, but as fellow passengers in the exquisite Victorian-styled Time Machine of the film's title - and this was possible due to Rod Taylor's acting.
I next saw Rod Taylor in the Twilight Zone episode "And When the Sky Was Opened." A great, frightening episode - on its surface a sci-fi mystery, but on its deepest level it is the story of all of us - of how we are here one minute, and "yanked out of here" the next. It is - on its profoundest level - about the mystery of life and death. And in the episode's 26 minutes or so, Rod Taylor covers with total conviction every human emotion under the stars and sun and those to be found only in the Twilight Zone - love, anger, sorrow, shock, disbelief, fear, horror - and we believe in this episode largely because its central character as portrayed by Rod Taylor implicitly believes in every moment of his character's existential plight. It is a tour-de-force. "The Twilight Zone" won many an Emmy. It is a pity that Rod Taylor was not nominated for this acting-class of a powerhorse performance.
Rod Taylor next "flew" into my life on the wings of "The Birds." Though the birds themselves are the centerpiece of the film, it is once again Rod Taylor's conviction in his part that helps hugely in making the unbelievable believable. He is thoroughly believable as lawyer, loyal son, loving brother, lusty lover, macho bird-battler. When his character's rationality is confronted by the utterly irrational events happening in his lawyerly-logical world, we once again believe every moment of his gradual realization that the world no longer makes the sense he once felt it did. Kudos to the birds, themselves - wonderful acting from every fine-feathered flock of them featured in the film - but Rod Taylor as Everyman helps enormously in carrying the unbelievable on his broad, Australian shoulders.
All of this is a long preamble to simply say that Stephen Vagg's book is not merely long over-due, but well worth the wait. For some weird reason there are certain actors who are never given the honor of having a book written about them. Albert Finney pops immediately into mind. (Has a great actor ever been more neglected, as has been Finney? No Oscar (despite nominations), no biographies, apparently no huge fan following - yet he is, in my estimation, one of the 10 best actors of all time.) Laird Cregar is another. Even James Cagney has yet to be paid due homage in a much-needed, in depth biography. (Cagney wrote his own autobiography, and as great as it is to hear the story from the horse's mouth, readers looking for the full picture need to hear from as many horses in the pasture as possible. The same with Kirk Douglas he wrote his own story, but there is yet to be an in-depth biography of the man and actor.) Rod Taylor was also in the book shelf shadows for the longest time...until now! It makes me think of the scene in "The Time Machine" where George the Time Traveler, is encased in a lava-cooled prison until centuries pass and the prison breaks down and the open air and light are once more there for the film's hero to enjoy.
Vagg's book is akin to that scene his book breaks his subject free of the rock prison of neglect and is a refreshing breath of fresh air as far as actor's biographies go - and it casts a bright enough light on its subject to reveal a truly three-dimensional man. (Four dimensional - mustn't forget Time!) Vagg's book is extremely readable and as enjoyable and as-thorough-as-one-may-be without its subject's direct imput. In the acknowledgments, our author mentions that Rod Taylor was originally intersted in co-operating on the book but then later changed his mind. I wish we were told more as to why he, indeed, changed his mind. Perhaps Rod Taylor is contemplating his own biography - as Ben Gazarra did with his own memoirs of a few years ago. Ben Gazarra is another one of those actors who deserved a biography, never got one, so wrote it himself.
This book covers the entire arc of its subject's life and art, from the beginning in Australia to the present in California. Through a microscopic examination of this one actor's career, we are furnished with the macroscopic picture of the world of films and television as it was in the last half of the twentieth century unto this day. Vagg's emphasis on Rod Taylor's enormous help in paving the way for future Aussie actors is extremely on-target and of considerable interest. His reasoning as to why the promise of the actor was never completely fulfilled is also on-the-money. Vagg knows his subject - and his sharing of that knowing makes this book the bravura performance-of-the-pen that it is.
My only drawback is the cover illustration and the inside photograph section. The cover - at a quick glance - made me think of Orson Welles, as Welles wore a similar slouch hat in his later years. A better cover might have been a collage a center picture of Rod as the Time Traveler and a circle of cameo pictures of him throughout the years and throughout his roles, each cameo suggestive of the markings on a clock. Afterall, a biography is a journey through Time. As to the pictures inside I would have loved to see Rod as a kid, his parents, his wives, even a more current picture than one taken in 1998. Perhaps a still from "Inglorious Bastards,' which came out in 2009, would have been nice. (As an interesting aside, one reporter - in writing about Rod Taylor in the early days - said he resembled Popeye. This somewhat surprised me - as I always thought that the young Robin Williams somewhat resembled Rod Taylor...and, of course, Robin Williams eventually gave human dimension to the comic character of Popeye in Altman's film.)
One last thing unless I missed something, I always like to know something about the author of the book I am reading. I could find no information as to who Stephen Vagg is. But - whoever he is and whatever his history and other credits - he is to be applauded for writing a wonderful biography about a wonderful actor!
Rod Taylor was my favorite actor and I have DVD's of almost all his movies. If you admired this actor, buy the book. I really enjoyed knowing more about him. He was a very real person and a wonderful actor. I agree with the book, he did not pick the best roles. He preferred action roles when he really delighted in romantic comedy. My favorite movie was Sunday in New York. My favorite TV program was Hong Kong. My mother actually discovered Rod when Hong Kong was put on TV. This was the era of detective programs - 77 Sunset Strip, Hawaiian Eye, etc. with handsome male stars. The night Hong Kong aired, my mother called me into the room and said, "Wait till you see this guy." I took one look, sat down and he became my favorite ever since. I did follow his career but this book really brought out details of his daily progression from childhood in Australia through each and every movie/TV show. Low emphasis was put on his private life. He basically worked almost continually going between movies to TV and the author provided comments from his fellow actors and movie/TV staff of just about every one he acted in. He also performed in movies all over the world, half of which I was not aware of. Readers will enjoy some of the stories about when he filmed in Tucson, AZ and he and some of the crew got drunk and ended up in jail. Movie staff had to go get them the next day to continue filming. Rod also had a trailer stocked with food and margaritas, which was always open to the movie crew. He was a very happy person who enjoyed living his life to the fullest - sometimes a bit too full, but nevertheless, he lived till 84 and I suspect enjoyed every moment of his life. God bless Rod Taylor and many thanks to the author of this book, Steven Vagg, for giving us this wonderful story.
0 Response to "[BD8]∎ Libro Free Rod Taylor An Aussie in Hollywood eBook Stephen Vagg"
Post a Comment