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Roddy McDowall

From The Sacred Scrolls

Roddy McDowall
Born September 17th, 1928
Died October 3rd, 1998
Gender Male
Roles Cornelius, Caesar, Galen
Appearances
First Appearance: Planet of the Apes

Last Appearance: Up Above the World So High


Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall (September 17th, 1928 - October 3rd, 1998) was a British actor who contributed his talents to several characters throughout the mythology of Planet of the Apes. Born and educated in London, Roddy McDowall appeared in several English pictures, making his debut in Murder In The Family at the age of eight. Darryl F. Zanuck (father of future Apes producer Richard D. Zanuck) brought him to Hollywood, where he played in films like Man Hunt, How Green Was My Valley, My Friend Flicka, and Lassie, Come Home. He went on to play in numerous films, like Cleopatra, The Longest Day, Shock Treatment, Midnight Lace, and The Loved One. A bachelor and professional still photographer, a photo-journal of his entitled 'Double Expsure' went through two printings.


In the 1968 film Planet of the Apes, Roddy played the part of inquisitive chimanzee archaeologist Cornelius. He described how he became involved and his memories of the film: "A year before production, Arthur Jacobs talked to me about the project. I was one of the few people he explained the whole thing to, including the ending. He talked with me about playing Cornelius, and I thought it was all intriguing. About a year later, I signed to do the film, and to have my face molded for the makeup. The first film was very difficult because it was made in the summertime, at the Malibu Ranch. In August, with all those quartz lights, it hits like 140*, and it's just unbearable. Although it was a wonderful experience, because I like Frank Schaffner very much, I thought I would never do one again." "'Planet of the Apes' is a very hard film for me to judge because it was such a physical agony doing it. I'd begin to sweat remembering the heat. I think it's a fabulous movie, up until I come into the film, and then it's just purely a subjective reaction." [1]


Indeed, when the sequel, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, was made, it was without McDowall, who was unavailable to reprise the role as he was set to direct the film Tam Lin. "The second film I was not in because I was involved with directing a movie in England, with Ava Gardner." "I was going to do it as Kim Hunter and Charlton Heston did. Arthur Jacobs called me back, but I was involved in preparing the film I was going to direct. It would have taken six days or something, and I'd have liked to have done it, but it wasn't possible." "I didn't see 'Beneath', although I want to see it." [1] His part was handed over to actor David Watson, though archive footage of Roddy's performance from the first film was used as part of the opening sequence at the beginning of the sequel.


Roddy McDowall as Caesar from Conquest of the Planet of the Apes

McDowall returned to the franchise in 1971, reprising the role of Cornelius in Escape from the Planet of the Apes. "I like 'Escape' very much. I went to a movie house to see it, and I liked what it did to an audience. I admire Don Taylor very much, and I admire J. Lee Thompson beyond any description." [1] Thompson was the director of the fourth Apes movie - although Cornelius was killed at the third film's climax, Roddy still had plenty of work to do. The following year, Roddy starred as the main character in Conquest of the Planet of the Apes - this time playing Caesar, the son of his previous character, Cornelius. McDowall played Caesar once again for the final film of the Arthur P. Jacobs line, Battle for the Planet of the Apes. Roddy revealed that there was no difference at all in the makeup of Caesar from that of Cornelius, but that it was instead the very different personalities of the characters that separated them: "Different thoughts present a different visage, and that's what acting is all about. Different roles have different sets of thoughts to convey, and they present a different outward appearance, I hope." "Cornelius was not a dimensional character in the first film as he was in the third, and he is not as interesting a character as Caesar to play. That doesn't mean that Cornelius is a bad part, it's a very good one, but he was already formed. He has an academic, gentle sense of humor, and he's sort of a peacemaker. He didn't have the complexities of nature that the role in ['Conquest'] does, as Caesar goes from being very young, mentally, to being a kind of a despot." [1]


In 1974, 20th Century Fox hired McDowall to play yet another chimpanzee character. This time, he played the role of the naïve ape refugee, Galen on the Planet of the Apes television series. McDowall appeared in all fourteen episodes of the short-live series. It took three hours to transform Roddy McDowall from human to ape. Once the makeup was on, the actor could eat only by drinking liquids through a straw. Roddy, a chain smoker, was forced to puff cigarettes through an extra-long holder as he spoke to Smash magazine about the makeup in 1974: "Well, you get very hot, and not only that, but as the day wears on, you don’t get enough oxygen to your skin. It’s somewhat disturbing." "I have a marvelous makeup man, Freddie Blau, who puts a lot of stuff on my face to protect it. And then, we made a deal when I came to do this series that the makeup can be on my face only a certain number of hours a day. Having had experience with the films beforehand, I know where the exhaustion point is. When the make-up’s been on about 10 hours, you start to get really bugged." "Even so, I enjoy the reality of the appliance. It's really very effective." The same article noted that Roddy's face had been insured for $100,000. McDowall didn't consider the TV show to have the kind of social and political themes associated with the movies: "The apes mistreat humans in the same way that humans mistreat each other today. I don't think this point is directed at any particular ethnic situation. It's just that the fabric of the show's material seems to cover all the kinds of prejudice and injustice we are guilty of. But basically, the show is just great entertainment. And if you try to read into it any deep, momentous undercurrents, you risk becoming a terrible bore."[2]


In 1981, several episodes of the television series were re-aired as individual telefilms. The titles of each film were: Back to the Planet of the Apes, The Forgotten City of the Apes, Treachery and Greed on the Planet of the Apes, Life, Liberty and Pursuit on the Planet of the Apes and Farewell to the Planet of the Apes. Roddy appeared as an older Galen as part of a framing sequence used to introduce each film. Roddy's final project relating to the POTA mythos was presenting the 1998 documentary, Behind the Planet of the Apes. The documentary was included as a special 6th disk on the Planet of the Apes: The Evolution DVD collection. Roddy passed away from lung cancer in Studio City, California at the age of seventy.


[edit] Notes

  • Roddy McDowall developed his own unique process for working with the ape prosthetics. By exaggerating his facial expressions, he was able to effectively emote his character's personality through the make-up. Co-star Kim Hunter emulated Roddy's technique, yielding similar results.[3]
  • Makeup artist Fred Blau worked on the Planet of the Apes TV series in 1974, where he was personally responsible for Roddy McDowall's 'Galen' makeup.[4]

[edit] Trivia

  • While directing Tam Lin, Roddy suffered dramatic budget setbacks. The film was ultimately handed over to an American studio, where it was re-packaged as a horror/suspense-thriller, The Devil's Widow. Disatisfied with the final product, McDowall tried to have his name removed from the project. [5]
  • The March, 1973 edition of Mad Magazine lampooned the Planet of the Apes franchise in issue #157. Actor Roddy McDowall was re-named Rowdy McDowelstick.
  • Roddy McDowall appeared on an episode of the The Carol Burnett Show, which aired on March 16, 1974. He appeared in a black tuxedo while also wearing the wig and prosthetics that he used as the character Cornelius.
  • Five days after Roddy McDowall had passed away, A&E Biography aired a commemorative documentary entitled, Roddy McDowall: Hollywood's Best Friend.

[edit] Appearances

Behind the Planet of the Apes (Presenter, 1998)

[edit] External Links

[edit] References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 'Cinefantastique Planet of the Apes Issue' (1972)
  2. ↑ Smash (1974)
  3. ↑ Behind the Planet of the Apes; 20th Century Fox, 1998
  4. ↑ 'Planet of the Apes' UK Issue #15 at Hunter's Planet of the Apes Archive
  5. ↑ Roddy McDowall: Hollywood's Best Friend; A&E Biography, October 8th, 1998
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