Roddy McDowall

Roddy McDowall
Roddy McDowall made a guest appearance as Dr. Edward St. John V, a former lead programmer at Project Quantum Leap in the episode "A Leap for Lisa" in Season 4.
Personal Information
Gender	Male
Birth name	Roderick Andrew Anthony Jude McDowall
Born	September 17, 1928
Died	March 22, 1999(1999-03-22) (aged 70)
Character Information
Appeared on	Quantum Leap
Character played	Edward St John V

Roddy McDowall  appeared on the series as Edward St John V, a former head programmer at Project Quantum Leap who appeared briefly in the episode, "A Leap For Lisa". Roddy, a former child actor and veteran actor of six decades, was also a gifted photographer as well. As an actor, Roddy was perhaps best known for his roles in the Planet of the Apes film series, How Green Was My Valley, My Friend Flicka and Lassie Come Home.

Life and career

Born in London to Thomas Andrew McDowall (1896-1978) and his wife Winsfriede L. Corcoran (1899-1965), Roddy McDowall had already been in several British films when his family moved to the United States "at the end of 1940" (Roddy McDowall interview on YouTube), to escape the war. His big break came when he was cast in 1941's How Green Was My Valley, an emotional drama directed by John Ford. McDowall was the cast in 1943's My Friend Flicka. He then appeared with the the then-unknown child actor Elizabeth Taylor in 1943's Lassie Come Home. (Watch the original trailer here on Youtube.) It is during this time that he and Taylor became close lifelong friends.

Roddy was cast again with Elizabeth Taylor in 1944's The White Cliffs of Dover. Roddy lived in the Los Angeles-area with his parents, graduating from University High School in Santa Monica. Roddy had some good films while a child, but as he became older, his career dived into the B-movies where it stalled. He was only appearing in truly awful schlock. It was time for a change.

Death

Roddy died on October 3, 1998, at his home in the Studio City district of Los Angeles of lung cancer. "It was very peaceful," said Dennis Osborne, a screenwriter friend who had cared for the actor in his final months. "It was just as he wanted it. It was exactly the way he planned." Though he was cremated through the Neptune Society Columbarium, his ashes were not distributed in the Pacific Ocean as had been widely reported at the time.

Legacy/posthumous works

Roddy became an accomplished photographers and published several books of his photographs of famous people. Roddy McDowall died of lung cancer at his home in Studio City, California. He was cremated and his ashes scattered at sea.

Roddy has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6632 Hollywood Blvd, and there is an honorary rose garden "at the Woodland Hills grounds of the Motion Picture & Television Fund" (xmoppet.org) with a statue of him in-costume as Caesar from the Planet of the Apes. His sister Virginia, slightly older than he, survived him, but died Dec 2006.

Filmography

Film

• Murder in the Family (1938) as Peter Osborne
• John Halifax (1938) as Boy
• Poison Pen (1939) as Choirboy (uncredited)
• His Brother's Keeper (1940) as Boy
• Dead Man's Shoes (1940) as Boy
• Just William (1940) as Ginger
• Saloon Bar (1940) as Boy
• You Will Remember (1941) as Young Bob Slater
• Man Hunt (1941) as Vaner
• This England (1941) as Hugo, Norman Boy
• How Green Was My Valley (1941) as Huw Morgan
• Confirm or Deny (1941) as Albert Perkins
• Son of Fury: The Story of Benjamin Blake(1942) as Benjamin – as a Boy
• On the Sunny Side (1942) as Hugh Aylesworth
• The Pied Piper (1942) as Ronnie Cavanaugh
• My Friend Flicka (1943) as Ken McLaughlin
• Lassie Come Home (1943) as Joe Carraclough
• The White Cliffs of Dover (1944) as John Ashwood II as a Boy
• The Keys of the Kingdom (1944) as Francis Chisholm – as a Boy
• Thunderhead, Son of Flicka (1945) as Ken McLaughlin
• Molly and Me (1945) as Jimmy Graham
• Holiday in Mexico (1946) as Stanley Owen
• Rocky (1948) as Chris Hammond
• Macbeth (1948) as Malcolm
• Kidnapped (1948) as David Balfour
• Tuna Clipper (1949) as Alec MacLennan
• Black Midnight (1949) as Scott Jordan
• Big Timber (1950) as Jimmy
• Killer Shark (1950) as Ted
• Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Goes to Bat(1950; short subject)
• The Steel Fist (1952) as Eric Kardin
• The Big Country (1958) as Hannassey Watchman (uncredited)
• The Subterraneans (1960) as Yuri Gilgoric
• Midnight Lace (1960) as Malcolm Stanley
• The Longest Day (1962) as Pvt. Morris
• Cleopatra (1963) as Octavian – Caesar Augustus
• Shock Treatment (1964) as Martin Ashley
• The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965) as Matthew
• The Third Day (1965) as Oliver Parsons
• The Loved One (1965) as D.J. Jr.
• Inside Daisy Clover (1965) as Walter Baines
• That Darn Cat! (1965) as Gregory Benson
• Lord Love a Duck (1966) as Alan Musgrave
• The Defector (1966) as Agent Adams
• The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (1967) as Bullwhip Griffin
• The Cool Ones (1967) as Tony Krum
• It! (1967) as Arthur Pimm
• Planet of the Apes (1968) as Cornelius
• 5 Card Stud (1968) as Nick Evers
• Midas Run (1969) as Wister
• Hello Down There (1969) as Nate Ashbury
• Angel, Angel, Down We Go (1969) as Santoro
• Tam-Lin (1970)
• Pretty Maids All in a Row (1971) as Proffer
• Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) as Cornelius
• Terror in the Sky (1971) as Dr. Ralph Baird
• Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971) as Mr. Rowan Jelk
• Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972) as Caesar
• The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean(1972) as Frank Gass
• The Poseidon Adventure (1972) as Acres
• Arnold (1973) as Robert
• The Legend of Hell House (1973) as Benjamin Franklin Fischer
• Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) as Caesar
• Dirty Mary Crazy Larry (1974) as grocery story manager
• Funny Lady (1975) as Bobby
• Mean Johnny Barrows (1976) as Tony Da Vince
• Embryo (1976) as Frank Riley
• Sixth and Main (1977) as Skateboard
• Laserblast (1978) as Doctor Mellon
• The Cat from Outer Space (1978) as Mr. Stallwood
• Circle of Iron (1978) as White Robe
• The Thief of Baghdad (1978) as Hasan
• Nutcracker Fantasy (1979) as Franz / Fritz (voice)
• Scavenger Hunt (1979) as Jenkins
• The Black Hole (1979) as V.I.N.CENT
• Airplane (1979) as Peter Brad
• Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981) as Gillespie
• Excalibur (1981) as Dr. Fanboy
• Time Bandits (1981) as Clayton Hans
• Evil Under the Sun (1982) as Rex Brewster
• Class of 1984 (1982) as Terry Corrigan
• This is Spinal Tap (1984) as Peck Wakeman
• This Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984) as Dr. Perry
• Fright Night (1985) as Peter Vincent
• Alice in Wonderland (1985) as The March Hare
• GoBots: Battle of the Rock Lords (1986) as Nuggit (voice)
• Dead of Winter (1987) as Mr. Murray
• Overboard (1987) as Andrew
• Doin' Time on Planet Earth (1988) as Minister
• Fright Night Part 2 (1988) as Peter Vincent
• The Big Picture (1989) as Judge
• Cutting Class (1989) as Mr. Dante
• Shakma (1990) as Sorenson
• Harold Lloyd, The Third Genius (1990 documentary)
• Going Under (1991) as Secretary Neighbor
• Precious Moments Christmas: "Timmy's Gift" (1991) as narrator (voice)
• The Magical World of Chuck Jones (1992 documentary)
• Mirror, Mirror 2: Raven Dance (1994) as Dr. Lasky
• The Grass Harp (1995) as Amos Legrand
• Last Summer in the Hamptons (1995) as Thomas
• Star Hunter (1995) as Riecher
• The Fantasy Worlds of Irwin Allen (1995 documentary)
• It's My Party (1996) as Damian Knowles
• Mary Pickford: A Life on Film (1997 documentary)
• The Second Jungle Book: Mowgli & Baloo(1997) as King Murphy
• City of Angels (1998) as Jimmy John
• The Object of My Affection (1998) as Ted
• Tarzan and the Lost City (1998) as Tuck
• Something to Believe In (1998) as Gambler
• Hope Floats (1998) as Peck
• The Negotiator (1998) as Otis
• Ronin (1998) as Ozzie
• Soldier (1998) as Brad
• A Cool, Dry Place (1998) as Jim
• The Siege (1998) as Sheldon
• A Bug's Life (1998) as Mr. Soil (voice)
• When It Clicks (1998) (short subject) as Professor Bark

External links

• "Roddy McDowall" at countyhistorian
• "Biographical Stats", A Tribute to Roddy McDowall, xmoppet.org
• Roddy McDowell at Wikipedia
• Roddy McDowall at the Internet Movie Database
• Roddy McDowall article at Wikipedia

Further reading

• Virginia McDowall (his sister) on YouTube (last third of this video by the Musgrave Foundation)

Appearances

• "A Leap For Lisa" (Season 4, episode 22)

External links

• Roddy McDowall article at Wikipedia

• Roddy McDowall at the Internet Movie Database
• xmoppet.org – tribute site with career and biographical information, image gallery, sound clips, links, articles, US TV guide, and a fan club with mailing list