Rod Taylor, known for starring in Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, voicing Pongo in Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians, and playing H. George Wells in The Time Machine, had a complicated relationship with alcohol throughout his life. This was revealed by his biographer, Stephen Vagg, who spoke about Taylor with Fox News Digital, detailing several episodes of Taylor's life.
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"Rod Taylor was a hard-living, womanizing man," Vagg told the outlet. "The obituaries were correct." What obituaries? Well, the ones that stated that Taylor was a "Hollywood hellion, a hard-drinking, womanizing, combative man who enjoyed giving outspoken interviews punctuated with four-letter words." Sounds like he lived quite the life, and Vagg agreed.
"He was a typical Australian of his generation. He liked to drink," Vagg said. "He started on the radio and a lot of the actors would meet at the local bar while they were in between jobs... He was a very social person, and alcohol was a big part of that."
As an example of his drinking, Vagg recalled Taylor starring in "The V.I.P.s," a star-studded film from 1963. Alongside stars such as Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, and Maggie Smith, Rod Taylor would engage in whiskey drinking that, according to Vagg, started as early as 9 a.m.
Drinking Relationships
Another anecdote Vagg shared was Taylor's relationship with the legendary John Wayne. According to him, both Taylor and Wayne enjoyed drinking, talking, and playing poker.
"John Wayne would regularly beat Rod Taylor at poker, but he would forgive the debt," Vagg said. "They got along really well. They were both very boisterous types... They liked to have all-night drinking sessions, playing poker and having a good old time... They were friends up until John Wayne died in 1979."
Throughout his life, work relationships, affairs, and multiple marriages, it was not until Rod Taylor married Carol Kikumura in 1980 that he finally started living a healthier life. "Fortunately, his wife Carol was a dancer who got him into yoga and eating well. I think she prolonged his life," Vagg said. The couple were married for 35 years until Taylor died in 2015.
