Rodney Sturt Taylor is an Australian-born film and television actor. His middle name comes from his great-great grand uncle, Captain Charles Sturt, a famous Australian explorer. Born in Lidcombe, a suburb of Sydney, Australia, Taylor was the only child of William Sturt Taylor, a steel construction contractor, and Mona Stewart Taylor, a writer of plays and children's books. He attended Sydney Technical and Fine Arts College before deciding to become an actor after seeing Laurence Olivier in an Old Vic touring production in Australia. After acquiring radio and stage experience in Australia (his radio work included a stint on Blue Hills), Taylor moved to the United States in 1954, where he became a leading man in feature films of the 1960s and '70s. Equally adept at light comedy and drama, his best-known films are the 1963 Hitchcock classic The Birds, and the 1960 version of H.G. Wells' The Time Machine. Other films include Sunday in New York (1963), Fate is the Hunter (1964), Young Cassidy (as the young Sean O'Casey, 1965), Darker Than Amber (1970), The Picture Show Man (1977), and Cry of the Innocent (1980). In 1993, Mr. Taylor hosted ""Time Machine: The Journey Back"" directed by Clyde Lucas. At the end of the special there was a mini-sequel, written by David Duncan, original writer of the George Pal classic. Mr. Taylor recreated his role as George. Reuniting him with Filby (Alan Young). Taylor has had several lead roles in television, from the early 1960s to the early 2000s."