Business Ventures
Arthur
A discotheque in Manhattan, New York which was open from 1965-1970.  The co-owners were Sybil Burton Christopher, Edward Villella and Roddy McDowall.  Four franchises were spun off:  Los Angeles, CA (which McDowall also invested in with Natalie Wood); Detroit, MI; Dallas, TX; and San Francisco, CA.

Silver Lion, Inc. and Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.
The companies under which Roddy McDowall's photographs were published.

Imperial Eagle Productions
Roddy McDowall's virtual studio back in the late 1940s.


Concerts

Baltimore Symphony
Conductor - David Zinman
McDowall emceed "Tchaikovsky's Days of Delight, Days of Despair"
July 20, 1989

Michigan Opera Theatre
Detroit Opera House
Featured Luciano Pavarotti and other opera figures.
Emceed by Roddy McDowall and Ron Raines.
April 21, 1996 (Opening Gala)

Carnegie Hall Celebrates the Glorious MGM Musicals
Hosted by Roddy McDowall and Michael Feinstein, this special was presented on July 15-16, 1997 as part of the "American Popular Song Celebration" series.  It featured June Allyson, Page Cavanaugh, Cyd Charisse, Betty Comden, Arlene Dahl, Gloria DeHaven, Betty Garrett, Kathryn Grayson, Adolph Green, Skitch Henderson, Celeste Holm, Van Johnson, Tony Martin, Ann Miller, Donald O'Connor, Mickey Rooney, Julie Wilson, Stan Chandler, David Engel, Steven Freeman, and Larry Raben.

Swan Lake
Adventures in Motion Pictures Los Angeles, 1997
Choreographed and directed by Matthew Bourne

A Celebration of Julie Andrews
Fourth Annual CineMusic Festival
Gstaad, Switzerland
Hosted by Roddy McDowall
March 13, 1998

A Streetcar Named Desire
Roddy McDowall was a member of the Honorary Committee for the World Premiere Celebration on September 19, 1998 of André Previn's first opera.


Cruise Ship Entertainment

Cruise With The Stars
Sponsored by the Theatre Guild of New York, this was a two-week cruise (January 2-16, 1997) aboard the Stellas Solaris of Royal Olympic Cruises from Ft. Lauderdale to Brazil and then up the Amazon River.  There were performances by Patricia Neal, Cliff Robertson, Zoe Caldwell, Gena Rowlands, Lee Roy Reams, and Roddy McDowall.  Activities included sketches from musical shows, informal talks by the actors and actresses, parties, theater performances and films.

Love Letters
With Marietta Hartley; on June 1, 1998, aboard the Queen Elizabeth II from South Hampton to New York.


Film Screening Events

Ballad of Tam Lin
BAFTA LA hosted a special screening on February 23, 1993.  The only film directed by Roddy McDowall, it featured many BAFTA LA members in its 1971 production and most of them attended the screening for members at the Pacific Design Center.  A Q&A period with McDowall followed (interrupted when Michael Aspel presented him with a very large red book and announced that "'TONIGHT, RODDY McDOWALL, THIS IS YOUR LIFE").

Bedknobs and Broomsticks
Screening of the newly restored film version at the A.M.P.A.S. Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Los Angeles, California on September 27, 1996.  Angela Lansbury and Roddy McDowall discussed the making of the musical.

Peter and the Wolf
The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences saluted animator Chuck Jones at the Academy Plaza Theatre in Los Angeles, California on March 27, 1997.  Hosted by Roddy McDowall, it featured discussions with the film's creators including Kirstie Alley, Lloyd Bridges and Ross Mallinger.

Lord Love a Duck
John Springer's "Forgotten Films to Remember" series.  There was a Q&A session with Roddy McDowall at the Players Club in New York City, New York on April 13, 1997.

Planet of the Apes
30th Anniversary commemorative screenings at the A.M.P.A.S. Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Los Angeles, California on August 27, 1998; at the Bronx Zoo on August 31, 1998; and at the Los Angeles Zoo on September 3, 1998.


Modelling

Quaker Puffed Wheat Sparkies
print media, 1945

Friskies dog food
print media, 1948

Schwinn Bicycle Brochure
print media, 1940s

Shuron Optical Company's "Stag" Brownline spectacle frames
print media, 1950s

Nytol sleeping pills
television, between 1974 and 1984

They're Going Home to Greece
print ad for the Greek National Tourist Organization
Travel and Leisure, May 1986


Movie Potpourri

MGM - Greatest Moments - A Video Sampler
Hosted by Roddy McDowall
1987

Roddy McDowall's Legends of Hollywood
No other information available

Vi: Portrait of a Silent Movie Star
A documentary portrait of American silent screen star Viola Dana who began her career with the Edison Company in 1910 and starred in more than 100 productions before her retirement in 1929.  Produced in 1990 by George J. Mitchell for Centurion Films, written and directed by Anthony Slide, and narrated by Roddy McDowall.

CPR for Rescuers
Annotation by Roddy McDowall
The Learning Resource Center Film and Video Collection
1992

Obsessed With Vertigo: New Life for Hitchcock's Masterpiece
AMC Original Production included with the restored version of "Vertigo"
Narrated by Roddy McDowall
1996

Meet Me in St. Louis
50th Anniversary Edition video includes a short "Making of" documentary hosted by Roddy McDowall

Star Power
Roddy McDowall narrates this documentary on early Hollywood and the creation of United Artists by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks.

A Tribute to John Chambers
On September 13,1997, author and director Scott Essman, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the pioneering makeups from "Planet of the Apes," invited prominent special makeup effects artists to gather at the Old Actor's Home in Woodland Hills, California, to pay tribute to John Chambers on the occasion of his 75th birthday.  The event was attended by Chambers' proteges, colleagues and special guests, including Martin Landau and Roddy McDowall.

Legendary Ladies of the Silver Screen
Collection of seven films released by Republic Home Video on April 21, 1998
  • "The Devil and Miss Jones" (starring Jean Arthur, Charles Coburn)
  • "Diary of a Chambermaid" (Paulette Goddard, Reginald Owen)
  • "Guest Wife" (Claudette Colbert, Don Ameche)
  • "Letter from an Unknown Woman" (Joan Fontaine, Louis Jordan)
  • "One Touch of Venus" (Ava Gardner, Robert Walker)
  • "The Private Affairs of Bel Ami" (Angela Lansbury, George Sanders)
  • "Tam Lin" (Ava Gardner, Ian McShane; first time on video)
Introductions by Roddy McDowall.  The last film, "Tam Lin," McDowall's only directorial effort, was restored to McDowall's vision with the help of director and film preservationist Martin Scorsese.

Behind the Planet of the Apes
A chronicle of the making of the 1968 sci-fi classic "Planet of the Apes" and its four sequels, featuring behind-the-scenes footage, screen tests and interviews with cast members and directors, as well as producers, art directors and make-up artists.  Roddy McDowall hosts.  He also contributed more than an hour's worth of film footage that he had shot on the set of the various films detailing the makeup process and the making of the films.  This AMC original production aired in 1998 is also part of a boxed complete collection released by Fox Home Video to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the series.

Mary Pickford:  A Life on Film
A Timeline Films production shown at the 17th Pordenone Silent Film Festival in October 1998; narration by Whoopi Goldberg, featuring interviews of Roddy McDowall, Sam Goldwyn Jr., Leonard Maltin, Janet Leigh, Miles Kreuger, Douglas Fairbanks Jr.

Keepers of the Frame
One of the films which had its world premiere during the 14th Santa Barbara International Film Festival (March 4 - 14, 1999), this documentary is an examination of the history, science and struggles of the art of film preservation.  A Randy Gitsch production directed by Mark McLauglin, it features Alan Alda, Leonard Maltin, Roddy McDowall, Debbie Reynolds and Forrest J. Ackerman.


Readings

The Gregory Peck Reading Series
A project of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles benefiting the Los Angeles Public Library.
  • On May 11, 1996, Roddy McDowall read from Christopher Isherwood's Prater Violet and joined Genevieve Bujold in a selection from George Bernard Shaw's St. Joan.
  • Roddy McDowall is guest host for March 29, 1997. Charlton Heston and Lynn Redgrave recite from the works of W.H. Auden, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Robert Browning, Arthur Conan Doyle, Yip Harburg, A. A. Milne, Sir Walter Raleigh, William Shakespeare, George Bernard Shaw, and Alfred Tennyson.
  • Roddy McDowall plays host again on May 2, 1998, to Stephanie Zimbalist and William Atherton. Selected readings from Martha Baird, Anton Chekhov, Noel Coward, Emily Dickinson, John Guare, Sheldon Krantz, Sidney Michaels, Ogden Nash, Dorothy Parker, Molly Peacock, H. G. Wells, Edith Wharton, and David Whyte.

Playwrights' Kitchen Ensemble
The mission of the Playwrights' Kitchen Ensemble is to develop, promote and produce new work by American playwrights and to nurture and encourage future artistic voices. The PKE produces free play readings at DeeGee Entertainment's Coronet Theatre. Roddy McDowall is credited as a performer.


Stage

"Conversations With . . ." Series
Interview-style conversation with Terrence McNally on Bay Street Theatre's stage at Sag Harbor, Long Island, New York on August 5, 1997.

Elaine Steinbeck Tribute
An event held on April 4, 1998 at the Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor, New York in celebration of Elaine Anderson Steinbeck, the widow of novelist John Steinbeck, and one of the first female stage managers on Broadway.  Roddy McDowall contributed a monologue.  Other performers were E.L. Doctorow, Edward Albee, Terrence McNally, Gary Sinise, and Bruce Springsteen.


Tours

Red Cross/War Bond Drive
Cross-country tour from March to April 1943 with visits to Dallas, Kansas City, Toronto, Canada, and to Chicago, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Toledo, Salt Lake City, and other cities.

MGM's Woodrow Wilson Tour
Motion picture publicity tour in 1944 to 1945 encompassing 9 cities which included San Francisco and Chicago.

Book-on-Tape Tour
"Old Doc Methuselah" for Bridge Audio.  Visits to New York, Chicago, Toronto, Washington, Philadelphia, Nashville, and Atlanta during May 1992.

National Film Registry Tour
Co-sponsored by the Library of Congress and Turner Classic Movies.  Roddy McDowall made introductions during the screening of classic movies at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, Georgia from September 19-22, 1996.

An Afternoon/Evening with Roddy McDowall
Lectures and photograph presentations by Roddy McDowall on January 16-22, 1998 at the following venues:
  • Polk Theater, Lakeland, FL (Jan 16)
  • South Florida Community College, Avon Park, FL (Jan 17)
  • Maxwell King Center, Melbourne, FL (Jan 18)
  • Kings Point Theater, Sun City Center, FL (Jan 19)
  • Wilson Center for the Arts, Jacksonville, FL (Jan 20)
  • Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, Sarasota, FL (Jan 21)
  • Richard B. Baumgardner Center, Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater, FL (Jan 22)


Writings

True Comics
1942 - 1950?
Junior Advisory Editor - Roddy McDowall

Photoplay Magazine
February 1944
"This is Our Job"
Written by Roddy McDowall

Movies
February 1944
"Life With Mother"
Written by Roddy McDowall

Lion's Roar
July 1944
"People I Have Met"
Written by Roddy McDowall

Saturday Evening Post
June 21, 1947
"The Role I Liked Best ..."
Written by Roddy McDowall

Life With Music
December 1949
"Buttons and Dials"
Written by Roddy McDowall

Screenland
March 1951
"What I Know About Ann Blyth"
Written by Roddy McDowall

The Hollywood Reporter
November 20, 1962 (32nd Anniversary issue)
"About Biting Hands"
Written by Roddy McDowall

U.S. Camera Annual 1964
edited by Tom Maloney
U.S. Camera Publishing Corp., New York, NY ©1963
Portfolio and essay: "On the Set of Cleopatra"

Interview Magazine
October 1989
Preview: "Legendary Louise Brooks"
Remarks by Roddy McDowall

Ava: My Story
Written by Ava Gardner
Bantam Books, New York ©1990
Chapter "Roddy McDowall" written by Roddy McDowall

Calman at the Movies
Written by Mel Calman
The Bodley Head Ltd, London ©1990
Chapter "Roddy McDowall" written by Roddy McDowall

Interview Magazine
December 1990
"Tim Burton and Vincent Price"
Interviews by Roddy McDowall and Graham Fuller; photographs by McDowall

Interview Magazine
February 1991
"Lynn and Vanessa Redgraves"
Interview and photographs by Roddy McDowall

Premiere Magazine
July 1991
"Sitting Pretty: After a Twenty-year Absence, Actress Maureen O'Hara Returns to the Silver Screen"
Interview and photographs by Roddy McDowall

The Bette Davis Collection
Videodisc collection - MGM/UA Home Video
©1991 Harlequin Enterprises Ltd.
Insert written by Roddy McDowall

Rediscovering Myrna Loy
Laserdisc box set - MGM/Warner 1993
Booklet with essay by Roddy McDowall

Opportunities in Acting Careers
Written by Dick Moore
VGM Career Horizons, 1993
Foreword by Roddy McDowall

The Twenty-First Annual American Film Institute Life Achievement Award
Event Programme - honoring Elizabeth Taylor
March 11, 1993
Section "Roddy McDowall" written by Roddy McDowall

Nazimova: A Biography
Written by Gavin Lambert, 1997
A review was written by McDowall but not published.

A Rose for Mrs. Miniver: The Life of Greer Garson
Written by Michael Troyan
University Press of Kentucky, Nov 1998
Foreword by Roddy McDowall





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