Roddy McDowell began his acting career unaccredited in the 1938 film “Hey! Hey! USA” He later went on to appear numerous times on many of the great television serials of the 1950’s and by the time of his death in 1998 managed to rack up almost 300 acting roles. Aside from the Fright Night films some of Mcdowell’s roles that I’d like to point out begin with my favorite; In 1960 McDowell had a staring role on a thought provoking episode of the Twilight Zone’s first season entitled, “People Are Alike All Over”.

  In 1963 he took a role in the classic, “Bye Bye Birdie”. And in 1964 he appeared twice on, “The Alfred Hitchcock Hour”. Starting in 1966 Roddy McDowell played the role of The Bookworm on the Batman TV series. Nearly 30 years later McDowell provided many voices for a Batman animated series, and his voice talents can be heard on many animated films and series, one notable character was Samwise Gamgee in the 1980 animated “The Return of the King”.

  One of his most memorable roles is his second time bringing to life one of Rod Serling’s wonderfully written characters; 1968 Roddy McDowell took on the role of Cornelius in “Planet of the Apes”. He also made appearances on the Planet of the Apes TV series. Then in 1969 he worked for the last time on one of Rod Serling’s masterpieces portraying the character Jeremy Evans on a 1969 episode of “Night Gallery”.

For a full filmography, please follow this link to The Internet Movie Database’s section on Roddy McDowell