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Los Angeles - Australian actor Rod Taylor, famous for his role in Alfred Hitchcock's iconic 1963 horror movie The Birds, has died in Los Angeles aged 84, industry media said on Thursday.
Taylor, who died of a heart attack on Wednesday, according to Variety, was also known for performances in The Time Machine and The Train Robbers.
More recently, Taylor played Britain's wartime prime minister Winston Churchill in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds.
The Birds co-star Tippi Hedren told People magazine: "Rod was a great pal to me and a real strength. We were very, very good friends.
"He was one of the most fun people I have ever met, thoughtful and classy, there was everything good in that man," the 84-year-old added in a statement cited by the weekly.
He died at home surrounded by his family, People said.
Taylor won a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) award in 2010 for Inglourious Basterds, whose cast won the prize for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture.
Taylor's daughter Felicia, a former CNN news correspondent, added in a statement: "My dad loved his work. Being an actor was his passion, calling it an honorable art and something we couldn't live without.
"He once said: 'I am a poor student sitting at the feet of giants, yearning for their wisdom and begging for lessons that might one day make me a complete artist,'" she added, cited by People.
The actor is survived by his third wife Carol Kikumura, whom he married in 1980, and by Felicia.
Watch an interview with Rod Taylor here:
Taylor, who died of a heart attack on Wednesday, according to Variety, was also known for performances in The Time Machine and The Train Robbers.
More recently, Taylor played Britain's wartime prime minister Winston Churchill in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds.
The Birds co-star Tippi Hedren told People magazine: "Rod was a great pal to me and a real strength. We were very, very good friends.
"He was one of the most fun people I have ever met, thoughtful and classy, there was everything good in that man," the 84-year-old added in a statement cited by the weekly.
He died at home surrounded by his family, People said.
Taylor won a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) award in 2010 for Inglourious Basterds, whose cast won the prize for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture.
Taylor's daughter Felicia, a former CNN news correspondent, added in a statement: "My dad loved his work. Being an actor was his passion, calling it an honorable art and something we couldn't live without.
"He once said: 'I am a poor student sitting at the feet of giants, yearning for their wisdom and begging for lessons that might one day make me a complete artist,'" she added, cited by People.
The actor is survived by his third wife Carol Kikumura, whom he married in 1980, and by Felicia.
Watch an interview with Rod Taylor here:
