Rod Taylor, star of The Birds, dies aged 84

Australian actor Rod Taylor, who starred in Alfred Hitchcock’s thriller The Birds, has died aged 84, according to reports in the US.

Taylor, who lived in the United States, is said to have died at his home in Los Angeles after a dinner party.

He came to prominence in the 1960s, starring alongside Hollywood greats like Jane Fonda and Richard Burton.

In 2009, he made a cameo as ex-UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Quentin Tarantino’s film Inglourious Basterds.

He got his first leading role in the 1960 adaptation of HG Wells’ science-fiction classic The Time Machine and went on to star in several hit films in the 1960s and 1970s.

He also voiced one of the Dalmatian dogs in Disney’s animated hit 101 Dalmatians.

Tippi Hedren, his co-star in The Birds, told People magazine that Taylor had been “a great pal to me and a real strength”.

“He was one of the most fun people I have ever met, thoughtful and classy. There was everything good in that man,” she said.

He was due to turn 85 on Sunday.

He is survived by spouse Carol Kikumura and daughter Felicia Rodrica Sturt Taylor, a TV presenter in the US.