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  "path": "/books/2026/5/hail-caesar-1",
  "publishedAt": "2026-05-21T00:00:00.000Z",
  "site": "https://airmail.news",
  "tags": [
    "Air Mail",
    "READ ON"
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  "textContent": "\n\n  Roddy McDowall in _Planet of the Apes,_ 1968.\n\n##### Roddy McDowall came to fame with _How Green Was My Valley_ and starred alongside Elizabeth Taylor in _Cleopatra,_ but _The Planet of the Apes_ is what cemented his legacy\n\nBy Samuel Garza Bernstein\n\nAsk a classic film fan about Roddy McDowall and they’ll quickly cite _How Green Was My Valley_ or _Lassie Come Home,_ maybe _My Friend Flicka._ Ask a devotee of screen epics and _Cleopatra_ immediately springs to mind. Disaster film lovers remember _The Poseidon Adventure._ Horror fans will think of the _Fright Night_ films and perhaps _The Legend of Hell House_. For science fiction and adventure buffs, though, Roddy McDowall’s work in the _Planet of the Apes_ franchise is the most enduring part of his onscreen legacy—and you don’t even get to see his face.\n\nOver the course of eight years, Roddy became the emotional and intellectual heart of the five films and the live action TV series as Cornelius, an evolved chimpanzee archaeologist. (Though, as any READ ON",
  "title": "Hail, Caesar!"
}