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Roddy McDowall was never a major star. He was a busy character actor, though.


Roddy McDowall did not have the looks or the voice to be a major star. The best he could have hoped for was steady work as a character actor--which he received. His being gay, or rumors of his being gay, had nothing to do with him NOT becoming a major star. Did such rumors hurt Cary Grant, Rock Hudson, Burt Lancaster? These were gentlemen who had "major-star" qualities in their blood, unlike McDowall.

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The REASON for DeGeneres' decline in ratings is widely believed to have been her bringing herself out of the closet.


Her show was starting to lag in ratings before she came out of the closet. The episode in which her character did come out of the closet actually received high ratings, but soon thereafter the show once again began to take a dive. What may have hurt DeGeneres' career, though briefly, was an over-publicized romance with Anne Heche, and this mostly because Heche was considered a flake and a possible disaster in the making. DeGeneres, as you know, has a popular daytime talk show, so she's doing very well these days.

Mirek