Rod Taylor in Darker Than Amber, 1970

Australian-born actor Rod Taylor starred as “salvage consultant”-cum-detective Travis McGee in the 1970 theatrical release Darker than Amber, adapted from John D. MacDonald’s 1966 novel of the same name.



This fight scene late in the picture between Taylor and the villainous Terry (played by William Smith) is notorious for having become much more violent than anyone planned. According to Wikipedia, “With the cameras rolling one actor accidentally struck the other (no one has ever revealed who struck the first real blow), the second threw a retaliatory punch, and a staged fight scene became a real fight, with real wounds, real lost teeth, and real blood all over their clothing.”