Don Taylor (American filmmaker)

Actor

Birthday December 13, 1920

Birth Sign Sagittarius

Birthplace Freeport, Pennsylvania, U.S.

DEATH DATE 1998-12-29, Los Angeles, California, U.S. (78 years old)

Nationality United States

#44792 Most Popular

1920

Donald Ritchie Taylor (December 13, 1920 – December 29, 1998) was an American actor and film director.

The son of Mr. and Mrs. D. E. Taylor, Donald Ritchie Taylor was born in Freeport, Pennsylvania on December 13, 1920.

1927

In addition to his Hollywood credits, Taylor directed 27 television movies and episodes for 53 television series including Cannon, Rod Serling's Night Gallery, Mod Squad, It Takes a Thief, The Big Valley, The Flying Nun, Vacation Playhouse, The Tammy Grimes Show, The Wild Wild West, Burke's Law, The Rogues, The Farmer's Daughter, The Lloyd Bridges Show, The Dick Powell Theatre, Dr. Kildare, Checkmate, 87th Precinct, Zane Grey Theater, The Rifleman, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Honky Tonk, and others.

1940

He co-starred in 1940s and 1950s classics, including the 1948 film noir The Naked City, Battleground, Father of the Bride, Father's Little Dividend and Stalag 17.

1942

(Another source says that he was born "in Pittsburgh and raised in Freeport, Pa.") He studied speech and drama at Penn State University and hitchhiked to Hollywood in 1942.

He was signed as a contract player at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and appeared in small roles.

1944

Drafted into the United States Army Air Forces (AAF) during World War II, he appeared in the Air Forces's Winged Victory Broadway play and movie (1944), credited as "Cpl. Don Taylor."

1948

After discharge from the AAF, Taylor was cast in a lead role as the young detective, Jimmy Halloran, working alongside veteran homicide detective Dan Muldoon (Barry Fitzgerald) in Universal's 1948 screen version of The Naked City, which was notable for being filmed entirely on location in New York.

1949

Taylor was later part of the ensemble cast in MGM's classic World War II drama Battleground (1949).

1950

He then appeared as the husband of Elizabeth Taylor in the comedies Father of the Bride (1950) and its sequel Father's Little Dividend (1951), starring Spencer Tracy.

From the late 1950s through the 1980s, Taylor turned to directing movies and TV shows, such as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, the short-lived Steve Canyon, starring Dean Fredericks, and Rod Serling's Night Gallery.

1951

Another memorable role was Vern "Cowboy" Blithe in Flying Leathernecks (1951).

1952

In 1952, Taylor played a soldier bringing his Japanese war-bride back to small-town America in Japanese War Bride.

1953

In 1953, Taylor had a key role as the escaping prisoner Lt. Dunbar in Billy Wilder's Stalag 17.

1955

His last major film role came in I'll Cry Tomorrow (1955).

1971

He later turned to directing films such as Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), Tom Sawyer (1973), Echoes of a Summer (1976), and Damien: Omen II (1978).

Other films that Taylor directed are Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971), Echoes of a Summer (1976), The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday (also 1976), The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977) starring Burt Lancaster, Damien: Omen II (1978) with William Holden, and The Final Countdown (1980) with Kirk Douglas.

Taylor occasionally performed both acting and directing roles simultaneously, as he did for episodes of the TV detective series Burke's Law.

1973

One of his memorable efforts, in 1973, was the musical film Tom Sawyer, which boasted a Sherman Brothers song score.

1985

Taylor "wrote one-act plays, radio dramas, short stories, and the 1985 TV movie ''My Wicked, Wicked Ways ... The Legend of Errol Flynn."

Taylor was married twice.

1998

Taylor died on December 29, 1998, at the University of California Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, of heart failure.