Kent Taylor (May 11, 1907 – April 11, 1987) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
.
Born Louis William Weiss in
Nashua, IowaNashua is a city in Chickasaw and Floyd counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 1,618. The famed Little Brown Church featured in the song "The Church in the Wildwood" is located in Nashua.-Geography:...
, Taylor appeared in more than 110 films, the bulk of them
B-movieA B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture conceived neither as an arthouse film nor as pornography. In its original usage, during the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double...
s in the 1930s and 1940s, although he also had roles in more prestigious studio releases, including
I'm No AngelI'm No Angel is Mae West's third motion picture. West received sole story and screenplay credit. A young Cary Grant plays the male lead. This was one of the few Mae West films that was not subjected to heavy censorship. Ms...
,
Death Takes a HolidayDeath Takes a Holiday is a 1934 romantic drama starring Fredric March, Evelyn Venable and Guy Standing, based on a play by Alberto Casella.-Synopsis:...
,
Payment on DemandPayment on Demand is a 1951 drama film directed by Curtis Bernhardt. The screenplay by Bernhardt and Bruce Manning chronicles a marriage from its idealistic early days to its dissolution.-Plot synopsis:...
, and
Track the Man DownTrack the Man Down is a 1955 British drama film written by Paul Erickson and directed by R.G. Springsteen.The melodramatic crime caper centers on a robbery at a greyhound racetrack that results in the unintentional murder of a guard...
.
In the 1950s, with his movie career on the decline and
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
production on the upswing, he played the title role in 58 episodes of the
detectiveA detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators...
series
Boston BlackieBoston Blackie is a fictional character created by author Jack Boyle . Originally a jewel thief and safecracker in Boyle's novels, he became a detective in adaptations for films, radio and television—an "enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend."-Literature:Jack...
and the lead in 39 episodes of
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
's
The Rough RidersThe Rough Riders is an American Western television series set in the West after the American Civil War. It aired on ABC for the 1958-1959 television season...
(1958-1959).
Discussion
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Kent Taylor (May 11, 1907 – April 11, 1987) was an
AmericanThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actorAn actor or actress is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
.
Born Louis William Weiss in
Nashua, IowaNashua is a city in Chickasaw and Floyd counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 1,618. The famed Little Brown Church featured in the song "The Church in the Wildwood" is located in Nashua.-Geography:...
, Taylor appeared in more than 110 films, the bulk of them
B-movieA B movie is a low-budget commercial motion picture conceived neither as an arthouse film nor as pornography. In its original usage, during the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified a film intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double...
s in the 1930s and 1940s, although he also had roles in more prestigious studio releases, including
I'm No AngelI'm No Angel is Mae West's third motion picture. West received sole story and screenplay credit. A young Cary Grant plays the male lead. This was one of the few Mae West films that was not subjected to heavy censorship. Ms...
,
Death Takes a HolidayDeath Takes a Holiday is a 1934 romantic drama starring Fredric March, Evelyn Venable and Guy Standing, based on a play by Alberto Casella.-Synopsis:...
,
Payment on DemandPayment on Demand is a 1951 drama film directed by Curtis Bernhardt. The screenplay by Bernhardt and Bruce Manning chronicles a marriage from its idealistic early days to its dissolution.-Plot synopsis:...
, and
Track the Man DownTrack the Man Down is a 1955 British drama film written by Paul Erickson and directed by R.G. Springsteen.The melodramatic crime caper centers on a robbery at a greyhound racetrack that results in the unintentional murder of a guard...
.
In the 1950s, with his movie career on the decline and
televisionTelevision is a widely used telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images, either monochromatic or color, usually accompanied by sound. "Television" may also refer specifically to a television set, television programming or television transmission...
production on the upswing, he played the title role in 58 episodes of the
detectiveA detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators...
series
Boston BlackieBoston Blackie is a fictional character created by author Jack Boyle . Originally a jewel thief and safecracker in Boyle's novels, he became a detective in adaptations for films, radio and television—an "enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend."-Literature:Jack...
and the lead in 39 episodes of
ABCThe American Broadcasting Company is an American television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. It first broadcast on television in 1948...
's
The Rough RidersThe Rough Riders is an American Western television series set in the West after the American Civil War. It aired on ABC for the 1958-1959 television season...
(1958-1959). Other small screen credits include
My Little MargieMy Little Margie is an American situation comedy that alternated between CBS and NBC from 1952 to 1955. The series was created by Frank Fox and produced in Los Angeles, California at Hal Roach Studios by Hal Roach, Jr. and Roland D...
,
Tales of Wells FargoTales of Wells Fargo is an American Western television series that ran from March 18, 1957 to June 2, 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until its final season when it expanded to an hour.-Synopsis:...
,
Zorro,
Bat MastersonBat Masterson is an American Western television series which showed a fictionalized account of the life of real-life marshal/gambler/dandy Bat Masterson. The title character was played by Gene Barry and the half-hour black and white shows ran on NBC from 1958 to 1961...
,
Peter GunnPeter Gunn is an American private eye television series which aired on the NBC and later ABC television networks from 1958 to 1961. The show's creator was Blake Edwards...
, and
Hawaiian EyeHawaiian Eye is an American television series that ran from October 1959 to September 1963 on the American Broadcasting Company television network.-Premise:...
. The last years of his career were spent in slasher and horror films with titles like
Satan's SadistsSatan's Sadists is a biker film directed by Al Adamson and starring Russ Tamblyn.The plot centers around a renegade motorcycle gang called 'The Satans'. After arriving at a roadside diner in the middle of nowhere, they proceed to murder most of its inhabitants...
,
Blood of Ghastly HorrorBlood of Ghastly Horror is a 1972 horror film directed by Al Adamson and starring John Carradine. The film is currently being distributed by Troma Entertainment....
,
I Spit on Your CorpseI Spit on Your Corpse is a 1974 crime film directed by cult director Al Adamson and distributed by Troma Entertainment.Tagline: Your pain is their pleasure!-Plot:...
, and
Hell's Bloody Devils.
Taylor is interred at the
Westwood Village Memorial Park CemeteryThe Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery is located at 1218 Glendon Avenue in the Westwood Village area of Los Angeles, California....
in
Los AngelesLos Angeles is the largest city in the state of California and the second largest in the United States. Often abbreviated as L.A. and nicknamed The City of Angels, Los Angeles has an estimated population of 3.8 million and spans over in Southern California...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is the most populous state in the United States, and the third largest by area. California is the second most populous sub-national entity in the Americas, behind only São Paulo, Brazil...
.
Trivia
Along with
Clark GableWilliam Clark Gable was an American film actor, nicknamed "The King of Hollywood" in his heyday. In , the American Film Institute named Gable seventh among the greatest male stars of all time....
, Kent Taylor served as the inspiration behind the name of
SupermanSuperman is a fictional character, a comic book superhero widely considered to be an American cultural icon. Created by American writer Jerry Siegel and Canadian-born artist Joe Shuster in 1932 while both were living in Cleveland, Ohio, and sold to Detective Comics, Inc...
's alter-ego -
Clark KentClark Joseph Kent is a fictional character created by Joe Shuster and Jerry Siegel. He serves as the civilian and secret identity of the superhero Superman....
.