Taylor Mead
Encyclopedia
Taylor Mead is an American writer
, actor
, and performer. Mead appeared in several of Andy Warhol
's underground films including Tarzan and Jane Regained... Sort of and Taylor Mead's Ass
.
, Mead appeared in Ron Rice
's beat
classic The Flower Thief, in which he "traipses with an elfin glee through a lost San Francisco of smoke-stuffed North Beach cafes..." Film critic P. Adams Sitney
called The Flower Thief "the purest expression of the Beat sensibility in cinema." Village Voice film critic J. Hoberman
called Mead "the first underground movie star."
In the mid 1970s, Gary Weis made some short films of Mead talking to his cat in the kitchen of his Ludlow Street apartment on the Lower East Side
called "Taylor Mead's Cat." One film of Mead extemporizing on the virtues of constant television watching aired during the second season of Saturday Night Live
.
Mead lives in New York City, and continues to perform and read poetry regularly at The Bowery Poetry Club
. His latest book of poems is called A Simple Country Girl. He was the subject of a documentary entitled Excavating Taylor Mead, which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival
in 2005. The film shows him engaging in his nightly habit of feeding stray cats in an East Village
cemetery after bar-hopping, and features a cameo
by Jim Jarmusch
, in which Jarmusch explains that once, when Mead went to Europe, he enlisted Jarmusch's brother to feed the cemetery cats in Mead's absence. Mead appeared in the final segment of Jarmusch's 2003 film Coffee and Cigarettes
. He has been "a beloved icon of the downtown New York art scene since the 60s."
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
, and performer. Mead appeared in several of Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
's underground films including Tarzan and Jane Regained... Sort of and Taylor Mead's Ass
Taylor Mead's Ass
Taylor Mead's Ass is a film by Andy Warhol featuring Taylor Mead, consisting entirely of a shot of Mead's buttocks, and filmed at The Factory....
.
Career
Born in Detroit, MichiganDetroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
, Mead appeared in Ron Rice
Ron Rice
For the American football player see Ron Rice Ron Rice was an American experimental filmmaker, whose freeform style influenced experimental filmmakers in New York and California during the early 1960s.-The Flower Thief:Rice twice collaborated with future Warhol star Taylor Mead, including Rice's...
's beat
Beatnik
Beatnik was a media stereotype of the 1950s and early 1960s that displayed the more superficial aspects of the Beat Generation literary movement of the 1950s and violent film images, along with a cartoonish depiction of the real-life people and the spiritual quest in Jack Kerouac's autobiographical...
classic The Flower Thief, in which he "traipses with an elfin glee through a lost San Francisco of smoke-stuffed North Beach cafes..." Film critic P. Adams Sitney
P. Adams Sitney
P. Adams Sitney , is a historian of American avant-garde cinema.-Life:He was educated in his hometown, at Yale University...
called The Flower Thief "the purest expression of the Beat sensibility in cinema." Village Voice film critic J. Hoberman
J. Hoberman
James Lewis Hoberman , also known as J. Hoberman, is an American film critic. He is currently the senior film critic for The Village Voice, a post he has held since 1988.-Education:...
called Mead "the first underground movie star."
In the mid 1970s, Gary Weis made some short films of Mead talking to his cat in the kitchen of his Ludlow Street apartment on the Lower East Side
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....
called "Taylor Mead's Cat." One film of Mead extemporizing on the virtues of constant television watching aired during the second season of Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live
Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...
.
Mead lives in New York City, and continues to perform and read poetry regularly at The Bowery Poetry Club
Bowery Poetry Club
The Bowery Poetry Club is a New York City poetry performance space founded by Bob Holman in 2002. Located at 308 Bowery, between Bleecker and Houston Streets in Manhattan's East Village, the BPC provides a home base for established and upcoming artists...
. His latest book of poems is called A Simple Country Girl. He was the subject of a documentary entitled Excavating Taylor Mead, which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival
Tribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
in 2005. The film shows him engaging in his nightly habit of feeding stray cats in an East Village
East Village, Manhattan
The East Village is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, lying east of Greenwich Village, south of Gramercy and Stuyvesant Town, and north of the Lower East Side...
cemetery after bar-hopping, and features a cameo
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
by Jim Jarmusch
Jim Jarmusch
James R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
, in which Jarmusch explains that once, when Mead went to Europe, he enlisted Jarmusch's brother to feed the cemetery cats in Mead's absence. Mead appeared in the final segment of Jarmusch's 2003 film Coffee and Cigarettes
Coffee and Cigarettes
Coffee and Cigarettes is the title of three short films and a 2003 feature film by independent director Jim Jarmusch. The 2003 film consists of 11 short stories which share coffee and cigarettes as a common thread, and includes the earlier three films....
. He has been "a beloved icon of the downtown New York art scene since the 60s."
Filmography
- The Flower ThiefThe Flower ThiefThe Flower Thief is an underground film directed by Ron Rice, shot in 1959 in San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood, using surplus 16mm film. The film features non-professional actors like Taylor Mead and Eric "Big Daddy" Nord, and Beat poets living in North Beach such as Bob Kaufman.-External...
directed by Ron RiceRon RiceFor the American football player see Ron Rice Ron Rice was an American experimental filmmaker, whose freeform style influenced experimental filmmakers in New York and California during the early 1960s.-The Flower Thief:Rice twice collaborated with future Warhol star Taylor Mead, including Rice's...
(1960) - Lemon Hearts directed by Vernon Zimmerman (1962)
- Too Young, Too Immoral directed by Raymond Phelan (1962)
- Hallelujah the Hills directed by Adolfas MekasAdolfas MekasAdolfas Mekas was a Lithuanian-born film director, and brother of Jonas Mekas. He is principally known for his work in the United States....
(1963) - Queen of Sheba Meets the Atom ManQueen of Sheba Meets the Atom ManQueen of Sheba Meets the Atom Man is an experimental film by Ron Rice. It stars Winifred Bryan as the Queen of Sheba and Taylor Mead as the Atom Man. Featured players are Ron Rice, Julian Beck, Judith Malina, Jack Smith, and Jonas Mekas. Rice died before the editing was complete, so Mead finished...
directed by Ron Rice (1963) - Tarzan and Jane Regained...Sort Of directed by Andy WarholAndy WarholAndrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
(1963) - Couch directed by Andy Warhol (1964)
- Taylor Mead's AssTaylor Mead's AssTaylor Mead's Ass is a film by Andy Warhol featuring Taylor Mead, consisting entirely of a shot of Mead's buttocks, and filmed at The Factory....
directed by Andy Warhol (1964) - The Illiac Passion directed by Gregory MarkopoulosGregory MarkopoulosGregory J. Markopoulos was a Greek-American experimental filmmaker. Born in Toledo, Ohio to Greek immigrant parents, Markopoulos began making 8 mm films at an early age. He attended USC Film School in the late 1940s, and went on to become a co-founder — with Jonas Mekas, Shirley Clarke, Stan...
(1967) - Imitation Of Christ directed by Andy Warhol (1967–69)
- The Nude Restaurant directed by Andy Warhol (1967–68)
- Lonesome Cowboys directed by Andy Warhol (1967–68)
- The Secret Life of Hernando Cortez directed by John Chamberlain (1969)
- Brand X directed by Wynn ChamberlainWynn ChamberlainWynn Chamberlain, also known as Win Chamberlain and Elwyn Chamberlain, is an American artist, film maker and author...
(1970) - C'est vrai! (One Hour) directed by Robert FrankRobert FrankRobert Frank , born in Zürich, Switzerland, is an important figure in American photography and film. His most notable work, the 1958 photobook titled The Americans, was influential, and earned Frank comparisons to a modern-day de Tocqueville for his fresh and skeptical outsider's view of American...
(1990) - Last Supper directed by Robert FrankRobert FrankRobert Frank , born in Zürich, Switzerland, is an important figure in American photography and film. His most notable work, the 1958 photobook titled The Americans, was influential, and earned Frank comparisons to a modern-day de Tocqueville for his fresh and skeptical outsider's view of American...
(1992) - "Taylor Mead Unleashed" (1996) directed by Sebastian Piras
- Ecstasy In Entropy directed by Nick ZeddNick ZeddNick Zedd is an American filmmaker and author based in New York City. He coined the term Cinema of Transgression in 1985 to describe a loose-knit group of like-minded filmmakers and artists using shock value and black humor in their work...
(1999) - Coffee and CigarettesCoffee and CigarettesCoffee and Cigarettes is the title of three short films and a 2003 feature film by independent director Jim Jarmusch. The 2003 film consists of 11 short stories which share coffee and cigarettes as a common thread, and includes the earlier three films....
directed by Jim JarmuschJim JarmuschJames R. "Jim" Jarmusch is an American independent film director, screenwriter, actor, producer, editor and composer. Jarmusch has been a major proponent of independent cinema, particularly during the 1980s and 1990s.-Early life:...
(2003) - Excavating Taylor Mead directed by William A. Kirkley (2005)
- Electra Elf: The Beginning directed by Nick Zedd (2005)
- Man Under Wire directed by Josh Bishop (2006)