Forrest Taylor

Forrest Taylor
Born	December 29, 1883(1883-12-29) Bloomington, Illinois
Died	February 19, 1965 (aged 81) Garden Grove, California
Years active	1915 - 1963

Forrest Taylor (December 29, 1883 - February 19, 1965) was a character actor whose artistic career spanned six different decades, from silents through talkies to the advent of color.

Career

A native of Bloomington, Illinois, Taylor was a veteran of the stage by the time he started appearing as a silent lead in both short and feature-length films. Little is known about his early days on stage, but he essayed prime roles in the films The Terror of Twin Mountains (1915), Sunset Country (1915), April (1916), True Nobility (1916) and The Abandonment (1916), before joining the army during World War I. He would not return to films until 1926, appearing in A Poor Girl's Romance.

During the 1930s, Taylor became entrenched as a supporting player in B-westerns and several cliffhanger serials, often playing either the action or brains heavy roles. As he grew older and grayer, Taylor migrated to nice guy roles, such as the father of the heroine, a lawman, or a scientist. Then, after the westerns and serials faded he migrated to television work. From 1952 through 1954, he costarred as Grandpa Fisher on the religious TV series This is the Life.

Extremely effective and versatile, Taylor is identified in about 400 films, including 325 sound era films and of those, 201 are westerns and 36 are chapterplays, according to the Internet Movie Database. As well, his credits at Republic Pictures number about 75 for the period 1937-1953 (most all of these are B-westerns and serials).

Taylor finally retired in 1963 after filming an episode of Ripcord and died two years later of natural causes in Garden Grove, California, at the age of 81.

Selected appearances

Films

• The Abandonment (1916)
• True Nobility (1916)
• Riders of Destiny (1933)
• The Gilded Lily (1935)
• Charlie Chan at the Race Track (1936)
• The Fighting Gringo (1939)
• The Durango Kid (1940)
• Flying Wild (1941)
• Reap the Wild Wind (1942)
• Sons of the Pioneers (1942)
• The Spoilers (1942)
• Dead Men Walk (1943)
• King of the Cowboys (1943)
• Mom and Dad (1945)
• Rockin' in the Rockies (1945)
• Charlie Chan and the Golden Eye (1948)
• The Prince of Peace (1948)
• Winchester '73 (1950)
• Calamity Jane (1953)
• Man of a Thousand Faces (1957)

Serials

• The Fighting Devil Dogs (1938)
• Dick Tracy Returns (1938)
• The Phantom Creeps (1939)
• The Lone Ranger Rides Again (1939)
• The Oregon Trail (1939)
• Terry and the Pirates (1940)
• Deadwood Dick (1940)
• The Green Archer (1940)
• The Spider Returns (1941)
• The Iron Claw (1941)
• King of the Texas Rangers (1941)
• Sea Raiders (1941)
• Dick Tracy vs. Crime Inc. (1941)
• Perils of the Royal Mounted (1942)
• Perils of Nyoka (1942)
• King of the Mounties (1942)
• The Valley of Vanishing Men (1942)
• The Desert Hawk (1944)
• Haunted Harbor (1944)
• Zorro's Black Whip (1944)
• Manhunt of Mystery Island (1945)
• The Crimson Ghost (1946)
• The Black Widow (1947)
• Superman (1948)
• Tex Granger (1948)
• Bruce Gentry (1949)
• The Lost Planet (1953)

TV-shows

• The Cisco Kid (1950-53)
• The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1952)
• The Roy Rogers Show (1952-55)
• Hopalong Cassidy (1954)
• Annie Oakley (1954)
• The Gene Autry Show (1954)
• Lassie (1955-61)
• Hallmark Hall of Fame (1955)
• Four Star Playhouse (1955)
• Medic (1955)
• My Friend Flicka (1956)
• The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1956-57)
• Matinee Theatre (1957)
• The Lineup (1958)
• Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater (1958)
• The Dennis O'Keefe Show (1959)
• Man Without a Gun (1959)
• Maverick (1960)
• Wanted: Dead or Alive (1960)
• M Squad (1960)
• Lawman (1960)
• Tales of Wells Fargo (1960)
• Bonanza (1960-62)
• Ripcord (1963)

References

External links

• Forrest Taylor at the Internet Movie Database
• Forrest Taylor at Allmovie
• Forrest Taylor at the Internet Broadway Database
• Forrest Taylor at Find a Grave