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Kent Taylor

 
Actor: Kent Taylor
Home > Library > Entertainment & Arts > Actors
  • Born: May 11, 1906 in Nashua, IA (near)
  • Died: Apr 09, 1987 in North Hollywood, California
  • Occupation: Actor
  • Active: '30s-'60s
  • Major Genres: Drama, Crime
  • Career Highlights: The Gracie Allen Murder Case, Tangier, Men Against the Sky
  • First Major Screen Credit: Fighting Phantom (1933)

Biography

Kent Taylor headed for Hollywood after graduating from high school -- though not as soon after graduation as he'd later claim. Signed by Paramount in 1932, the handsome but slightly callow Taylor appeared in bits and small supporting roles in films like The Devil and the Deep, If I Had a Million, and Sign of the Cross. He befriended comedian Will Rogers, who spotlighted young Taylor in good leading man roles in several of his vehicles at Fox (notably 1934's David Harum). Taylor's film assignments improved after he adopted a mustache and developed a go-getting screen personality. He freelanced in big and small productions at such studios as RKO, Paramount, Columbia, and Universal, often cast as detectives or soldiers of fortune. In 1951, Taylor was cast in the title role of the syndicated TV series Boston Blackie, which ran profitably in rerun form into the 1960s. In 1958, Taylor starred in a network Western, The Rough Riders. Kent Taylor remained active in films into the 1970s, albeit in progressively cheaper efforts like Al Adamson's Satan's Sadists (1968). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
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Wikipedia: Kent Taylor
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Kent Taylor
Born Louis William Weiss
May 11, 1907(1907-05-11)
Nashua, Iowa, USA
Died April 11, 1987 (aged 79)
Woodland Hills, California, USA
Years active 1931–1974
Spouse(s) Kulek, Augusta (1930-1987)
(his death) 3 children

Kent Taylor (May 11, 1907 – April 11, 1987) was an American actor.

Born Louis William Weiss in Nashua, Iowa, Taylor appeared in more than 110 films, the bulk of them B-movies in the 1930s and 1940s, although he also had roles in more prestigious studio releases, including I'm No Angel, Death Takes a Holiday, Payment on Demand, and Track the Man Down.

In the 1950s, with his movie career on the decline and television production on the upswing, he played the title role in 58 episodes of the detective series Boston Blackie and the lead in 39 episodes of ABC's The Rough Riders (1958-1959). Other small screen credits include My Little Margie, Tales of Wells Fargo, Zorro, Bat Masterson, Peter Gunn, and Hawaiian Eye. The last years of his career were spent in slasher and horror films with titles like Satan's Sadists, Blood of Ghastly Horror, I Spit on Your Corpse, and Hell's Bloody Devils.

Taylor is interred at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

Trivia

Along with Clark Gable, Kent Taylor served as the inspiration behind the name of Superman's alter-ego - Clark Kent.[1]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Gross, John (December 15, 1987). "Books of the Times". New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE3DC1F38F936A25751C1A961948260. Retrieved 2007-01-29. 

External links

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Copyrights:

Actor. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Kent Taylor".  Read more

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