Leigh Taylor-Young
Leigh Taylor-Young at the 47th Emmy Awards
Born	January 25 1945 (1945--) (age 62)

Leigh Taylor-Young (born January 25, 1945 in Washington, D.C., as simply Leigh Taylor) is an American actress. She is best known for her role as "furniture girl" Shirl in the cult 1973 cult science fiction film Soylent Green opposite Charlton Heston, and for her television role on Peyton Place. Her sister is actress Dey Young and her brother is director Lance Young.

Early years and career

Taylor-Young was the daughter of a U.S. diplomat, Carl Taylor, who was stationed in Washington. She was raised in Michigan when her divorced mother, Pauline, remarried an advertising executive, Ronald Young. A 1962 graduate of Groves High School in Birmingham, Michigan, she attended Northwestern University in Illinois for a period of time, but instead of graduating she went into acting full time.

Leigh Taylor-Young as Shirl in Soylent Green

Taylor-Young's first professional acting job was in the 1966 Broadway play Three Bags Full, which lasted five weeks. She then went to L.A. and was hired by Peyton Place producer Paul Monash. She was a regular in Peyton Place for 8 months and appeared in the 1968 movie, I Love You Alice B. Toklas, starring Peter Sellers. Her next movies were The Adventurers, The Big Bounce, The Buttercup Chain, The Horsemen, The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight, and Soylent Green.

After Soylent Green, Taylor-Young went on hiatus from acting to raise her son, Patrick. In the 1980s, she returned to acting and made guest appearances on McCloud, Fantasy Island, The Love Boat, Spenser for Hire, Hart to Hart, Hotel, Outlaws, Evening Shade, The Young Riders, Empty Nest, Murder She Wrote, Malibu Shores, 7th Heaven, The Pretender, Beverly Hills, 90210, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, where she played Yanas Tigan, the shrewd mother of Ezri Dax (Nicole De Boer) in the episode "Prodigal Daughter".

In 1997, Taylor-Young appeared on Aaron Spelling's daytime drama Sunset Beach as Elaine Stevens. She played the role of Katherine Barrett Crane on the NBC soap opera Passions from 2004 until 2006 alongside fellow soap opera veterans John Reilly, Andrea Evans, and Sharon Wyatt.

Personal Life

In 1967, Taylor-Young married actor Ryan O'Neal. The relationship caused a scandal, in part due to Taylor-Young's abrupt departure from Peyton Place and O'Neal's marriage to another actress, Joanna Cook Moore. On September 14, 1967, the couple had their only child together, Patrick, before divorcing in 1974.

In 1978, she married agent/director Guy McElwayne, but the marriage also ended in divorce in 1984. She is currently dating Dr. Brad Von Johnson.

Taylor-Young is also an ordained Minister in the Movement of Spiritual Inner Awareness.^[1]

External links

• Leigh Taylor-Young at the Internet Movie Database

• Leigh Taylor-Young article at Memory Alpha, a Star Trek wiki
• Official site

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