Weekly Movie Challenge

Dub Taylor

Biography

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Walter Clarence Taylor Jr. (February 26, 1907 – October 3, 1994), known as Dub Taylor, was an American character actor who from the 1940s into the 1990s worked extensively in films and on television, often in Westerns but also in comedies. He was the father of actor Buck Taylor, who played the character Newly O'Brien on Gunsmoke.

Walter C. Taylor Jr. was born in 1907 in Richmond, Virginia, the middle child of five children of Minnie and Walter C. Taylor, Sr. According to the federal census of 1920, young Walter had two older sisters, Minnie Marg[aret] and Maud, a younger brother named George, and a little sister, Edna Fay. The family moved to Augusta, Georgia around 1912 when Walter was five years old, and the Taylors lived in this city until he was 13. The census of 1920 also documents that Dub's mother was a native of Pennsylvania and his father was a native of North Carolina, who worked in Augusta at that time as a "Cotton Broker". While living in Georgia as a boy, Walter, Jr., got his lifelong nickname when his friends began calling him "W" (double-u) and then shortened his nickname even farther, to just "Dub". It was in Georgia, too, where Taylor befriended Ty Cobb, Jr., the son of the legendary professional baseball player.

A vaudeville performer, Dub Taylor was a member of the 1937 Alabama Crimson Tide football team that played in the 1938 Rose Bowl. He stayed behind to establish a career in films, making his film debut in 1938 as the cheerful ex-football captain Ed Carmichael in Frank Capra's You Can't Take It with You. Taylor secured the part because the role required an actor who could also play the xylophone. Later, during the 1950s and early 1960s, he demonstrated his considerable talent for playing the xylophone on several television shows, including an episode on the syndicated series Ranch Party hosted by Tex Ritter.

In 1939, he appeared in the film Taming of the West, in which he originated the character of Cannonball, a role he continued to play for the next ten years, in over 50 films. Cannonball was a comic sidekick to Wild Bill Saunders (played by Bill Elliott), a pairing that continued through 13 features, during which Elliott’s character became Wild Bill Hickok.

Despite his extensive career as a character actor in a wide range of roles, Dub Taylor continued to find his niche in Westerns, a genre in which he performed in literally dozens of more films and in episodes of many television series. Taylor often appeared in the guise of talkative hotel or postal clerks, court bailiffs, cooks, or dissolute doctors. He portrayed, for example, an ill-tempered chuckwagon cook in the 1969 film The Undefeated, starring John Wayne and Rock Hudson. He appeared as well in the 1971 movie Support Your Local Gunfighter as the drunken Doc Shultz. Taylor played Houston Lamb over the course of four episodes of Little House On The Prairie in seasons six and seven (1979 to 1981). Taylor made at least two film cameos in the early 1990s. In Back to the Future Part III, he appeared with veteran Western actors Pat Buttram and Harry Carey Jr.. His last appearance was in the film Maverick as a hotel room clerk.

Dub Taylor died of a heart attack on October 3, 1994 in Los Angeles. In addition to being father to Buck Taylor, Dub had a daughter, Faydean Taylor Tharp. CLR

Actor

Maverick

1994

as Room Clerk

Falling from Grace

1992

as Grandpa Parks

Conagher

1991

My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys

1991

as Gimme Cap

Back to the Future Part III

1990

as Saloon Old Timer

Once Upon a Texas Train

1988

as Charlie Lee

The Best of Times

1986

as Mac

The Outlaws

1984

as L.D. Sloane

Cannonball Run II

1984

as Police Officer

Soggy Bottom, U.S.A.

1981

as Cottonmouth Gorch

Used Cars

1980

as Tucker

1941

1979

as Mr. Malcomb

They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way

1978

as Gunner

The Great Smokey Roadblock

1978

as Harley Davidson

Beartooth

1978

The Rescuers

1977

as Digger (voice)

Moonshine County Express

1977

as Uncle Bill

Great Day

1977

as Doc

Kit Carson and the Mountain Men

1977

as Stableman

Pony Express Rider

1976

as Boomer Riley

Burnt Offerings

1976

as Walker

Gator

1976

as Mayor T.L. Caffery

Treasure of Matecumbe

1976

as Sheriff Forbes

The Winds of Autumn

1976

as Rattler S. Gravley

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

1976

as (archive footage)

Creature from Black Lake

1976

as Grandpaw Bridges

Hearts of the West

1975

as Nevada Ticket Agent

Poor Pretty Eddie

1975

as Justice of the Peace Floyd

Flash and the Firecat

1975

as Sheriff C.W. Thurston

The Fortune

1975

as Rattlesnake Tom

The Daughters of Joshua Cabe Return

1975

as Bitteroot

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot

1974

as Station Attendant

Honky Tonk

1974

Shootout in a One-Dog Town

1974

as Halsey

This Is a Hijack

1973

as Sheriff Gordon

Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid

1973

as Josh

Tom Sawyer

1973

as Clayton

Brock's Last Case

1973

as Judge Robbins

Country Blue

1973

as J.J. 'Jumpy' Belk

The Getaway

1972

as Laughlin

Junior Bonner

1972

as Del

The Delphi Bureau

1972

as Old Timer

Wild in the Sky

1972

as Officer Roddenberry

Evel Knievel

1971

as Turquoise Smith

Man and Boy

1971

as Atkins

Support Your Local Gunfighter

1971

as Doc Schultz

Who Killed the Mysterious Mr. Foster?

1971

as Reed, the Lawyer

The Wild Country

1970

as Phil

A Man Called Horse

1970

as Joe

The Liberation of L.B. Jones

1970

as Mayor

Menace on the Mountain

1970

as Cicero Everhart

Tick... Tick... Tick...

1970

as Junior

The Reivers

1969

as Dr. Peabody

The Undefeated

1969

as McCartney

The Learning Tree

1969

as Spikey

The Wild Bunch

1969

as Reverend Wainscoat

Death of a Gunfighter

1969

as Doc Adams

Ride a Northbound Horse

1969

as Purse

Something for a Lonely Man

1968

as Sheriff

The Shakiest Gun in the West

1968

as Pop Cushings

Bandolero!

1968

as Attendant

The Money Jungle

1967

as Pete Jensen

Bonnie and Clyde

1967

as Ivan Moss

Johnny Banco

1967

Don't Make Waves

1967

as Electrician

The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin

1967

as Timekeeper

The Cincinnati Kid

1965

as Dealer

The Hallelujah Trail

1965

as Clayton Howell

The Decorator

1965

as Taxi Driver

Major Dundee

1965

as Priam

Spencer's Mountain

1963

as Percy Cook

The Losers

1963

as Gregory

Mooncussers

1962

as Fire Tender

How the West Was Won

1962

as Man (uncredited)

Period of Adjustment

1962

as Drunk (uncredited)

Black Gold

1962

as Doc

Sweet Bird of Youth

1962

as Dan Hatcher

Pocketful of Miracles

1961

as Man (uncredited)

Parrish

1961

as Teet Howie

Home from the Hill

1960

as Bob Skaggs (uncredited)

A Hole in the Head

1959

as Fred

Auntie Mame

1958

as County Veterinarian (uncredited)

Hot Rod Gang

1958

as Landlord

No Time for Sergeants

1958

as Mr. McKinney

You Can't Run Away from It

1956

as Joe

The Fastest Gun Alive

1956

as Nolan Brown (uncredited)

I Died a Thousand Times

1955

as Ed (uncredited)

Tall Man Riding

1955

as Townsman (uncredited)

A Star Is Born

1954

as Norman's Driver (uncredited)

The Bounty Hunter

1954

as Eli Danvers

Dragnet

1954

as Miller Starkie

Them!

1954

as Railroad Yard Watchman

Crime Wave

1953

as Gus Snider

Life with Buster Keaton

1951

The Marshall of Trail City

1950

as Cannonball

Riding High

1950

as Joe

Lawless Code

1949

as Cannonball Taylor

Roaring Westward

1949

as Cannonball

Brand of Fear

1949

as Cannonball

Across The Rio Grande

1949

as Cannonball Taylor

Gun Law Justice

1949

as Cannonball

Gun Runner

1949

as Cannonball Taylor (as 'Cannonball' Taylor)

Courtin' Trouble

1948

as Cannonball

Outlaw Brand

1948

as Cannonball

Silver Trails

1948

as Cannonball

Cowboy Cavalier

1948

as Cannonball

Range Renegades

1948

as Cannonball

Partners of the Sunset

1948

as Cannonball

The Rangers Ride

1948

as Cannonball Taylor

Oklahoma Blues

1948

as Cannonball Taylor

Song of the Drifter

1948

as Cannonball

Ridin' Down the Trail

1947

as Cannonball

Frontier Gunlaw

1946

as Cannonball

Texas Panhandle

1945

as Cannonball Taylor

Lawless Empire

1945

as Cannonball

Outlaws of the Rockies

1945

as Cannonball

Blazing the Western Trail

1945

as Cannonball

Rustlers of the Badlands

1945

as Cannonball

Both Barrels Blazing

1945

as Cannonball

Rough Ridin' Justice

1945

as Cannonball

Sagebrush Heroes

1945

as Cannonball

Saddle Leather Law

1944

as Cannonball

Cyclone Prairie Rangers

1944

as Cannonball

Cowboy from Lonesome River

1944

as Cannonball

The Last Horseman

1944

as Cannonball

Wyoming Hurricane

1944

as Doc 'Canonball' Jones

Sundown Valley

1944

as Cannonball Boggs

Cowboy Canteen

1944

as Cannonball

Cowboy in the Clouds

1943

as Cannonball

The Vigilantes Ride

1943

as Cannonball Taylor

Minesweeper

1943

as Seaman Stubby Gordon

Silver City Raiders

1943

as Cannonball

Saddles and Sagebrush

1943

as Cannonball

Riders of the Northwest Mounted

1943

as Cannonball

A Tornado in the Saddle

1942

as Cannonball

The Lone Prairie

1942

as Cannonball

Tanks a Million

1941

as Malloy

King of Dodge City

1941

as Cannonball Taylor

The Son of Davy Crockett

1941

as Cannonball

Hands Across the Rockies

1941

as Cannonball Taylor

The Return of Daniel Boone

1941

as Cannonball

North from the Lone Star

1941

as Cannonball

Across the Sierras

1941

as Cannonball

The Wildcat of Tucson

1940

as Cannonball

Beyond the Sacramento

1940

as Cannonball

Prairie Schooners

1940

as Cannonball

One Man's Law

1940

as Nevady

The Return of Wild Bill

1940

as Cannonball

The Man from Tumbleweeds

1940

as Cannonball

Pioneers of the Frontier

1940

as Cannonball Simms

The Taming of the West

1939

as Cannonball

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

1939

as Reporter (uncredited)

Carefree

1938

as Bit Part (uncredited)

You Can't Take It with You

1938

as Ed Carmichael