Kent Taylor

Birthday: May 11, 1907
Birthplace: Nashua, Iowa

Bio: Born Louis William Weiss on May 11, 1907, actor Kent Taylor was a modestly popular "B" actor of the 30s and 40s. The tall, dark and handsome leading man who sported rugged looks, a slick, pencil-thin mustache and solid physique was certainly star material with the potential and durability of a Clark Gable and Errol Flynn, but he somehow lacked the star quality and… More Bio: Born Louis William Weiss on May 11, 1907, actor Kent Taylor was a modestly popular "B" actor of the 30s and 40s. The tall, dark and handsome leading man who sported rugged looks, a slick, pencil-thin mustache and solid physique was certainly star material with the potential and durability of a Clark Gable and Errol Flynn, but he somehow lacked the star quality and charisma of the afore-mentioned. An avid outdoorsman, Taylor nevertheless churned out over 110 films during his lengthy career, appearing in a number of quality "A" pictures as a second lead.The son of farmers, he was born just southeast of Nashua, Iowa. As a teenager he performed in several high school plays. The family then moved to Waterloo, Iowa, where he made a living as a window trimmer in a ladies' clothing shop. After a brief move to Chicago, the family relocated to Los Angeles, where his father and he started an awning company. Taylor pursued acting as a profession after being introduced to director Henry King. He apprenticed for a couple of years in bit parts after making his unbilled debut in The Magnificent Lie (1931). He peaked in the 1930s with prominent support roles in Merrily We Go to Hell (1932) with Fredric March and Sylvia Sidney, I'm No Angel (1933) as one of Mae West's earnest pursuers, the classic Death Takes a Holiday (1934) again with Fredric March, the Will Rogers' vehicles David Harum (1934) and The County Chairman (1935), and Ramona (1936) top-lining Loretta Young and Don Ameche, which was directed by his old friend Henry King.Taylor then starred in his own modest succession of "B" programmers with Love in a Bungalow (1937), Pirates of the Skies (1939), Repent at Leisure (1941) , Mississippi Gambler (1942), Alaska (1944), The Crimson Key (1947), and The Sickle or the Cross (1949), which, at the very least, kept him busy and in the public eye. More noticeable during this period was his portrayal of Doc Holiday in Tombstone: The Town Too Tough to Die (1942) opposite Richard Dix's Wyatt Earp.With his film career on the decline, Taylor turned more and more to TV, becoming the medium's "Boston Blackie" (1951) for a couple of seasons, a role that had him following in the popular footsteps of film's Chester Morris as the urbane master thief-cum-detective. He followed that with a lead in the series "The Rough Riders" (1958). Taylor was also a frequent visitor on the sets of popular western series, including "Zorro," "Laramie," "The Rifleman" and "Rango." Toward the end of his career, however, the elderly actor took a bizarre John Carradine-like turn into Grade "Z" schlock. Some of these, which included such unbearables as The Crawling Hand (1963), Brides of Blood (1968), Satan's Sadists (1969), Hell's Bloody Devils (1970), Blood of Ghastly Horror (1972), and Girls for Rent (1974), made cult infamy as some of Hollywood's most notorious "turkeys." Taylor died following a series of heart operations at the age of 79.