DT
Dub Taylor
Actor
Died October 3, 1994 (87 years)
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
Filmography
| 1994 | Maverick · as Room Clerk |
| 1992 | Falling from Grace · as Grandpa Parks |
| 1991 | Conagher · as Station Agent |
| 1991 | The Gambler Returns: The Luck of the Draw · as The Westerner's Friend |
| 1991 | My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys · as Gimme Cap |
| 1990 | Back to the Future Part III · as Saloon Old Timer |
| 1990 | Evening Shade (TV Series) · as Earl |
| 1988 | Once Upon a Texas Train · as Charlie Lee |
| 1986 | The Best of Times · as Mac |
| 1986 | Designing Women (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1986 | Starman (TV Series) · as Murphy |
| 1984 | The Cosby Show (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1984 | Cannonball Run II · as Police Officer |
| 1983 | Hardcastle and McCormick (TV Series) · as actor |
| 1981 | Soggy Bottom, U.S.A. · as Cottonmouth Gorch |
| 1981 | Bret Maverick (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1981 | Darkroom (TV Series) · as Dixon 'Dixie' Weeks |
| 1980 | Used Cars · as Tucker |
| 1979 | 1941 · as Mr. Malcomb |
| 1979 | Salvage 1 (TV Series) · as Shorty |
| 1978 | They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way · as Gunner |
| 1978 | Beartooth · as Unknown |
| 1977 | The Rescuers · as Digger (voice) |
| 1977 | The Great Smokey Roadblock · as Harley Davidson |
| 1977 | Moonshine County Express · as Uncle Bill |
| 1976 | Burnt Offerings · as Walker |
| 1976 | Gator · as Mayor T.L. Caffery |
| 1976 | Treasure of Matecumbe · as Sheriff Forbes |
| 1976 | The Winds of Autumn · as Rattler S. Gravley |
| 1976 | Pony Express Rider · as Boomer Riley |
| 1976 | Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch · as (archive footage) |
| 1976 | Creature from Black Lake · as Grandpaw Bridges |
| 1976 | Doc Hooker's Bunch · as Dr. Isaiah Beauregard Hooker |
| 1976 | How the West Was Won (TV Series) · as Moss |
| 1975 | Poor Pretty Eddie · as Justice of the Peace Floyd |
| 1975 | The Fortune · as Rattlesnake Tom |
| 1975 | Flash and the Firecat · as Sheriff C.W. Thurston |
| 1975 | Hearts of the West · as Nevada Ticket Agent |
| 1974 | Movin' On (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1974 | Little House on the Prairie (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1974 | Run, Joe, Run (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1974 | Thunderbolt and Lightfoot · as Station Attendant |
| 1973 | Tom Sawyer · as Clayton |
| 1973 | Country Blue · as J.J. 'Jumpy' Belk |
| 1973 | This Is a Hijack · as Sheriff Gordon |
| 1973 | Brock's Last Case · as Judge Robbins |
| 1973 | Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid · as Josh |
| 1972 | The Getaway · as Laughlin |
| 1972 | Junior Bonner · as Del |
| 1972 | Black Jack · as Officer Roddenberry |
| 1972 | The Brian Keith Show/The Little People (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1972 | Emergency! (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1971 | Support Your Local Gunfighter · as Doc Schultz |
| 1971 | Evel Knievel · as Turquoise Smith |
| 1971 | Man and Boy · as Atkins |
| 1971 | McMillan and Wife (TV Series) · as Store Proprietor |
| 1971 | Alias Smith and Jones (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1970 | A Man Called Horse · as Joe |
| 1970 | Tick, Tick, Tick · as Junior |
| 1970 | The Liberation of L.B. Jones · as Mayor |
| 1970 | Menace on the Mountain · as Cicero Everhart |
| 1970 | The Wild Country · as Phil |
| 1970 | The Partridge Family (TV Series) · as Flicker |
| 1970 | The Odd Couple (TV Series) · as Slim |
| 1969 | The Wild Bunch · as Reverend Wainscoat |
| 1969 | The Reivers · as Dr. Peabody |
| 1969 | The Undefeated · as McCartney |
| 1969 | Death of a Gunfighter · as Doc Adams |
| 1969 | The Learning Tree · as Spikey |
| 1969 | Love, American Style (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1968 | The Shakiest Gun in the West · as Pop Cushings |
| 1968 | Bandolero! · as Attendant |
| 1968 | Three Guns for Texas · as Marshal Denny Moran |
| 1968 | Something for a Lonely Man · as Sheriff |
| 1968 | The Outcasts (TV Series) · as Anson |
| 1968 | The Mod Squad (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1968 | Hawaii Five-O (TV Series) · as Ray Tobias |
| 1967 | Bonnie and Clyde · as Ivan Moss |
| 1967 | Don't Make Waves · as Electrician |
| 1967 | The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin · as Timekeeper |
| 1967 | Johnny Banco · as Unknown |
| 1967 | The High Chaparral (TV Series) · as Oscar Hipple |
| 1967 | Cimarron Strip (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1967 | Custer (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1967 | Ironside (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1966 | The Monkees (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1966 | Mr. Terrific (TV Series) · as Preacher |
| 1966 | The Iron Horse (TV Series) · as Muley Simms |
| 1966 | That Girl (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1965 | The Cincinnati Kid · as Dealer |
| 1965 | The Hallelujah Trail · as Clayton Howell |
| 1965 | Laredo (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1965 | The Wild Wild West (TV Series) · as Guard |
| 1965 | The Big Valley (TV Series) · as Doc Tully |
| 1965 | Major Dundee · as Priam |
| 1964 | The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (TV Series) · as Preacher |
| 1963 | Spencer's Mountain · as Percy Cook |
| 1963 | My Favorite Martian (TV Series) · as Charles |
| 1963 | Temple Houston (TV Series) · as Cliff Willard |
| 1962 | How the West Was Won · as Man |
| 1962 | Sweet Bird of Youth · as Dan Hatcher |
| 1962 | Period of Adjustment · as Drunk |
| 1962 | Black Gold · as Doc |
| 1962 | The Virginian (TV Series) · as Runty Bojohn |
| 1961 | Pocketful of Miracles · as Man |
| 1961 | Parrish · as Teet Howie |
| 1961 | Hazel (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1960 | Home from the Hill · as Bob Skaggs (uncredited) |
| 1960 | The Westerner (TV Series) · as Walt Smith |
| 1960 | The Andy Griffith Show (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1960 | The Barbara Stanwyck Show (TV Series) · as George B. Glines |
| 1960 | My Three Sons (TV Series) · as Judge |
| 1959 | A Hole in the Head · as Fred |
| 1959 | |
| 1959 | Dennis the Menace (TV Series) · as Opie |
| 1959 | Laramie (TV Series) · as Smudge |
| 1959 | The Twilight Zone (TV Series) · as Peters |
| 1958 | Auntie Mame · as County Veterinarian (uncredited) |
| 1958 | No Time for Sergeants · as McKinney |
| 1958 | Hot Rod Gang · as Landlord |
| 1958 | 77 Sunset Strip (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1958 | Lawman (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1957 | |
| 1957 | Perry Mason (TV Series) · as Stroller |
| 1957 | The Real McCoys (TV Series) · as Claude Randall |
| 1956 | The Fastest Gun Alive · as Nolan Brown (uncredited) |
| 1956 | You Can't Run Away from It · as Joe |
| 1956 | Zane Grey Theater (TV Series) · as Harper - Auctioneer |
| 1955 | I Died a Thousand Times · as Ed (uncredited) |
| 1955 | Gunsmoke (TV Series) · as Farnum |
| 1955 | The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (TV Series) · as Hogan |
| 1955 | Cheyenne (TV Series) · as Unknown |
| 1954 | A Star Is Born · as Norman's Driver (uncredited) |
| 1954 | Dragnet · as Miller Starkie |
| 1954 | The Bounty Hunter · as Eli Danvers |
| 1954 | Riding Shotgun · as Eddie |
| 1954 | Them! · as Railroad Yard Watchman |
| 1954 | The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin (TV Series) · as Hud |
| 1954 | Disneyland (TV Series) · as Cicero Everhart |
| 1953 | Crime Wave · as Gus Snider |
| 1952 | The Story of Will Rogers · as Actor |
| 1952 | Lure of the Wilderness · as Sheriff Jepson |
| 1952 | Death Valley Days (TV Series) · as Rupert |
| 1951 | The Range Rider (TV Series) · as Andy Jones |
| 1951 | The Roy Rogers Show (TV Series) · as Barney Ord |
| 1951 | I Love Lucy (TV Series) · as Rattlesnake Jones |
| 1950 | Riding High · as Joe |
| 1943 | Minesweeper · as Seaman Stubby Gordon |
| 1941 | Tanks a Million · as Malloy |
| 1941 | Across the Sierras · as Cannonball |
| 1941 | Hands Across the Rockies · as Cannonball Taylor |
| 1940 | Melody Ranch · as Xylophone Player |
| 1939 | Taming of the West · as Cannonball |
| 1939 | Mr. Smith Goes to Washington · as Reporter (uncredited) |
| 1938 | Carefree · as Bit Part (uncredited) |
| 1938 | You Can't Take It with You · as Ed Carmichael |