Robert Taylor (actor)

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Robert Taylor

from the trailer for
Waterloo Bridge (1940)
Born Spangler Arlington Brugh
August 5, 1911 (1911-08-05)
Filley, Nebraska
Died June 8, 1969 (aged 57)
Santa Monica, California
Spouse(s) Barbara Stanwyck (1939-1951)
Ursula Thiess (1954-1969)

Robert Taylor (August 5, 1911 – June 8, 1969), was an American actor.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Born Spangler Arlington Brugh in Filley, Nebraska, he was the son of Ruth Adaline (née Stanhope) and Spangler Andrew Brugh, who was a farmer turned doctor.[1][2] As a teenager, he was a track star and played the cello in his high school orchestra. Upon graduation, he enrolled at Doane College to study music.[3][4]

While at Doane, he took cello lessons from Professor E. Gray, a man whom he admired and idolized. After Professor Gray announced he was accepting a new position at Pomona College in Los Angeles, Brugh moved to California and enrolled at Pomona.[5] He joined the campus theater group and was eventually spotted by a MGM talent scout in 1932 after production of Journey's End.[6]

[edit] Career

After signing a seven-year contract with MGM for $35 a week, Brugh's name was changed to Robert Taylor[7]. He made his film debut in the 1934 comedy, Handy Andy, opposite Will Rogers (on a loan-out to 20th Century Fox). After appearing in a few small roles, he appeared in one of his first leading roles in Magnificent Obsession, with Irene Dunne. This was followed by Camille, opposite Greta Garbo.[6]

Throughout the late 1930s, Taylor appeared in films of varying genres including the musical Broadway Melody of 1938, and the British comedy A Yank at Oxford with Vivien Leigh. In 1940, he reteamed with his A Yank at Oxford co-star Vivien Leigh in Mervyn LeRoy's drama Waterloo Bridge. In 1941, Taylor began breaking away from his perfect leading man image and began appearing in darker roles. That year he portrayed Billy Bonney (better known as Billy the Kid) in Billy the Kid. The next year, he played the title role in the film noir Johnny Eager opposite Lana Turner. In 1943, Taylor contributed to the war effort by becoming a flying instructor in Naval Air Corps. During this time, he also starred in instructional films and narrated the 1944 documentary The Fighting Lady.[4]

In 1950, Taylor landed the role of General Marcus Vinicius in Quo Vadis, opposite Deborah Kerr. The film was a hit, grossing USD$11 million.[6] The following year, he starred opposite Elizabeth Taylor in the film version of Walter Scott’s classic Ivanhoe, followed by 1953's Knights of the Round Table.

[edit] Later career

By the mid-1950s, Taylor's career began to wane. He starred in a comedy western in 1955 co-starring Eleanor Parker called Many Rivers To Cross. In 1958, he formed his own production company, Robert Taylor Productions, and the following year, he starred in The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor (1959-1962).[3] Following the end of the series in 1962, Taylor continued to appear in films and television including A House Is Not a Home and two episodes of Hondo. In 1965, Taylor took over the role of narrator in the television series Death Valley Days, when Ronald Reagan left to pursue a career in politics.[4] Taylor would remain with the series until 1969 when he became too ill to continue working.

[edit] Pre-McCarthy era controversy

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Taylor was among the Hollywood conservatives who took part in the formation of the right-wing Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals in February 1944. In October 1947, Taylor testified before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). Originally considered a "reluctant witness" because he didn't want to appear in front of the committee, he even wrote a letter to J. Parnell Thomas to tell him he thought the entire event a "circus." Instead, he was reclassified as a "friendly witness" and subpoenaed to appear in front of the cameras. He said he appeared in the film Song of Russia against his personal beliefs and desires but at the urging of not only MGM but also the United States government.

When Taylor was asked during the hearings: “Mr. Taylor, these people in the Screen Actors Guild who, in your opinion follow the Communist Party line, are they a disrupting influence within the organization?," he responded that " . . . it always occurs that someone is not quite able to understand what the issue is and the meeting, instead of being over at 10 o’clock or 10:30 when it logically should be over, probably winds up running until 1 or 2 o’clock in the morning on such issues as points of order, and so on.”

The questioning persisted, pushing Taylor to respond in a certain fashion. “Do you recall the names of any of the actors in the guild who participated in such activity?”

Taylor responded, a direct quote, "“Well, yes, sir; I can name a few who seem to sort of disrupt things once in awhile. Whether or not they are Communists I don’t know.” He was very clear … he was not naming anyone to be a Communist.

Yet he was under subpoena, and the questions persisted, determinedly requiring him to come out with a name. “Would you name them for the committee please?”

“One chap we have currently, I think, is Mr. Howard Da Silva. He always seems to have something to say at the wrong time. Miss Karen Morley also usually appears at the guild meetings.” Taylor still at this point was not naming the name of anyone he claimed was a Communist. He was, rather, replying to a direct question about people he felt were disruptive in the SAG meetings.

He did go on to say, " “… I must confess that I objected strenuously to doing Song of Russia at the time it was made. I felt that it, to my way of thinking at least, did contain Communist propaganda."

[edit] Personal life

In 1951, Taylor starred in the film Above and Beyond, a biopic of Enola Gay pilot Paul Tibbets. The two men met and found that they had much in common. Both had considered studying medicine, and were avid skeet-shooters and fliers. Taylor learned to fly in the mid-1930s, and served as a United States Navy flying instructor during World War II. His private aircraft was a Twin Beech called "Missy" (wife Stanwyck's nickname) which he used on hunting and fishing trips. She complained that he spent all his time polishing his guns and aircraft, but when airborne could "do anything a bird could do, except sit on a barbed wire fence".[8]

[edit] Marriages

After appearing with actress Barbara Stanwyck in the 1937 film This Is My Affair, the two were married in 1939. The marriage had its ups and downs and eventually ended in 1951.[6]

In 1954, Taylor married German-born actress, Ursula Thiess, with whom he had two children.[9]

[edit] Death

On June 8, 1969, Taylor died of lung cancer at the age of 57 - he was a chain smoker - and was interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, in Glendale, California.[10] His best friend Ronald Reagan, the Governor of California, gave the eulogy at his funeral, and the creme de la creme of Hollywood attended.

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, Robert Taylor has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1500 Vine Street.

[edit] Filmography

Features:

Short Subjects:

  • The Spectacle Maker (1934)
  • Crime Does Not Pay #1: Buried Loot (1935)
  • La Fiesta de Santa Barbara (1935)
  • Lest We Forget (1937)
  • Hollywood Goes to Town (1938)
  • Screen Snapshots Series 18, No. 9 (1939)
  • Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Recreations (1940)
  • Primary Flight Instruction: Stearman N2-S (1943)
  • Some of the Best (1949)
  • Challenge the Wilderness (1951)
  • The Hoaxters (1952) (narrator)

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.filmsofthegoldenage.com/foga/1999/summer99/roberttaylor.shtml
  2. ^ Wayne, Jane Ellen. The Leading Men of MGM, 165. ISBN 0-7867-1475-1. 
  3. ^ a b Robert Taylor
  4. ^ a b c Erikson, Hal. Robert Taylor Biography. Retrieved on 2008-02-04.
  5. ^ Wayne, Jane Ellen. The Leading Men of MGM, 166. ISBN 0-7867-1475-1. 
  6. ^ a b c d Griffith, Benjamin. Robert Taylor, St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture. Retrieved on 2008-02-04.
  7. ^ Wayne, Jane Ellen. The Leading Men of MGM, 167. ISBN 0-7867-1475-1. 
  8. ^ Tibbets, Paul W., Mission: Hiroshima, Stein & Day, 1985 ISBN 0-8128-8169-9
  9. ^ Wayne, Jane Ellen. The Leading Men of MGM, 184-186. ISBN 0-7867-1475-1. 
  10. ^ Wayne, Jane Ellen. The Leading Men of MGM, 192. ISBN 0-7867-1475-1. 

[edit] External links

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Persondata
NAME Taylor, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Brugh, Spangler Arlington
SHORT DESCRIPTION Actor
DATE OF BIRTH August 5, 1911
PLACE OF BIRTH Filley, Nebraska
DATE OF DEATH June 8, 1969
PLACE OF DEATH Santa Monica, California