Estelle Taylor

Estelle Taylor
Born	Ida Estelle Taylor (1894-05-20)May 20, 1894 Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.
Died	April 15, 1958(1958-04-15) (aged 63) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Cancer
Resting place	Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Education	Wilmington High School
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1919–1945
Spouse(s)	Kenneth Malcolm Peacock (married 1911–1925) Jack Dempsey (married 1925–1931) Paul Smith (married 1943–1945)

Estelle Taylor (May 20, 1894 – April 15, 1958) was an American actress whose career was most prominent during Hollywood's silent film era of the 1920s.^[1]

Early life

Taylor was born Ida Estelle Taylor to a Jewish family^[2] in Wilmington, Delaware. Her father, Harry D. Taylor (born 1871), was born in Delaware.^[3] Her mother, Ida LaBertha Barrett (1874–1965), was born in Easton, Pennsylvania, and later worked as a freelance makeup artist.^[4] Harry and Ida divorced in 1903.^[5] Estelle's younger sister, Helen Taylor (born 1898),^[6] appeared as an extra in silent films.^[7][8]

By 1910, Taylor was living with her maternal grandparents, Charles Christopher Barrett and Ida Lauber.^[9] She attended high school and college in Wilmington.^[10] In 1911, she married bank cashier Kenneth M. Peacock.^[11]

Career

She made her stage debut in the musical Come On, Charlie.^[12] After relocating to Hollywood, she began taking bit parts in films. One of Taylor's earliest successes was in 1920 in Fox's While New York Sleeps with Marc McDermott. She and McDermott play three sets of characters in different time periods. This film was lost for decades, but has been recently discovered and screened at a film festival in Los Angeles.

She starred opposite John Gilbert in Monte Cristo (1922); the New York Herald critic wrote that "Miss Taylor was as effective in the revenge section of the film as she was in the first or love part of the screened play. Here is a class of face that can stand a close-up without becoming a mere speechless automaton."^[13]

One of her most memorable roles is that of Miriam, the sister of Moses (portrayed by Theodore Roberts), in the biblical prologue of Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments (1923), one of the most successful films of the silent era. Her performance in the DeMille film was considered a great acting achievement.^[14]

Taylor as Mary, Queen of Scots, from Stars of the Photoplay (1924)

Despite being ill with arthritis, she won the supporting role of Mary, Queen of Scots in Dorothy Vernon of Haddon Hall (1924), starring Mary Pickford. "I've since wondered if my long illness did not, in some measure at least, make for realism in registering the suffering of the unhappy and tormented Scotch queen," she told a reporter in 1926.^[14]

She played Lucretia Borgia in Don Juan (1926), Warner Bros.' first feature-length film with synchronized Vitaphone sound effects and musical soundtrack. The film also starred John Barrymore, Mary Astor and Warner Oland. Variety praised her characterization of Lucretia: "The complete surprise is the performance of Estelle Taylor as Lucretia Borgia. Her Lucretia is a fine piece of work. She makes it sardonic in treatment, conveying precisely the woman Lucretia is presumed to have been."^[15]

She was supposed to have co-starred in a film with Rudolph Valentino, but he died just before production was to begin.^[16]

One of her last silent films was New York (1927), featuring Ricardo Cortez and Lois Wilson.

In 1928, she and husband Dempsey starred in a Broadway play titled The Big Fight, loosely based around Dempsey's boxing popularity, which ran for 31 performances at the Majestic Theatre.^[17]

Taylor made a successful transition to sound films or "talkies." Her first sound film was the comical sketch Pusher in the Face (1929).^[10] Notable sound films in which she appeared include Street Scene (1931), with Sylvia Sidney; the Academy Award for Best Picture-winning Cimarron (1931), with Richard Dix and Irene Dunne; and Call Her Savage (1932), with Clara Bow.

Taylor's last film appearance was in Jean Renoir's The Southerner (1945).

Personal life

Dempsey with his wife Estelle on his shoulder. (Chicago, 1925)

Taylor married three times. Her first husband was banker Kenneth Malcolm Peacock,^[18] her second husband was "Jack" Dempsey,^[19] the world heavyweight boxing champion, and her third husband was a theatrical producer, Paul Smith. She had no children.

In her later years, Taylor devoted her free time to her pets and was the president and founder of the California Pet Owners' Protective League.^[10] In 1953, Taylor served on the City Animal Regulation Commission in Los Angeles, California.^[10]

Death

She died in 1958, after a battle with cancer.^[10][12] She was interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Legacy

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Estelle Taylor was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1620 Vine Street in Hollywood, California.^[20]

Film portrayal

In the 1983 American television biopic Dempsey, Estelle Taylor was portrayed by British actress Victoria Tennant.

Filmography

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Estelle Taylor.

• Estelle Taylor at the Internet Movie Database
• Estelle Taylor at the Internet Broadway Database
• Estelle Taylor at the New York Times Movies
• Estelle Taylor at Find a Grave
• Estelle Taylor at Virtual History
• A 1922 portrait of Estelle Taylor—which looks to be on a movie set—and a 1936 portrait