Kent Taylor

Kent Taylor (born Louis William Weiss; May 11, 1907 – April 11, 1987) was an American actor of film and television. Taylor appeared in more than 110 films, the bulk of them B-movies in the 1930s and 1940s, although he also had roles in more prestigious studio releases, including Merrily We Go to Hell (1932), I'm No Angel (1933), Cradle Song (1933), Death Takes a Holiday (1934), Payment on Demand (1951), and Track the Man Down (1955). He had the lead role in Half Past Midnight in 1948, among a few others.
Early years
Kent Taylor was born Louis William Weiss on May 11, 1907, to a Jewish family in Nashua, Iowa, Taylor moved with his family to Waterloo, Iowa, when he was 7. He worked at a variety of jobs after high school, and for two years he studied engineering at the Darrah Institute of Technology in Chicago. He and his family moved to California in 1931.
Career
With no prior professional acting experience, Kent began working as a film extra in 1931 on the advice of a friend who said he had the right looks for "a good screen type." Prior to background work, he was co-operator of an awning service shop with his father. After a few very minor extra roles in films such as Kick In (1931), he was called in "to try out a new camera idea;" a silent sequence was shot using Taylor and Claire Dodd, who was by then an established player at Paramount. The test led to Taylor being offered a contract with Paramount, which he signed on July 11, 1931.
Taylor portrayed Doc Holliday in Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die (1942) starring Richard Dix as Wyatt Earp.
In 1951–1952, with his movie career on the decline and television production on the upswing, he played the title role in 58 episodes of the detective series Boston Blackie and the lead, as Captain Jim Flagg, in ABC's The Rough Riders, an adventure series about three soldiers, two Union and one Confederate, traveling together through the American West after the Civil War. The Rough Riders aired thirty-nine episodes from 1958 to 1959.
Other minor screen credits include My Little Margie, Tales of Wells Fargo, Zorro, Riverboat, The Rifleman, Tombstone Territory, Sugarfoot, Bat Masterson, Laramie, Mr. Lucky, Tightrope, Peter Gunn, Hawaiian Eye, The Brothers Brannagan, The Ann Sothern Show, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, and Rango.
He starred in the 1962 film The Broken Land with Jack Nicholson and Diana Darrin. The last years of his career were spent in low budget Biker, SciFi, and Horror films such as, “The Day Mars Invaded Earth” released in 1962, Brides of Blood (1968), Satan's Sadists (1969), The Mighty Gorga (1969), Brain of Blood (1971), Blood of Ghastly Horror (1972), Angels' Wild Women (1972), and Girls for Rent (1974).
Clark Kent
Along with Clark Gable, Kent Taylor served as the inspiration behind the name of Superman's alter-ego Clark Kent.
Personal life
Taylor died on April 9, 1987, at age 79, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, of complications during heart surgery.
Selected filmography
Born to Love (1931) as Dancing Doughboy (uncredited)
Ladies' Man (1931) as Night Club Patron (uncredited)
Kick In (1931) as Counter Man in Shop (uncredited)
The Magnificent Lie (1931) as Cafe Customer (uncredited)
The Road to Reno (1931) as One of Jackie's Admirers (uncredited)
The False Madonna (1931) as Footman (uncredited)
Husband's Holiday (1931) as Miguel Balboa (scenes deleted)
Two Kinds of Women (1932) as Milt Fleisser (uncredited)
Dancers in the Dark (1932) as Saxophonist (uncredited)
One Hour with You (1932) as Party Guest Greeted by Colette (uncredited)
Sinners in the Sun (1932) as Dancing Gigolo (uncredited)
Forgotten Commandments (1932) as Gregor
Merrily We Go to Hell (1932) as Gregory 'Greg' Boleslavsky
The Man from Yesterday (1932) as Military Policeman (uncredited)
Make Me a Star (1932) as Theatre Doorman Ticket Taker (uncredited)
Devil and the Deep (1932) as A Friend at Party (uncredited)
Blonde Venus (1932) as Hiker (uncredited)
The Night of June 13 (1932) as Reporter (uncredited)
If I Had a Million (1932) as Bank Teller (uncredited)
The Sign of the Cross (1932) as Romantic Spectator (uncredited)
Under-Cover Man (1932) as Russ (uncredited)
The Mysterious Rider (1933) as Wade Benton
Tonight Is Ours (1933) as Minor Role (uncredited)
A Lady's Profession (1933) as Dick Garfield
The Story of Temple Drake (1933) as First Jellybean (uncredited)
Sunset Pass (1933) as Clink Peeples
I'm No Angel (1933) as Kirk Lawrence
White Woman (1933) as David von Elst
Cradle Song (1933) as Antonio Perez
David Harum (1934) as John Lennox
Death Takes a Holiday (1934) as Corrado
Double Door (1934) as Rip Van Brett
The Scarlet Empress (1934) as Paul (uncredited)
Many Happy Returns (1934) as Movie Actor (uncredited)
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1934) as Bob Redding
Limehouse Blues (1934) (aka East End Chant) as Eric Benton
The County Chairman (1935) as Ben Harvey
College Scandal (1935) as Seth Dunlap
Smart Girl (1935) as Nick Graham
Without Regret (1935) as Steven Paradin
Two-Fisted (1935) as Clint Blackburn
My Marriage (1936) as John DeWitt Tyler III
The Sky Parade (1936) as Tommy Wade
Florida Special (1936) as Wally Tucker
Ramona (1936) as Felipe Moreno
The Accusing Finger (1936) as Jerry Welch
When Love Is Young (1937) as Andy Russell
Wings Over Honolulu (1937) as Gregory Chandler
Love in a Bungalow (1937) as Jeff Langan
The Lady Fights Back (1937) as Owen Merrill
A Girl with Ideas (1937) as Frank Barnes
Prescription for Romance (1937) as Steve Macy
The Jury's Secret (1938) as Walter Russell
The Last Express (1938) as Duncan MacLain
Pirates of the Skies (1939) as Robert Maitland
Four Girls in White (1939) as Nick Conlon
The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939) as Bill Brown
Five Came Back (1939) as Joe Brooks
Three Sons (1939) as Gene Pardway
Sued for Libel (1939) as Steve Lonegan
Escape to Paradise (1939) as Richard Fleming
I Take This Woman (1940) as Phil Mayberry
Two Girls on Broadway (1940) as 'Chat' Chatsworth
Girl in 313 (1940) as Gregg Dunn
Girl from Avenue A (1940) as MacMillan Forrester
Men Against the Sky (1940) as Martin Ames
I'm Still Alive (1940) as Steve Bennett
Repent at Leisure (1941) as Richard Hughes
Washington Melodrama (1941) as Hal Thorne
Frisco Lil (1942) as Peter Brewster
Gang Busters (1942, Serial) as Det. Lt. Bill Bannister
Mississippi Gambler (1942) as John J. 'Johnny' Forbes
Tombstone, the Town Too Tough to Die (1942) as Doc Holiday
Halfway to Shanghai (1942) as Frederick Barton
Army Surgeon (1942) as Lt. Philip 'Phil' Harvey
Bomber's Moon (1943) as Capt. Paul von Block
Roger Touhy, Gangster (1944) as Police Capt. Steven Warren
Alaska (1944) as Gary Corbett
The Daltons Ride Again (1945) as Bob Dalton
Young Widow (1946) as Peter Waring
Smooth as Silk (1946) as Mark Fenton
Tangier (1946) as Ramon
Deadline for Murder (1946) as Steve Millard
Dangerous Millions (1946) as Jack Clark
The Crimson Key (1947) as Lawrence 'Larry' Morgan
Second Chance (1947) as Kendal Wolf
Half Past Midnight (1948) as Wade Hamilton
The Sickle or the Cross (1949) as Rev. John Burnside
Federal Agent at Large (1950) as Mark Reed, aka Nick Ravel
Western Pacific Agent (1950) as Rod Kendall
Trial Without Jury (1950) as Jed Kilgore
Payment on Demand (1951) as Robert Townsend
Playgirl (1954) as Ted Andrews
Track the Man Down (1955) as John Ford
Secret Venture (1955) as Ted O'Hara
The Phantom from 10,000 Leagues (1955) as Dr. Ted Stevens
Slightly Scarlet (1956) as Frank Jansen
Ghost Town (1956) as Anse Conroy
Frontier Gambler (1956) as Roger 'The Duke' Chadwick
The Iron Sheriff (1957) as Phil Quincy
The Restless Gun (1958) Episode "Imposter for a Day"
Fort Bowie (1958) as Col. James Garrett
Gang War (1958) as Bryce Barker, Meadows' Attorney
Walk Tall (1960) as Frank Carter
The Purple Hills (1961) as Johnny Barnes
The Broken Land (1962) as Marshal Jim Cogan
The Firebrand (1962) as Maj. Tim Bancroft
The Day Mars Invaded Earth (1962) (aka Spaceraid 63) as Dr. David Fielding
Harbor Lights (1963) as Dan Crown
The Crawling Hand (1963) as Dr. Max Weitzberg
Law of the Lawless (1964) as Attorney Rand McDonald
Blood of Ghastly Horror (1967) as Dr. Elton Corey
Brides of Blood (1968) as Dr. Paul Henderson
Satan's Sadists (1969) as Lew
The Mighty Gorga (1969) as Tonga Jack Adams
Hell's Bloody Devils (1970) as Count Otto Von Delberg
Brain of Blood (1971) as Dr. Trenton
Angels' Wild Women (1972) as Parker
I Spit on Your Corpse (1974) (aka Girls for Rent) as Moreno
References
External links
Episodes of Boston Blackie television program starring Kent Taylor — from YouTube
1907 births
1987 deaths
American male film actors
Jewish American male actors
American male television actors
Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Male actors from Iowa
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American Jews