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Jack Taylor
Taylor in Succubus (1968)
Born	George Brown Randall (1936-10-21) October 21, 1936 (age 88) Oregon City, Oregon, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1960–2015, 2023

Jack Taylor (born George Brown Randall; October 21, 1936) is an American actor known best for featuring in many European low-budget exploitation movies of the 1970s, particularly several directed by Spanish moviemaker Jesús Franco. Born in Oregon City, a suburb of Portland, Oregon, Taylor began acting onstage as a child. During the 1950s, he began appearing in small roles for Los Angeles-based television series before relocating to Mexico and featuring in several movies directed by Federico Curiel.

Taylor had several minor roles in movie during the early 1960s, including Cleopatra (1963) and Custer of the West (1966) before having the main role in Jesús Franco's Succubus (1968). Taylor relocated subsequently to Madrid, and appeared in numerous exploitation and horror movies there, including Count Dracula (1970), Eugenie… The Story of Her Journey into Perversion (also 1970), Female Vampire (1973), and Pieces (1982).

Taylor's later roles include 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), Roman Polanski's The Ninth Gate (1999), Daryush Shokof's A2Z (filmed 2004) and Miloš Forman's Goya's Ghosts (2006).

Early life

Taylor was born George Brown Randall on October 21, 1936 in Oregon City, Oregon, a suburb of Portland. He began acting as a child, first appearing in a stage production of Macbeth.

Career

He adopted the stage name Jack Taylor and began his acting career in small roles in 1950s American television shows such as The Jack Benny Program and Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. He relocated to Mexico during the late 1950s and featured in a number of movies for director Federico Curiel, often featuring the Mexican characters Nostradamus the Vampire and the superhero Neutron. Reportedly, he relocated to Europe to appear in the movie Cleopatra (1963), but his small part was uncredited.

Taylor had a minor role in the international co-production of Robert Siodmak's Custer of the West (1966).

In 1967, Taylor began his prolific collaboration with Jesús Franco for the movie Succubus (1968, his first onscreen lead role) and Eugenie… The Story of Her Journey into Perversion (1970). He went on to play Quincey Morris in the 1970 Franco opus Count Dracula alongside Christopher Lee, Herbert Lom, Soledad Miranda and Klaus Kinski, before appearing in many of Franco's softcore pornography movies, most famously Female Vampire (1973) with Lina Romay.

During this period, Taylor also featured with Spanish horror actor Paul Naschy in Dr. Jekyll vs. The Werewolf (1971) and The Mummy's Revenge (1975) and worked for director Amando de Ossorio on three occasions, for The Ghost Galleon (1974), Night of the Sorcerers (1974) and The Sea Serpent (1985). He appeared in León Klimovsky's The Vampires Night Orgy (1972) and the Italian giallo movie Red Rings of Fear (1978). Juan Piquer Simón directed him in two movies, a Jules Verne adventure movie named Where Time Began (1978) and the gory cult movie Pieces (1982). Taylor next appeared as a priest in John Milius' Conan the Barbarian (1982).

José Ramón Larraz directed Taylor in two other Spanish slasher movies: Rest in Pieces (1987) and Edge of the Axe (1988). He also had a supporting role in Ridley Scott's 1492: Conquest of Paradise (1992), and later featured with Johnny Depp in Roman Polanski's horror movie The Ninth Gate (1999).

He next appears in André Téchiné's Loin (2001), and Miloš Forman's Goya's Ghosts (2006). Taylor had a supporting role in Son of Cain (2013), followed by Grand Piano (also 2013), featuring Elijah Wood and John Cusack.

Select filmography

References

1. "Q&A: Jack Taylor". spanishfear.com. Retrieved 2019-08-16.
2. ^ Belategui, Oskar (May 2, 2019). "Ser el malo siempre es mejor: la gente solo se acuerda de ti". El Correo (in Spanish). Archived from the original on May 5, 2019.
3. Weismann 2021, p. 118.
4. "Jack Taylor". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on November 20, 2021.
5. Andreu, Jerónimo (March 23, 2010). "En la cárcel de su misterio". El País (in Spanish). Archived from the original on August 16, 2019.
6. Young 2000, pp. 197, 438.
7. ^ "Female Vampire". Encyclopedia.com. Archived from the original on May 15, 2022.
8. ^ Muir 2010, p. 344.
9. ^ Twelftree, Rodney (2013). "Movie Review – Grand Piano". Fernby Films. Archived from the original on May 15, 2022.
10. Young 2000, p. 438.
11. Young 2000, p. 115.
12. Young 2000, p. 197.
13. Young 2000, p. 169.
14. Young 2000, p. 468.
15. Thrower, Stephen (2015). Murderous Passions: The Delirious Cinema of Jesús Franco: Volume 1:1959-1974. Strange Attractor Press. p. 262. ISBN 978-1-907222-31-3.
16. Young 2000, p. 449.
17. Young 2000, p. 423.
18. Caputo 2012, p. 229.
19. Caviaro, Juan Luis (24 January 2014). "Estrenos de cine | 24 de enero | Von Trier y Spike Lee contra Hércules". Espinof.

Sources

• Caputo, Davide (2012). Polanski and Perception: The Psychology of Seeing and the Cinema of Roman Polanski. Bristol, England: Intellect Ltd. ISBN 978-1-841-50552-7.
• Muir, John Kenneth (2010). Horror Films of the 1980s. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-786-45501-0.
• Weismann, Brad (2021). Lost in the Dark: A World History of Horror Film. Jackson, Mississippi: Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-496-83325-9.
• Young, R. G. (2000). The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Film: Ali Baba to Zombies. New York City, New York: Applause Books. ISBN 978-1-557-83269-6.

External links

• Jack Taylor at IMDb
• Jack Taylor at AllMovie

• 1936 births
• Living people
• American male film actors
• American male television actors
• American expatriates in Spain
• Male actors from Oregon
• People from Oregon City, Oregon