Early life and work The son of Mr. and Mrs. D. E. Taylor, Donald Ritchie Taylor was born in
Freeport, Pennsylvania on December 13, 1920. (Another source says that he was born "in Pittsburgh and raised in Freeport, Pa.") and
movie (1944), credited as "Cpl. Don Taylor."
Acting career After discharge from the AAF, Taylor was cast in a lead role as the young detective, Jimmy Halloran, working alongside veteran homicide detective Dan Muldoon (
Barry Fitzgerald) in
Universal's 1948 screen version of
The Naked City, which was notable for being filmed entirely on location in
New York. Taylor was later part of the ensemble cast in MGM's classic World War II drama
Battleground (1949). He then appeared as the husband of
Elizabeth Taylor in the comedies
Father of the Bride (1950) and its sequel ''
Father's Little Dividend (1951), starring Spencer Tracy. Another memorable role was Vern "Cowboy" Blithe in Flying Leathernecks (1951). In 1952, Taylor played a soldier bringing his Japanese war-bride back to small-town America in Japanese War Bride''. In 1953, Taylor had a key role as the escaping prisoner Lt. Dunbar in
Billy Wilder's
Stalag 17, and starred as
Robin Hood in the following year's
The Men of Sherwood Forest from future
horror pioneers
Hammer Films. His last major film role came in ''
I'll Cry Tomorrow'' (1955), although he continued to occasionally act for television into the early 60s.
Directorial career From the late 1950s through the 1980s, Taylor turned to directing movies and TV shows, such as
Alfred Hitchcock Presents, the short-lived
Steve Canyon, starring
Dean Fredericks, and
Rod Serling's
Night Gallery. One of his memorable efforts, in 1973, was the musical film
Tom Sawyer, which boasted a
Sherman Brothers song score. Other films that Taylor directed are
Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971),
Echoes of a Summer (1976),
The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday (also 1976),
The Island of Dr. Moreau (1977) starring
Burt Lancaster,
Damien - Omen II (1978) with
William Holden, and
The Final Countdown (1980) with
Kirk Douglas. Taylor occasionally performed both acting and directing roles simultaneously, as he did for episodes of the TV detective series ''
Burke's Law.''
Writing career Taylor "wrote one-act plays, radio dramas, short stories, and the 1985 TV movie
My Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Legend of Errol Flynn.
Death Taylor died on December 29, 1998, at the University of California Medical Center in
Los Angeles, California, of
heart failure. ==Awards==