- Born
- Died
- Birth nameDonald Ritchie Taylor
- Height6′ 1″ (1.85 m)
- Born in Freeport, Pennsylvania, Don Taylor studied law, then speech and drama at Penn State University, where as a freshman he began taking part in college stage productions. Hitchhiking to Hollywood in 1942, the youthful Taylor screen-tested at Warner Brothers but was rejected because of his draft status. MGM, not as fussy, signed him to a contract and immediately put him to work, assigning him the minuscule role of a soldier in director Clarence Brown's sentimental slice of Americana, The Human Comedy (1943). More minor roles followed before Taylor enlisted in the Army; but even there he continued to act: Playwright/screenwriter Moss Hart chose him to play one of the leads in the United States Army Air Forces' production of Hart's play, "Winged Victory." Taylor met his first wife, actress Phyllis Avery, when she was also in Winged Victory. Returning to civilian life, Taylor resumed his work in pictures with a top role in the trend-setting crime drama The Naked City (1948). In later years Taylor became a film and TV director, being nominated for an Emmy for his direction of an episode of The Farmer's Daughter. Taylor met his second wife Hazel Court when he directed her in a 1958 episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1955).
- IMDb mini biography by: Tom Weaver <TomWeavr@aol.com>
- SpousesHazel Court(March 25, 1963 - December 29, 1998) (his death, 2 children)Phyllis Avery(September 14, 1944 - February 1, 1956) (divorced, 2 children)
- ChildrenCourtney TaylorJonathan David TaylorRobin Avery TaylorAnne Dixon Taylor
- RelativesMartine Avery Moore(Grandchild)
- He directed two science fiction films involving time travel: Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) and The Final Countdown (1980).
- Both he and his second wife Hazel Court appeared in Hammer films made during the 1950s. He appeared in The Men of Sherwood Forest (1954) while Court appeared in The Curse of Frankenstein (1957) and The Man Who Could Cheat Death (1959).
- Has two children with Hazel Court: Courtney Taylor and Jonathan Taylor.
- Has two children with Phyllis Avery: Avery Taylor Moore and Anne Taylor Fleming; and a granddaughter Martine Avery Moore.
- Taylor "wrote one-act plays, radio dramas, short stories, and the 1985 TV movie My Wicked, Wicked Ways ... The Legend of Errol Flynn.".
- I love seeing some of those movies that I was in, but I would have died not directing. I broke into it when it wasn't easy. When I decided I wanted to direct, I couldn't even get to first base; to get a half-hour show I practically had to kiss Dick Powell in the middle of Santa Monica Boulevard! But at least I helped to break that barrier down in a way. It is a director's medium.
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