Jack Taylor(1926-2026)

Jack Taylor was born as George Brown Randall on October 21, 1936. Tall, slim, and handsome, with a lean face, a pencil thin mustache, and a distinguished air about him, Taylor began his acting career in the early 1950s on "The Jack Benny Show," in which he co-starred with Marilyn Monroe. Jack also had roles on the TV shows "Sheena, Queen of the Jungle" and "Adventures of Captain Grief." He then went to Mexico and acted in a few stage plays. Taylor subsequently appeared in such Mexican horror pictures as "The Curse of Nostradamus" and "The Monsters Demolisher." In addition, he worked for reigning master Mexican horror directors Frederico Curiel and Alphonso Corona Blake. Jack next moved to Spain in the early '60s. He has an uncredited bit part in the big budget historical epic "Cleopatra." Taylor achieved his greatest enduring cult popularity with his memorably sleazy portrayals of elegant, but decadent aristocratic types in a handful of entertainingly trashy Jess Franco exploitation features that include the trippy "Succubus," "Eugenie ... the Story of Her Journey Into Perversion," "Female Vampire," "Sex Charade," and "Voodoo Passion." Besides Franco, Jack has acted in movies for directors Leon Klimovsky, Armando de Ossorio, Jose Larraz, and Juan Piquer Simon. Among Taylor's most notable parts are morally dubious voyeur "hero" Luis in the terrifically twisted "The Vampires' Night Orgy," archaeologist Professor Jonathan Grant in "Night of the Sorcerors," a priest who Arnold Schwarzenegger beats up for his robes in the exciting rough-n-tumble fantasy action treat "Conan the Barbarian," sniveling gay college professor Arthur Brown in the outrageously gory slasher schlocker "Pieces," a stern whaling ship captain in Monte Hellman's fine "Iguana," and suave rare book collector Victor Fargas in Roman Polanski's excellent "The Ninth Gate." Jack Taylor continued to act in films with pleasing regularity well into his 70s.