Sam Taylor(1895-1958)
- Writer
- Director
- Producer
New York-born writer and director with a penchant for comedy. He
graduated from Fordham University, and, from 1916, worked at Kalem on
the
'Ham and Bud' series (Lloyd Hamilton
& Bud Duncan). When Kalem was taken over by
Vitagraph, Taylor became feature continuity writer. Sometime after
1920, he joined Hal Roach as a full
screenwriter, eventually becoming an integral part of
Harold Lloyd's writing staff. He
often worked in tandem with
Fred C. Newmeyer as co-director of such
comedy classics as
Safety Last! (1923) and
The Freshman (1925). Among his
important solo directing efforts were
Harold Lloyd's
For Heaven's Sake (1926),
Exit Smiling (1926), with
Beatrice Lillie;
Tempest (1928), with
John Barrymore and
Ambassador Bill (1931),with
Will Rogers.
In 1937, Taylor founded Chase Productions in conjunction with his writer-brother Matt and authored the Broadway play 'Stopover', which ran for 23 performances at the Lyceum Theatre. Taylor directed Laurel & Hardy in one of their last features, Nothing But Trouble (1944), then turned to writing. His best novel was a thriller, 'The Man With My Face', about an accountant who comes home one day to find that his life has been taken over by a doppelganger and he is subsequently persecuted as an impostor. This was turned into a 1951 motion picture, starring Barry Nelson, for which Taylor also wrote the screenplay.
In 1937, Taylor founded Chase Productions in conjunction with his writer-brother Matt and authored the Broadway play 'Stopover', which ran for 23 performances at the Lyceum Theatre. Taylor directed Laurel & Hardy in one of their last features, Nothing But Trouble (1944), then turned to writing. His best novel was a thriller, 'The Man With My Face', about an accountant who comes home one day to find that his life has been taken over by a doppelganger and he is subsequently persecuted as an impostor. This was turned into a 1951 motion picture, starring Barry Nelson, for which Taylor also wrote the screenplay.
