Dub Taylor
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Walter Clarence Taylor Jr. (February 26, 1907 – October 3, 1994), known as Dub Taylor, was an American character actor who from the 1940s into the 1990s worked extensively in films and on television, often in Westerns but also in comedies. He was the father of actor Buck Taylor, who played the character Newly O'Brien on Gunsmoke. Walter C. Taylor Jr. was born in 1907 in Richmond, Virginia, the middle child of five children of Minnie and Walter C. Taylor, Sr. According to the federal census of 1920, young Walter had two older sisters, Minnie Marg[aret] and Maud, a younger brother named George, and a little sister, Edna Fay. The family moved to Augusta, Georgia around 1912 when Walter was five years old, and the Taylors lived in this city until he was 13. The census of 1920 also documents that Dub's mother was a native of Pennsylvania and his father was a native of North Carolina, who worked in Augusta at that time as a "Cotton Broker". While living in Georgia as a boy, Walter, Jr., got his lifelong nickname when his friends began calling him "W" (double-u) and then shortened his nickname even farther, to just "Dub". It was in Georgia, too, where Taylor befriended Ty Cobb, Jr., the son of the legendary professional baseball player. A vaudeville performer, Dub Taylor was a member of the 1937 Alabama Crimson Tide football team that played in the 1938 Rose Bowl. He stayed behind to establish a career in films, making his film debut in 1938 as the cheerful ex-football captain Ed Carmichael in Frank Capra's You Can't Take It with You. Taylor secured the part because the role required an actor who could also play the xylophone. Later, during the 1950s and early 1960s, he demonstrated his considerable talent for playing the xylophone on several television shows, including an episode on the syndicated series Ranch Party hosted by Tex Ritter. In 1939, he appeared in the film Taming of the West, in which he originated the character of Cannonball, a role he continued to play for the next ten years, in over 50 films. Cannonball was a comic sidekick to Wild Bill Saunders (played by Bill Elliott), a pairing that continued through 13 features, during which Elliott’s character became Wild Bill Hickok. Despite his extensive career as a character actor in a wide range of roles, Dub Taylor continued to find his niche in Westerns, a genre in which he performed in literally dozens of more films and in episodes of many television series. Taylor often appeared in the guise of talkative hotel or postal clerks, court bailiffs, cooks, or dissolute doctors. He portrayed, for example, an ill-tempered chuckwagon cook in the 1969 film The Undefeated, starring John Wayne and Rock Hudson. He appeared as well in the 1971 movie Support Your Local Gunfighter as the drunken Doc Shultz. Taylor played Houston Lamb over the course of four episodes of Little House On The Prairie in seasons six and seven (1979 to 1981). Taylor made at least two film cameos in the early 1990s. In Back to the Future Part III, he appeared with veteran Western actors Pat Buttram and Harry Carey Jr.. His last appearance was in the film Maverick as a hotel room clerk. Dub Taylor died of a heart attack on October 3, 1994 in Los Angeles. In addition to being father to Buck Taylor, Dub had a daughter, Faydean Taylor Tharp. CLR
Known For
Saloon Old Timer
Back to the Future Part III
Dealer
The Cincinnati Kid
Ivan Moss
Bonnie and Clyde
Reverend Wainscoat
The Wild Bunch
Reporter (uncredited)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Pop Cushings
The Shakiest Gun in the West
Laughlin
The Getaway
Mac
The Best of Times
Mr. Malcomb
1941
Digger (voice)
The Rescuers
Station Attendant
Thunderbolt and Lightfoot
Police Officer
Cannonball Run II
Room Clerk
Maverick
Ed Carmichael
You Can't Take It with You
Walker
Burnt Offerings
Teet Howie
Parrish
L.D. Sloane
The Outlaws
Joe
A Man Called Horse
Grandpaw Bridges
Creature from Black Lake
Percy Cook
Spencer's Mountain
Justice of the Peace Floyd
Poor Pretty Eddie
Doc
Great Day
Man (uncredited)
Pocketful of Miracles
Halsey
Shootout in a One-Dog Town
Doc Schultz
Support Your Local Gunfighter
Man (uncredited)
How the West Was Won
Mr. McKinney
No Time for Sergeants
Gus Snider
Crime Wave
Grandpa Parks
Falling from Grace
Rattlesnake Tom
The Fortune
J.J. 'Jumpy' Belk
Country Blue
Doc Adams
Death of a Gunfighter
Townsman (uncredited)
Tall Man Riding
Ed (uncredited)
I Died a Thousand Times
Uncle Bill
Moonshine County Express
Landlord
Hot Rod Gang
Priam
Major Dundee
Joe
Riding High
Atkins
Man and Boy
Charlie Lee
Once Upon a Texas Train
Cannonball
The Return of Daniel Boone
Eli Danvers
The Bounty Hunter
Turquoise Smith
Evel Knievel
Nevady
One Man's Law
Cannonball
Gun Law Justice
Gunner
They Went That-A-Way & That-A-Way
Cannonball
The Marshall of Trail City
Cannonball Taylor
Across The Rio Grande
Stableman
Kit Carson and the Mountain Men
(archive footage)
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
Bitteroot
The Daughters of Joshua Cabe Return
Doc
Black Gold
Fred
A Hole in the Head
Miller Starkie
Dragnet
Gregory
The Losers
Beartooth
Cannonball
The Man from Tumbleweeds
Del
Junior Bonner
Taxi Driver
The Decorator
Officer Roddenberry
Wild in the Sky
Cannonball Taylor (as 'Cannonball' Taylor)
Gun Runner
Cannonball
Outlaw Brand
Cannonball Taylor
Lawless Code
Cottonmouth Gorch
Soggy Bottom, U.S.A.
Cannonball
Song of the Drifter
Cannonball
Range Renegades
Drunk (uncredited)
Period of Adjustment
Sheriff
Something for a Lonely Man
Clayton
Tom Sawyer
Mayor T.L. Caffery
Gator
Sheriff Gordon
This Is a Hijack
Junior
… tick… tick… tick…
Purse
Ride a Northbound Horse
Cannonball Taylor
Hands Across the Rockies
Railroad Yard Watchman
Them!
Norman's Driver (uncredited)
A Star Is Born
Pete Jensen
The Money Jungle
Harley Davidson
The Great Smokey Roadblock
Cannonball
The Son of Davy Crockett
Cannonball
Courtin' Trouble
Cannonball Taylor
The Rangers Ride
Sheriff Forbes
Treasure of Matecumbe
Boomer Riley
Pony Express Rider
Cannonball
Roaring Westward
Cannonball Boggs
Sundown Valley
Cannonball
Saddle Leather Law
Cannonball
Partners of the Sunset
Cannonball
Saddles and Sagebrush
Cannonball
Silver Trails
Cannonball
Both Barrels Blazing
Cannonball
Rough Ridin' Justice
Attendant
Bandolero!
Cannonball Taylor
Oklahoma Blues
Cannonball
Cowboy Cavalier
Cannonball
Riders of the Northwest Mounted
Cannonball
The Wildcat of Tucson
Bob Skaggs (uncredited)
Home from the Hill
McCartney
The Undefeated
The Buster Keaton Show
Old Timer
The Delphi Bureau
Cannonball
Prairie Schooners
Judge Robbins
Brock's Last Case
Spikey
The Learning Tree
Timekeeper
The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin
Mayor
The Liberation of L.B. Jones
Cannonball
Cowboy Canteen
Nolan Brown (uncredited)
The Fastest Gun Alive
Cannonball
Blazing the Western Trail
Cannonball
Lawless Empire
Cannonball Taylor
Texas Panhandle
Cannonball
Silver City Raiders
Seaman Stubby Gordon
Minesweeper
Conagher
Cannonball
Beyond the Sacramento
Sheriff C.W. Thurston
Flash and the Firecat
Cicero Everhart
Menace on the Mountain
Cannonball
Across the Sierras
Cannonball
Frontier Gunlaw
Cannonball
Outlaws of the Rockies
Cannonball
Rustlers of the Badlands
Cannonball
Cowboy in the Clouds
Cannonball Taylor
The Vigilantes Ride
Cannonball
North from the Lone Star
Cannonball
The Return of Wild Bill
Clayton Howell
The Hallelujah Trail
Cannonball Simms
Pioneers of the Frontier
Cannonball
A Tornado in the Saddle
Cannonball Taylor
King of Dodge City
Cannonball
The Lone Prairie
Cannonball
Cyclone Prairie Rangers
Doc 'Canonball' Jones
Wyoming Hurricane
Cannonball
Cowboy from Lonesome River
Cannonball
The Last Horseman
Josh
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid
Cannonball
Sagebrush Heroes
Cannonball
Ridin' Down the Trail
Dan Hatcher
Sweet Bird of Youth
Cannonball
Brand of Fear
Electrician
Don't Make Waves
County Veterinarian (uncredited)
Auntie Mame
Nevada Ticket Agent
Hearts of the West
Phil
The Wild Country
Johnny Banco
Tucker
Used Cars
Reed, the Lawyer
Who Killed the Mysterious Mr. Foster?
Dr. Peabody
The Reivers
Malloy
Tanks a Million
Gimme Cap
My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys
Rattler S. Gravley
The Winds of Autumn
Honky Tonk
Joe
You Can't Run Away from It
Cannonball
The Taming of the West
Bit Part (uncredited)
Carefree
Fire Tender
Mooncussers
Dr. Isaiah Beauregard Hooker
Doc Hooker's Bunch
The Westerner's Friend
The Gambler Returns: The Luck Of The Draw
Personal Info
Known For
Acting
Known Credits
156
Gender
Male
Birthday
1907-02-26
Place of Birth
Richmond, Virginia, USA
Also Known As
Cannonball Taylor