William Desmond Taylor | |
|---|---|
 Taylor in 1917 | |
| Born | William Cunningham Deane-Tanner 26 April 1872 Carlow, County Carlow, Ireland |
| Died | 1 February 1922 (aged 49) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Homicide by gunshot |
| Resting place | Hollywood Forever Cemetery |
| Nationality | Irish (1872–1890) American (1890–1922) |
| Occupation(s) | Director, actor |
| Years active | 1913–1922 |
| Spouse |
Ethel May Harrison
(m. 1901; div. 1912) |
| Partner | Neva Gerber (1914–1919) |
| Children | 1 |
| Relatives | Denis Gage Deane-Tanner (brother) |
William Desmond Taylor (born William Cunningham Deane-Tanner; 26 April 1872 – 1 February 1922) was an Anglo-Irish-American film director and actor. A popular figure in the growing Hollywood motion picture colony of the 1910s and early 1920s, Taylor directed fifty-nine silent films between 1914 and 1922 and acted in twenty-seven between 1913 and 1915.[1]
Taylor's murder on 1 February 1922, along with other Hollywood scandals such as the Roscoe Arbuckle trial, led to a frenzy of sensationalist and often fabricated newspaper reports.[2] The murder remains an official cold case.[3]
- ^ "The Unsolved Murder of William Desmond Taylor". usc.edu. 2 July 2000. Archived from the original on 29 June 2010. Retrieved 21 July 2014.
- ^ Taylorology (newsheet)[permanent dead link], September 2003; retrieved 6 January 2008.
- ^ Taylorology (newsheet) Issue 4, April 1993; retrieved 12 May 2013.