Jack Taylor (actor)
Jack Taylor | |
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Born |
George Brown Randall October 21, 1936 |
Occupation | Film, television actor |
Jack Taylor (born George Brown Randall; 21 October 1936) is an American actor.
Career
Born in the United States in 1936, actor George Brown Randall adopted the stage name Jack Taylor and began his acting career appearing in small roles in American TV shows such as The Jack Benny Program and Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. He then left the USA, relocating first to Mexico in the late 1950s/early 1960s, and later to Spain, where he has appeared in many films, mostly horror and cheesy exploitation pictures.
He worked for such well-known Spanish horror film directors as Jesús Franco, Amando de Ossorio, Javier Aguirre, Juan Piquer Simon, Leon Klimovsky, Carlos Aured and Jose Ramon Larraz. He co-starred in films with many famous Mexican and European horror stars, such as Paul Naschy, Christopher Lee, Wolf Ruvinski, German Robles, Howard Vernon, Ray Milland, Soledad Miranda, Janine Reynaud, Lina Romay, Paul Muller, Klaus Kinski, Adrian Hoven, Helga Line, Herbert Lom and Maria Rohm.
Taylor starred in a number of cult classic horror films made in Mexico when he was in his early twenties, films featuring the Mexican characters of Nostradamus the vampire and the superhero Neutron. Reportedly he moved to Europe in the mid-1960s to appear in Liz Taylor's epic Cleopatra, but his small part ended up uncredited. In 1967, he began working in Spain for director Jesus Franco in such schlock classics as Necronomicon (his first major role) and Eugenie: The Story of her Journey into Perversion. He co-starred in 1969 with Herbert Lom and Christopher Lee in the 1969 Jesus Franco opus Count Dracula.
He shocked his fans in 1974 by appearing completely nude in The Bare Breasted Countess (1974), a Jesus Franco horror film that contained many pornographic sequences, as well as in Franco's extremely X-rated Call of the Blonde Goddess and Sexy Sisters in 1977.
Taylor co-starred in a few Paul Naschy films filmed in Spain such as The Mummy's Revenge and Dr. Jekyll and the Wolf Man. He worked for director Amando De Ossorio three times, in The Ghost Galleon, Night of the Sorcerers and The Sea Serpent. He also appeared in Leon Klimovsky's The Vampires' Night Orgy and the Italian giallo Red Rings of Fear. Taylor also had a small role in John Milius' Conan the Barbarian, which was filmed in Spain.
Juan Piquer Simon directed him in two films, a Jules Verne adventure film called Where Time Began and the gory slasher film Pieces. Jose Larraz directed him in two slasher films, Rest in Pieces and Edge of the Axe. Taylor later impressively portrayed the character of Jaccussi in the lead role in A2Z by Daryush Shokof in 2004, and had a small role in Roman Polanski's The Ninth Gate.
Filmography
- The Blood of Nostradamus (1959)
- Nostradamus, the Genie of Darkness (1959)
- Nostradamus and the Monster Demolisher (1959)
- The Curse of Nostradamus (1959)
- Neutron Vs The Amazing Dr. Caronte (1960)
- Neutron Vs The Death Robots (1960)
- Neutron, the Man in the Black Mask (1960)
- Succubus aka "Necronomicon - Geträumte Sünden" (1968, dir. Jesus Franco)
- Eugenie: The Story of her Journey into Perversion (1969, dir. Jesus Franco)
- Nightmares Come At Night (1969, dir. Jesus Franco)
- Count Dracula (1970, dir. Jesus Franco)
- Dr. Jekyll and the Wolfman (1971, co-starring Paul Naschy)
- The Killer is One of Thirteen (1973, dir. Javier Aguirre)
- The Mummy's Revenge (1973, co-starring Paul Naschy)
- The Vampires Night Orgy (1973, dir. Leon Klimovsky)
- The Ghost Galleon aka "Horror of the Zombies" (1974, dir. Amando de Ossorio)
- The Bare Breasted Countess (1974, dir. Jesus Franco)
- The House of Lost Girls (1974) dir. Pierre Chevalier
- Night of the Sorcerers (1974, dir. Amando de Ossorio)
- Sexy Sisters (1977, dir. Jesus Franco)
- Call of the Blonde Goddess aka "Voodoo Passion" (1977, dir. Jesus Franco)
- Where Time Began (1977, dir. Juan Piquer Simón)
- The Devil's Exorcist (1978)
- Red Rings of Fear (1978) aka "Enigma Rosso" (made in Italy)
- Pieces (1981, dir. Juan Piquer Simón)
- Conan the Barbarian (1982, dir. John Milius)
- The Sea Serpent (1985, dir. Amando de Ossorio) aka Hydra
- Rest in Pieces (1987, dir. José Ramón Larraz)
- Edge of the Axe (1988, dir. José Ramón Larraz)
- The Ninth Gate (1999, dir. Roman Polanski)
- A2Z (2004, dir. Daryush Shokof)
- The Birthday (2004, dir. Eugenio Mira)
- Agnosía (2010, dir. Eugenio Mira)