Buck Taylor (born Walter Clarence Taylor III,[Yoggy, Gary A. (1995). Riding the Video Range: The Rise and Fall of the Western on Television. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. p. 123. .][Aaker, Everett (2017). Television Western Players, 1960-1975: A Biographical Dictionary. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. p. 408. .] May 13, 1938)
Early life and career
Taylor is the son of character actor
Dub Taylor,
[Dub Taylor, 87, Actor in Westerns, The New York Times, October 5, 1994, Section B, Page 12] from whom Buck reportedly acquired his nickname simply because, having clocked in at a hefty nine pounds at birth, he "looked like a big buck."
Taylor graduated from North Hollywood High School, where he became a talented gymnast. Actor Guinn "Big Boy" Williams sponsored him to go to the U.S. Olympic Trials as a
Gymnastics, but he failed to qualify for the 1960 Summer Olympics.
[Artist and Actor Finds Inspiration for Art from Work on Western Films, American Cowboy, September - October, 1995, Pages 23 and 30] He served two years in the United States Navy.
[ At Home with Walter Clarence "Buck" Taylor III at americancowboy.com. Retrieved August 21, 2020.]
His first important acting role was as Trooper Shattuck in the 1961 Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre episode "Image of a Drawn Sword". His other early roles were in a 1964 episode of The Outer Limits entitled "Don't Open Till Doomsday", and as John Bradford (Brad) in four episodes of the 1966 ABC Western series The Monroes.[Brooks, Tim and Marsh, Earle, The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows 1946 - Present, pages 679 to 680, Ballantine Books, 1999]
Gunsmoke
From 1967 to 1975, Taylor played Newly O'Brien in the television series
Gunsmoke. He replaced deputy marshal Clayton Thaddeus Greenwood, played by
Roger Ewing, after Ewing left the show.
The character came to Dodge City as a gunsmith, and later became a deputy marshal. He reprised his role in the 1987 television movie
,
[Maltin, Leonard, Leonard Maltin's TV Movies and Video Guide, 1991 Edition, Plume, 1990] where he played the city's marshal. With the death of Roger Ewing, who played Deputy Marshal Clayton Thaddeus Greenwood at 83, Buck Taylor is the last survivor of the main cast of
Gunsmoke.
In 1981, the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum inducted Taylor into the Cowboy Hall of Fame, and awarded him the Trustee Award for his performance on Gunsmoke.[Meetings, The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Vol. 100, No. 1, July, 1996, Page 94]
Artwork
Taylor attended the Chouinard Art Institute, and has been selling his watercolor and acrylic paintings of cowboys, Native Americans, and horses since 1993.
[ Many of his paintings are of characters and scenes from movies and television series in which he has appeared. These images are made into prints, which are sold in various sizes.][Artist and Actor Finds Inspiration for Art from Work on Western Films, American Cowboy, September - October 1995, Pages 23 and 30] He is the official artist for many rodeos and state fairs, and creates their promotional posters.[Bell, Kathy, The Life of Buck Taylor, Daily Globe, December 2, 2019]
Filmography
Film
-
1966 - The Wild Angels as Dear John
-
1976 - Pony Express Rider as Bovey Kingman
-
1978 - Beartooth
-
1981 - The Legend of the Lone Ranger as Robert Edward Gattlin
-
1981 - Cattle Annie and Little Britches as Dyamite Dick
-
1983 - Triumphs of a Man Called Horse as Sgt. Bridger
-
1984 - No Man's Land as Feeny
-
1990 - Big Bad John as Bob Simmons
-
1991 - Conagher as Tile Coker
-
1993 - Gettysburg as Colonel William Gamble
-
1993 - Tombstone as John "Turkey Creek Jack" Johnson
-
1998 - Hard Time as Capt. Adam Gunther
-
2003 - Gods and Generals as General Maxcy Gregg
-
2005 - Truce as Harry Dodds
-
2006 - Flicka as Wagner
-
2007 - The Mist as Ambrose Cornell
-
2011 - Cowboys & Aliens as Wes Claibourne
-
2017 - The Road to Valhalla as Union Veteran
-
2016 - Indiscretion as Abe
-
2016 - Hell or High Water as Old Man
-
2019 - Trading Paint as Ben
-
2025 - Sod & Stubble as John C. Haag
Television
|
|
| Season 1 Episode 10: "Day of Reckoning" |
| Episode 15: "My Son The Social Worker" |
| TV movie |
| episode "Terror At High Point" |
| episode "Do Not Open 'Til Doomsday" |
| Season 1 episode 34 "The DisastroUjjain-Nauts" |
| Season 5 episode 16 "Divorce, Bryant Park Style" |
| Season 1 episode 34 "The Disastro-Nauts" |
| Season 3 Episode 20: "Death Scene" |
| 1965 | Wagon Train | Skeeter Ames | Episode 15: "The Chottsie Gubenheimer Story" |
| episode "The Young Marauders" |
| |
| 4 episodes |
| episode “Vengeance!, part 1 and Part 2” |
103 episodes[Greenland, David R., The Gunsmoke Chronicles (Ebook), BearManor Media, 2015] |
| episode "Shadow of Fear" |
| TV movie |
| |
| |
| miniseries |
| TV movie |
| 1995 | Walker, Texas Ranger | Logan Reno | Season 3, Episode 16 “War Zone” |
| miniseries |
| TV movie |
| |
External links
