Sam Taylor (director)

Years active1916–1949

Sam Taylor (August 13, 1895 – March 6, 1958) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer, most active in the silent film era. Taylor is best known for his comedic directorial work with Harold Lloyd and Mary Pickford, and also later worked with Laurel and Hardy. He was born in New York City.

A notorious cinematic legend over the decades has suggested that Taylor's 1929 adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew had the screen credit "additional dialogue by Sam Taylor". However, no extant prints of the film contain this credit, and there is no documentary evidence that it ever existed.

Taylor directed seven feature films with Lloyd as star, second only to Fred C. Newmeyer (the two co-directed Lloyd in five features). He also directed Pickford in her first "talkie" feature with Coquette (1929), which garnered the latter an Academy Award.

Taylor died at the age of 62 in Santa Monica, California.

Partial filmography

External links

• Media related to Sam Taylor (director) at Wikimedia Commons
• Works by or about Sam Taylor at Wikisource
• Sam Taylor at IMDb