Sam Taylor


Director
Sam Taylor

About

Birth Place
New York City, New York, USA
Born
August 13, 1895
Died
March 06, 1958

Biography

A scriptwriter and director who began his career in the silent era, Sam Taylor's first directorial effort was in 1922 with the romance "The Mohican's Daughter," after having begun to write scripts for Vitagraph a few years earlier. His first collaboration with Harold Lloyd was on the 1923 classic "Safety Last!," a film he directed and co-wrote. The film features a now famous part of cine...

Biography

A scriptwriter and director who began his career in the silent era, Sam Taylor's first directorial effort was in 1922 with the romance "The Mohican's Daughter," after having begun to write scripts for Vitagraph a few years earlier. His first collaboration with Harold Lloyd was on the 1923 classic "Safety Last!," a film he directed and co-wrote. The film features a now famous part of cinematic history--a scene with Lloyd's bank clerk hanging precariously from the hands of a large clock many stories above a city street. The pair teamed up again for 1924's "Girl Shy" and 1925's "The Freshman," featuring Lloyd as an over-eager collegiate. Taylor's association with starlet Mary Pickford began in 1927 on "My Best Girl," a romantic comedy. He worked with Pickford again on the drama "Coquette" and in 1929 he became part of the sound era with the adaptation "The Taming of the Shrew," starring Pickford and her then-husband Douglas Fairbanks. The film contained the now infamous credit "By William Shakespeare, with additional dialogue by Sam Taylor." He would work with Pickford once more, on the 1931 musical "Kiki" before reuniting with Lloyd on the 1934 comedy"The Cat's-Paw." His final directorial effort came in 1944 and allowed him to work with screen legends Laurel and Hardy, on the romp "Nothing But Trouble ."

Filmography

 

Director (Feature Film)

Nothing But Trouble (1945)
Director
Married Bachelor (1941)
Fill-in Assistant Director
Vagabond Lady (1935)
Director
The Cat's-Paw (1934)
Director
Out All Night (1933)
Director
Business and Pleasure (1932)
Director
Devil's Lottery (1932)
Director
Skyline (1931)
Director
Kiki (1931)
Director
Ambassador Bill (1931)
Director
Du Barry, Woman of Passion (1930)
Director
Coquette (1929)
Director
Taming of the Shrew (1929)
Director
The Woman Disputed (1928)
Director
Tempest (1928)
Director
My Best Girl (1927)
Director
Exit Smiling (1926)
Director
For Heaven's Sake (1926)
Director
The Freshman (1925)
Director
Girl Shy (1924)
Director
Hot Water (1924)
Director
Safety Last! (1923)
Director
Why Worry? (1923)
Director

Writer (Feature Film)

The Cat's-Paw (1934)
Screenwriter
Kiki (1931)
Adaptation
Du Barry, Woman of Passion (1930)
Adaptation
Lady of the Pavements (1929)
Scen
Taming of the Shrew (1929)
Adaptation
Coquette (1929)
Dial
Exit Smiling (1926)
Scen
The Freshman (1925)
Story and Screenplay
Hot Water (1924)
Story
Girl Shy (1924)
Story
Why Worry? (1923)
Story
Safety Last! (1923)
Story
Doctor Jack (1922)
Story
Grandma's Boy (1922)
Story
Princess Jones (1921)
Scen
A Sailor-Made Man (1921)
Story
Human Collateral (1920)
Scen
The Midnight Bride (1920)
Scen
In Honor's Web (1919)
Scen
Over the Garden Wall (1919)
Scen
The Gray Towers Mystery (1919)
Scen
The Gamblers (1919)
Scen

Film Production - Main (Feature Film)

The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947)
Scen, <I>The Freshman</I>
The Sin of Harold Diddlebock (1947)
Director, <I>The Freshman</I>

Production Companies (Feature Film)

Vagabond Lady (1935)
Company
Devil's Lottery (1932)
Company
Skyline (1931)
Company
Kiki (1931)
Company

Life Events

Videos

Movie Clip

For Heaven's Sake (1926) -- (Movie Clip) Two Earthquakes And A Landslide Opening Harold Lloyd’s first feature made for Paramount, Paul Weigel as the city missionary, Jobyna Ralston his daughter, then eventually to Lloyd as impossibly rich “Harold Manners,” expressing his wealth through cars, in For Heaven’s Sake, 1926.
For Heaven's Sake (1926) -- (Movie Clip) No Interest Whatsoever Out of gratitude Jobyna Ralston (“the downtown girl”) has named her charity for money-soaked Harold (Lloyd) Manners, who is piqued because he wasn’t asked, but his view changes when he meets her and her minister father (Paul Weigel), to whom he gave the check, tries to explain, early in For Heaven’s Sake, 1926.
For Heaven's Sake (1926) -- (Movie Clip) People's Engineering Whiz-bang stunt with a car and a train, after an elaborate chase in which Harold Lloyd, as filthy-rich “Harold Manners,” in the new ride he’s just casually purchased, picks up cops chasing bandits, in Lloyd’s first Paramount feature, For Heaven’s Sake, 1926.
Freshman, The (1925) -- (Movie Clip) Opening, College Yells Opening credits and introduction of producer and star Harold Lloyd (as budding college man "Harold Lamb), along with his parents, from the 1925 silent comedy hit The Freshman.
Freshman, The (1925) -- (Movie Clip) Just A Regular Fellow Told he must make a speech to the students, with a kitten hidden in his sweater, new man Harold (Harold Lloyd) thinks he's made a success in The Freshman, 1925.
Freshman, The (1925) -- (Movie Clip) Last Substitute The beginning of the climax, in which the coach (Pat Harmon) is forced to use Speedy (Harold Lloyd) as a substitute or forfeit the big game, in The Freshman, 1925.
Freshman, The (1925) -- (Movie Clip) Party, Tuxedo In a portion the never-ending party/tuxedo gag, "Speedy" (Harold Lloyd) woos Peggy (Jobyna Ralston) and loses his suit, in The Freshman, 1925.
Safety Last! (1923) -- (Movie Clip) Clock Tower Just a portion of Harold Lloyd's famous "Clock Tower" sequence, "the boy" being helped by pal Bill Strother, shot on a Los Angeles high-rise, from Saftey Last!, 1923.
Safety Last! (1923) -- (Movie Clip) Ten Minutes "The Boy" (Harold Lloyd) has ten minutes to get back to work, so he improvises transportation in the big city in a famous sequence from Safety Last!, 1923.
Safety Last! (1923) -- (Movie Clip) Opening, Great Bend A gag in the very first shot, Nebraska-born Harold Lloyd as "The Boy" appearing doomed when he's only waiting for a train, introduction of "The Girl" (Mildred Davis) and framing the story, opening the hit Hal Roach comedy Safety Last!, 1923.
Why Worry? (1923) -- (Movie Clip) I Have A Great Doctor! Established as a famous affluent hypochondriac, Harold (Lloyd) in his first scene boards the liner for South America with his butler (Wallace Howe) and devoted nurse (Jobyna Ralston, in her first of many roles as his love interest), who sets his heart aflutter, in Why Worry?, 1923.
Why Worry? (1923) -- (Movie Clip) Prisoners To Be Shot In South American "Paradiso," oblivious to the revolt being staged by crooked Yankee mercenaries, idle-rich hypochondriac Harold (Lloyd) complains to the ringleader (Jim Mason) about his hotel, local giant Colosso (John Aasen) also introduced, early in Why Worry?, 1923.

Bibliography