Celebrity Biographies
robert taylor
Nicknamed in the 1930s as “the man with the perfect profile”, Robert Taylor fell in love with the vast majority of the female audience of his time thanks to his graceful physique. This American heartthrob has shot more than 70 films despite his early death.
Spangler Arlington Brugh –his real name– was born on August 5, 1911 in Filley, Nebraska (United States). He studied music theory at a Nebraska conservatory and music at Doane College. His father became a doctor to be able to cure his wife, who had serious health problems, and perhaps it was for this reason that Taylor decided to follow in his footsteps, since, in the early 1930s, he went to California to study medicine. , where he also signed up for the university theater group. Shortly after he would abandon the medical career to dedicate himself to acting.
In 1934, a talent scout from the MGM production company noticed him and decided to hire him. His big screen debut –already credited under his stage name, Robert Taylor- came with a small role in Recipe for Happiness (1934), a film directed by David Butler . During these years he shot other films, but his first great success was with the film Sublime obsession (1935), together with Irene Dunne. It tells the story of how young Robert Merrick wants to restore sight to his lover Helen after everyone blames him for his blindness. The movie was a huge success and the actor got rave reviews for his portrayal. Taylor later intervened in a large number of important films such as the great musicalBroadway Melody 1936 (1935), and in the drama A Yankee at Oxford (1938).
Among his best romantic dramas, the following stand out: Margarita Gautier (1937), a film he shot with the actress Greta Garbo , based on the great classic “Lady with the Camellias” by Alexandre Dumas ; and Waterloo Bridge (1940), directed by Mervyn LeRoy , which tells the nostalgic love story between a soldier and a dancer who are separated by the cruel fate of war. Taylor stars in this movie along with the beautiful Vivien Leigh.
Robert Taylor married Barbara Stanwyck , an actress with whom he coincided in the films His Brother’s Wife (1936), The Password (1937) and, after their divorce in 1951, in The Night Walker (1964). In 1954 he married the German actress Ursula Thiess , with whom he had two children. During World War II he entered the Navy, which caused the actor to be absent from the screen for a long period of time.
Among his triumphs are Forbidden Path (1942), where he had the leading role of Johnny Eager, the ringleader of a gang of criminals who manage to mock justice; Three comrades (1938), a tragicomedy about three friends who fall in love with the same woman; and Chicago, años 30 (1958), a film noir about corruption and mafias, where he shares the screen with the splendid Cyd Charisse .
After the box office failure of the film La puerta del diablo (1950), Robert Taylor succeeded again thanks to the leading role in Quo vadis? (1950), where he played Marco Vinicio. Set in the 2nd century, it tells the story of how the Roman Marco falls in love with the Christian Ligia but her different beliefs prevent them from being together. Directed by Mervyn LeRoy, it became the biggest box office hit of the time.
After the war, Robert Taylor decided to leave his role as a romantic leading man and the dramas of this genre in the background, and began to make films of a different type, such as the thrillers Hidden Currents (1946), by Vincente Minnelli , or Betrayal (1949) . ), by Victor Saville , a regular film in which he shared the screen with Elizabeth Taylor for the first time . He also coincided with this great actress in Ivanhoe (1952), an adventure film directed by Richard Thorpe, which narrates how Ivanhoe tries to get the money to ransom King Richard the Lionheart. She was nominated for three Oscars and two Golden Globes. Her role as an adventurer suited her well and she starred in several films of this genre, such as King Arthur’s Knights (1953), All Brothers Were Brave (1953) or The adventures of Quentin Durward (1955), among others.
Among his westerns, Caravan of Women (1951) stands out, where he played the role of a guide who must take a group of women, safely, from Chicago to California. And in the 1960s, Robert Taylor worked for the small screen in the series The Call of the West (1952) and The Detectives (1959).
The actor said goodbye to the cinema with the comedy El ruble de dos caras (1968), a Franco-Spanish spy film. Robert Taylor passed away on June 8, 1969 in Santa Monica, Los Angeles, due to lung cancer.