---
name: "Don Taylor"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/don-taylor-9108"
roles: ["Director"]
born: "13 December 1920"
died: "29 December 1998"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 1
average_as: "director"
average_over: 1
updated: "2026-09-19T16:47:56.460234+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Don Taylor

Director. Born 13 December 1920 in Freeport, Pennsylvania, USA. Died 29 December 1998.

## Details

- **Work:** Director
- **Born:** 13 December 1920, Freeport, Pennsylvania, USA
- **Died:** 29 December 1998
- **Also known as:** Donald Richie Taylor
- **Primetime Emmy Awards:** 1 Emmy nomination
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Taylor_(American_filmmaker), https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q558149, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852279/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/9108

## Fi1m on Don Taylor

> Don Taylor came to directing from acting and spent most of his career on other people's series. Once, in *Escape from the Planet of the Apes*, he was handed the right script and made the funniest and saddest film in the series.

Two talking chimpanzees land in present-day California and, for a while, *Escape from the Planet of the Apes* (1971) is a comedy about being famous. Then it stops being one. Don Taylor's handling of that turn is the best thing we have seen from him, and it tells you what kind of director he was: one who kept the story moving and let the actors do the rest. It also shows his weakness. A few of the early gags, a shopping trip, a night at the boxing, run past their laugh, and Taylor does not stop them. He was generous with a scene when a harder man would have cut.

He had been an actor first. He appeared in *The Naked City* (1948), *Father of the Bride* (1950) and *Stalag 17* (1953), then in the late 1950s went behind the camera and stayed there, on *Alfred Hitchcock Presents*, *The Rifleman*, *The Big Valley* and *Night Gallery*, with features from the early 1960s. He did not miss the other side of the lens much. 'It is a director's medium,' he said when asked about actors who direct, and he kept at it for thirty years, ending with television films in the late 1980s.

*Escape* is where the television years pay off. It was made quickly and the budget shows in every frame, and Taylor treats that as a condition of the job rather than an excuse. Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter carry it, and he trusts them to. The second half moved us more than a third film about talking apes has any business doing, and the credit is theirs as much as his: they play the early scenes for laughs and the later ones for grief, and he has the sense to keep out of the way. Not everything is judged so well. Sal Mineo, as Milo, gets the least to do of the three apes, which is a waste of him, and the human parts are pleasant and nearly empty.

After that he went where the work was: *Tom Sawyer* (1973), a musical with a Sherman Brothers score; *The Island of Dr. Moreau* (1977) with Burt Lancaster; *Damien: Omen II* (1978) with William Holden; *The Final Countdown* (1980), in which Kirk Douglas and an aircraft carrier travel in time. We have not reviewed them. The consensus on this stretch, then and since, is that Taylor was efficient rather than exciting, that the musical was not his form, and that his endings were weaker than his premises. That is the description of a journeyman, and it is not an insult.

If you see one Taylor film, make it *Escape*, and see it knowing that the man behind it spent most of his life getting other people's stories in on time. Once, the story was worth the trouble.

## Biography

Don Taylor (born Donald Ritchie Taylor) was an American actor and film director. Born in Freeport, Pennsylvania, on 13 December 1920, he began his career as an actor in the 1940s, appearing in films including *The Naked City* (1948), *Battleground* (1949), *Father of the Bride* (1950), *Father's Little Dividend* (1951) and *Stalag 17* (1953).

From the late 1950s he worked primarily as a director of feature films and television. His credits include episodes of *Alfred Hitchcock Presents* and *Night Gallery*, and the films *Escape from the Planet of the Apes* (1971), *Tom Sawyer* (1973), *The Island of Dr. Moreau* (1977), *Damien: Omen II* (1978) and *The Final Countdown* (1980). He died in Los Angeles on 29 December 1998.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.*

## On Fi1m (1)

- *Escape from the Planet of the Apes* (1971), Fi1m 77, Director — [page](https://film.one/film/escape-from-the-planet-of-the-apes.md)

## Complete filmography (121)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Mrs. Weekley's Lover* (2025), Director
- *That's Entertainment! III* (1994), as (archive footage) (uncredited)
- *Bingo: Scenes of Money and Death* (1990), Director
- *The Diamond Trap* (1988), Director
- *Ghost of a Chance* (1987), Director
- *Classified Love* (1986), Director, Producer
- *Going for the Gold: The Bill Johnson Story* (1985), Director
- *Secret Weapons* (1985), Director
- *My Wicked, Wicked Ways: The Legend of Errol Flynn* (1985), Teleplay, Director
- *Man Hunt* (1984), Actor
- *He's Not Your Son* (1984), Director
- *September Gun* (1983), Director
- *Ghost Dancing* (1983), Director
- *Listen to Your Heart* (1983), Director
- *Drop-Out Father* (1982), Director
- *Red Flag: The Ultimate Game* (1981), Director
- *Broken Promise* (1981), Director, Producer
- *The Promise of Love* (1980), Director
- *In Hiding* (1980), Director, Writer
- *The Final Countdown* (1980), Director
- *The Gift* (1979), Director
- *The BBC Television Shakespeare* (1978), series, Director
- *Damien - Omen II* (1978), Director
- *When the Actors Come* (1978), Writer, Director
- *For Tea on Sunday* (1978), Director
- *The Island of Dr. Moreau* (1977), Director
- *A Circle of Children* (1977), Director
- *The Achurch Letters* (1977), Director, Writer
- *The Great Scout & Cathouse Thursday* (1976), Director
- *Dad* (1976), Director, Writer
- *The Hemingway Play* (1976), Director
- *Echoes of a Summer* (1976), Director
- *Petrocelli* (1974), series, Director
- *Honky Tonk* (1974), Director
- *Night Games* (1974), Director
- *Tom Sawyer* (1973), Director
- *The Man Hunter* (1972), Director
- *Heat of Anger* (1972), Director
- *Cannon* (1971), series, Director
- *Escape from the Planet of the Apes* (1971), Director — Fi1m 77, [page](https://film.one/film/escape-from-the-planet-of-the-apes.md)
- *Night Gallery* (1970), series, Director
- *Wild Women* (1970), Director
- *The 5-Man Army* (1969), as Poker Player (uncredited) · Director
- *Something for a Lonely Man* (1968), Director
- *The Mod Squad* (1968), series, Director
- *The Name of the Game* (1968), series, Director
- *The Enemy* (1967), Director
- *Jack of Diamonds* (1967), Director
- *Mannix* (1967), series, Director
- *The Danny Thomas Hour* (1967), series, Director
- *The Flying Nun* (1967), series, Director
- *The Tammy Grimes Show* (1966), series, Director
- *Preview Tonight* (1966), series, Director
- *The Loner* (1965), series, Director
- *The Wild Wild West* (1965), series, Director
- *The Big Valley* (1965), series, Director
- *Amos Burke: Secret Agent* (1965), series, Director
- *And Did Those Feet ?* (1965), Director
- *The Rogues* (1964), series, Director
- *Ride the Wild Surf* (1964), Director
- *Burke's Law* (1963), series, as George Hogarth, Scubie Baker · Director
- *The Farmer's Daughter* (1963), series, Director
- *The Lieutenant* (1963), series, Director
- *Vacation Playhouse* (1963), series, Director
- *Ensign O'Toole* (1962), series, Director
- *Everything's Ducky* (1961), Director
- *The Savage Guns* (1961), as Mike Summers
- *The New Breed* (1961), series, as Fred Kingman
- *Dr. Kildare* (1961), series, Director
- *87th Precinct* (1961), series, Director
- *Follow the Sun* (1961), series, Director
- *Checkmate* (1960), series, as Chip Damion · Director, Teleplay
- *Hong Kong* (1960), series, Director
- *Dennis the Menace* (1959), series, Director
- *Johnny Ringo* (1959), series, Director
- *Tightrope* (1959), series, Director
- *Peck's Bad Girl* (1959), series, Director
- *The Rifleman* (1958), series, Director
- *Steve Canyon* (1958), series, Director
- *Love Slaves of the Amazons* (1957), as Dr. Pete L. Masters
- *Alcoa Theatre* (1957), series, Director
- *M Squad* (1957), series, Director
- *Bachelor Father* (1957), series, Director
- *Have Gun, Will Travel* (1957), series, Director
- *Ride The High Iron* (1956), as Hugo Danielchik
- *Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre* (1956), series, as Yankee · Director
- *Hey, Jeannie!* (1956), series, Director
- *Telephone Time* (1956), series, Director
- *The Bold and the Brave* (1956), as Ewald "Preacher" Wallister
- *I'll Cry Tomorrow* (1955), as Wallie
- *Crossroads* (1955), series, as Father Felix
- *Alfred Hitchcock Presents* (1955), series, as Prof. Donald Mason · Director
- *The Men of Sherwood Forest* (1954), as Robin Hood
- *Climax!* (1954), series, as John Appleby, Julian Coates, Timothy Colt
- *Summer Playhouse* (1954), series, Director
- *Johnny Dark* (1954), as Duke Benson
- *Stalag 17* (1953), as James Dunbar
- *The Girls of Pleasure Island* (1953), as Lt. Jimmy Gilmartin
- *Destination Gobi* (1953), as Jenkins
- *General Electric Theater* (1953), series, as Bob Farrell
- *Cavalcade of America* (1952), series, as Bob Lawrence
- *Japanese War Bride* (1952), as Jim Sterling
- *Submarine Command* (1951), as Lt. Cmdr. Peter Morris
- *The Blue Veil* (1951), as Dr. Robert Palfrey
- *Schlitz Playhouse of Stars* (1951), series, as Dr. Soames, Sergeant Ben Destry, Tom Weldon, Pete, Max Swanson
- *Flying Leathernecks* (1951), as Lt. Vern 'Cowboy' Blithe
- *Father's Little Dividend* (1951), as Buckley Dunstan
- *Target Unknown* (1951), as Lt. Frank Webster
- *Lux Video Theatre* (1950), series, as Roger, Jim Emerson
- *Father of the Bride* (1950), as Buckley Dunstan
- *Robert Montgomery Presents* (1950), series, as Mark Pine
- *Ambush* (1950), as Lt. Linus Delaney
- *Battleground* (1949), as Standiferd
- *Studio One* (1948), series, Director
- *For the Love of Mary* (1948), as David Paxton
- *The Naked City* (1948), as Jimmy Halloran
- *Song of the Thin Man* (1947), as Buddy Hollis
- *Time to Kill* (1945), as George
- *The Last Bomb* (1945), as Gunner
- *Winged Victory* (1944), as Danny 'Pinkie' Scariano
- *Swing Shift Maisie* (1943), as Young Pilot (Uncredited)

## Gallery

- ![Don Taylor](https://film.one/media/person/1097861/gallery-e62641b580a6.jpg) Don Taylor — Trailer screenshot, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Don_Taylor_%28Father%27s_Little_Dividend%29.JPG?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Don Taylor and Phyllis Avery, 1946](https://film.one/media/person/1097861/gallery-c25ddf074a0c.jpg) Don Taylor and Phyllis Avery, 1946 — Photographer not credited, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/64/Don_Taylor_and_Phyllis_Avery%2C_1946.jpg/1280px-Don_Taylor_and_Phyllis_Avery%2C_1946.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Actress Shirley Yamaguchi and actor Don Taylor walk in Ginza district on April 1, 1953 in Tokyo, Japan.](https://film.one/media/person/1097861/gallery-61482afc193a.png) Actress Shirley Yamaguchi and actor Don Taylor walk in Ginza district on April 1, 1953 in Tokyo, Japan. — Asahi Shimbun, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/2d/Shirley_Yamaguchi_and_Don_Taylor.png/1280px-Shirley_Yamaguchi_and_Don_Taylor.png?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Don Taylor](https://film.one/media/person/1097861/gallery-a70e685d1796.jpg) Don Taylor — Image via TMDB
- ![Don Taylor](https://film.one/media/person/1097861/gallery-038ba1c7f62e.jpg) Don Taylor — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Primetime Emmy Awards — 0 won, 1 nominated

- 1964: Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series (nominated), for *The Farmer's Daughter*

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/don-taylor-9108