Buck Taylor (born May 13, 1938) is an American actor and artist, best known for his role as

gunsmith A gunsmith is a person who repairs, modifies, designs, or builds guns. The occupation differs from an armorer, who usually replaces only worn parts in standard firearms. Gunsmiths do modifications and changes to a firearm that may require a very h ...

-turned-

deputy Deputy or depute may refer to: * Steward (office) * Khalifa, an Arabic title that can signify "deputy" * Deputy (legislator), a legislator in many countries and regions, including: ** A member of a Chamber of Deputies, for example in Italy, Spai ...

Newly O'Brian in the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

television series ''

Gunsmoke ''Gunsmoke'' is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. It centers on Dodge City, Kansas, in the 1870s, during the settlement of the American West. The central character ...

''. He is the son of Florence Gertrude Heffernan and character actor

Dub Taylor Walter Clarence "Dub" Taylor Jr. (February 26, 1907 – October 3, 1994),Dub Taylor, 87, Actor in Westerns, The New York Times, October 5, 1994, Section B, Page 12 was an American character actor who from the 1940s into the 1990s worked extens ...

. Taylor graduated from

North Hollywood High School North Hollywood High School (NHHS) is a public high school in the North Hollywood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, United States. It is located in the San Fernando Valley and enrolls approximately 2,500 students. Several neighborhoods, inc ...

, where he became a talented gymnast. Actor

Guinn "Big Boy" Williams Guinn Terrell Williams Jr. (April 26, 1899 – June 6, 1962) was an American actor who appeared in memorable westerns such as ''Dodge City'' (1939), ''Santa Fe Trail'' (1940), and '' The Comancheros'' (1961). He was nicknamed "Big Boy" ...

sponsored him to go to the U.S. Olympic Trials as a

gymnast Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, sh ...

, but he failed to qualify for the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

. He served two years in the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

. His first important acting role was as Trooper Shattuck in the 1961''

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre ''Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre'' is an American Western anthology television series that was broadcast on CBS from October 5, 1956, until September 20, 1962. Format Many episodes were based on novels by Zane Grey, to all of which Four Star F ...

'' 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''.

Gunsmoke

From 1967 to 1975, Taylor played Newly O'Brian in the television series ''Gunsmoke''. He replaced deputy marshal

Roger Ewing Roger Lawrence Ewing (born January 12, 1942) is an American film and television actor. He is perhaps best known for playing Clayton Thaddeus Greenwood in the American western television series ''Gunsmoke''. Early life Ewing was born in Los A ...

after he had 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 '' Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge'', where he played the city's marshal. In 1981, the

National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum is a museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, with more than 28,000 American West, Western and Native Americans in the United States, American Indian art works and Artifact (archaeology), ar ...

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 The Chouinard Art Institute was a professional art school founded in 1921 by Nelbert Murphy Chouinard (1879–1969) in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. In 1961, Walt and Roy Disney guided the merger of the Chouinard Art In ...

, 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. 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 ''The Wild Angels'' is a 1966 American outlaw biker film produced and directed by Roger Corman. Made on location in Southern California, ''The Wild Angels'' was the first film to associate actor Peter Fonda with Harley-Davidson motorcycles and 1 ...

'' as Dear John * 1976 - '' Pony Express Rider'' as Bovey Kingman * 1978 - ''Beartooth'' * 1981 - ''

The Legend of the Lone Ranger ''The Legend of the Lone Ranger'' is a 1981 American Western film that was directed by William A. Fraker and stars Klinton Spilsbury, Michael Horse and Christopher Lloyd. It is based on the story of The Lone Ranger, a Western character created ...

'' as Robert Edward Gattlin * 1981 - '' Cattle Annie and Little Britches'' as Dyamite Dick * 1983 - ''

Triumphs of a Man Called Horse ''Triumphs of a Man Called Horse'' is a 1983 Western film directed by John Hough and written by Ken Blackwell and Carlos Aured. It is the second and final sequel to '' A Man Called Horse'' (1970), following '' The Return of a Man Called Hors ...

'' as Sgt. Bridger * 1984 - ''

No Man's Land No man's land is waste or unowned land or an uninhabited or desolate area that may be under dispute between parties who leave it unoccupied out of fear or uncertainty. The term was originally used to define a contested territory or a dump ...

as Feeny * 1990 - ''

Big Bad John "Big Bad John" is a country song originally performed by Jimmy Dean, who wrote and composed it. It was released in September 1961 and by the beginning of November it had gone to number 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It won Dean the 1962 Gra ...

'' as Bob Simmons * 1991 - ''

Conagher ''Conagher'' is a 1991 American Western made-for-television film based on the 1969 Louis L'Amour novel of the same name co-produced and distributed by Turner Network Television. Plot The film opens with the Teale family moving west on a wagon ...

'' as Tile Coker * 1993 - '' Gettysburg'' as Colonel William Gamble * 1993 - '' Tombstone'' as “Turkey Creek” Jack Johnson * 1998 - ''

Hard Time Hard may refer to: * Hardness, resistance of physical materials to deformation or fracture * Hard water, water with high mineral content Arts and entertainment * ''Hard'' (TV series), a French TV series * Hard (band), a Hungarian hard rock supe ...

'' as Capt. Adam Gunther * 2003 - '' Gods and Generals'' as General

Maxcy Gregg Maxcy Gregg (August 1, 1814 – December 15, 1862) was a lawyer, soldier in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War, and a Confederate brigadier general during the American Civil War who was mortally wounded at the Battle of ...

* 2005 - ''Truce'' as Harry Dodds * 2006 - ''

Flicka ''Flicka'' is a 2006 American family adventure drama film loosely based on the 1941 children's novel ''My Friend Flicka'' by Mary O'Hara. The film is directed by Michael Mayer and written by Mark Rosenthal and Lawrence Konner. The novel had prev ...

'' as Wagner * 2007 - '' The Mist'' as Ambrose Cornell * 2011 - ''

Cowboys & Aliens ''Cowboys & Aliens'' is a 2011 American science fiction Western action film directed by Jon Favreau and starring Daniel Craig, Harrison Ford, Olivia Wilde, Sam Rockwell, Adam Beach, Paul Dano, and Noah Ringer. The film is based on the 2006 P ...

'' 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

Television

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Buck 1938 births Living people American male television actors Chouinard Art Institute alumni North Hollywood High School alumni Male actors from Hollywood, Los Angeles 20th-century American male actors Western (genre) television actors