New York-born writer and director, renowned for his comedic genius, graduated from Fordham University and commenced his career in 1916 at Kalem, where he worked on the esteemed 'Ham and Bud' series alongside Lloyd Hamilton and Bud Duncan. Following Kalem's acquisition by Vitagraph, Taylor assumed the role of feature continuity writer. In the early 1920s, he joined Hal Roach as a full-screen writer, eventually becoming an integral part of Harold Lloyd's writing staff, often collaborating with Fred C. Newmeyer as co-director on iconic comedy classics such as Safety Last! (1923) and The Freshman (1925).
Taylor's notable solo directing endeavors included Harold Lloyd's For Heaven's Sake (1926),Exit Smiling (1926) starring Beatrice Lillie, Tempest (1928) featuring John Barrymore, and Ambassador Bill (1931) with Will Rogers. In 1937, Taylor co-founded Chase Productions with his writer-brother Matt and penned the Broadway play 'Stopover', which ran for 23 performances at the Lyceum Theatre. Taylor's direction of Laurel & Hardy in Nothing But Trouble (1944) marked one of their final features, after which he transitioned to writing. His most notable novel, 'The Man With My Face', a thriller about an accountant whose life is usurped by a doppelganger, was adapted into a 1951 motion picture starring Barry Nelson, with Taylor also penning the screenplay.
