Noel Taylor
Encyclopedia
Noel Taylor was an American costume designer
of the stage, television, and film. A four-time Emmy nominee, Taylor won an Emmy Award
in 1978 for his designs for the PBS drama Actor: The Paul Muni Story.
Taylor, who designed costumes for more than 70 Broadway shows, as well as thirty films and television shows, was the recipient of the Costume Designers Guild
lifetime achievement award in 2004.
on January 17, 1917. He was the second of his family's two sons. He moved to Paris, France, with his family when he was seven years old. Taylor dropped out of high school at the age of 16 to pursue a career as an actor
. His first and only leading leading role on Broadway was in 1935 at the age of 18 as Peter in Cross Ruff, a play which he had also written. Abandoning his acting career, he studied painting and design during the late 1930s and early 1940s.
Taylor began vacationing in Austria
when he was in his 20s, where he began to witness growing discrimination against Jewish residents in the years preceding World War II
. Taylor asked his mother for $200,000 USD to help Jewish refugees who had fled from the Nazis. He was arrested by for attending pro-Jewish meetings, but was released by an Austrian interrogator after four days and returned to the United States
. He worked as an equestrian
trainer for the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II.
Taylor began his career as a costume designer in the 1940s when Chagall invited him to assist on costumes for productions with the New York City Ballet
. He first worked on Broadway as a designer for Dennis Hoey
's 1946 play The Haven. He went on to design costumes for more than 70 Broadway productions, including the original productions of Stalag 17
(1951), Bernardine
(1952), Dial M for Murder
(1952), The Teahouse of the August Moon
(1953), No Time for Sergeants
(1955), Auntie Mame
(1956), The Body Beautiful
(1958), Tall Story
(1959), Write Me a Murder
(1961), The Night of the Iguana
(1961) and (1976), Great Day in the Morning
(1962), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
(1963), What Makes Sammy Run?
(1964), Hughie
(1964), Slapstick Tragedy (1966), Lovers
(1968), The Last of Mrs. Lincoln
(1972), The Norman Conquests
(1975), and Chapter Two (1977). He also designed costumes for revivals of Twentieth Century
(1950), The Wild Duck
(1951), The Apple Cart
(1956), Strange Interlude
(1963), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
(1972), Mourning Becomes Electra
(1972), The Glass Menagerie
(1994), and The Gin Game
(1997). His last Broadway show was designs for the 1997 revival of Neil Simon
's The Sunshine Boys
.
Taylor made his first foray into television designing costumes for several television films made for the Hallmark Hall of Fame
between 1955-1965. He received his first Emmy nomination for one of these files, The Magnificent Yankee
in 1965. In 1966 he designed the costumes for Gian Carlo Menotti
's television opera Labyrinth
. He continued to design costumes for television up into the mid 1990s, garnering further Emmy nominations for Eleanor, First Lady of the World (1982) and Ironclads
(1991). He won the Emmy Award in 1978 for Actor: The Paul Muni Story. He also designed costumes for seven feature films during his career, including Mrs. Pollifax-Spy
(1971), Rhinoceros
(1974), An Enemy of the People (1978), and The Legend of the Lone Ranger
(1981).
Noel Taylor died at Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, California
, on November 4, 2010, at the age of 97. He was a resident of West Hollywood, California
.
Costume Designer
A costume designer or costume mistress/master is a person whose responsibility is to design costumes for a film or stage production. He or she is considered an important part of the "production team", working alongside the director, scenic and lighting designers as well as the sound designer. The...
of the stage, television, and film. A four-time Emmy nominee, Taylor won an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
in 1978 for his designs for the PBS drama Actor: The Paul Muni Story.
Taylor, who designed costumes for more than 70 Broadway shows, as well as thirty films and television shows, was the recipient of the Costume Designers Guild
Costume Designers Guild
The Costume Designers Guild , IATSE LOCAL 892 was founded in 1953 by a group of 30 motion picture costume designers. In 1986, the Costume Designers Guild joined the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees and added Local 892 to its name...
lifetime achievement award in 2004.
Life and career
Taylor was born Harold Alexander Taylor Jr. in Youngstown, OhioYoungstown, Ohio
Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Mahoning County; it also extends into Trumbull County. The municipality is situated on the Mahoning River, approximately southeast of Cleveland and northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
on January 17, 1917. He was the second of his family's two sons. He moved to Paris, France, with his family when he was seven years old. Taylor dropped out of high school at the age of 16 to pursue a career as an actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
. His first and only leading leading role on Broadway was in 1935 at the age of 18 as Peter in Cross Ruff, a play which he had also written. Abandoning his acting career, he studied painting and design during the late 1930s and early 1940s.
Taylor began vacationing in Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
when he was in his 20s, where he began to witness growing discrimination against Jewish residents in the years preceding World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Taylor asked his mother for $200,000 USD to help Jewish refugees who had fled from the Nazis. He was arrested by for attending pro-Jewish meetings, but was released by an Austrian interrogator after four days and returned to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He worked as an equestrian
Equestrianism
Equestrianism more often known as riding, horseback riding or horse riding refers to the skill of riding, driving, or vaulting with horses...
trainer for the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II.
Taylor began his career as a costume designer in the 1940s when Chagall invited him to assist on costumes for productions with the New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Leon Barzin was the company's first music director. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company...
. He first worked on Broadway as a designer for Dennis Hoey
Dennis Hoey
Dennis Hoey was a British film and stage actor, best known for playing Inspector Lestrade in Universal's Sherlock Holmes series. He played the Master of Harrow in The Foxes of Harrow and appeared in Tarzan and the Leopard Woman. After a career as a singer, Hoey moved to acting on the stage in...
's 1946 play The Haven. He went on to design costumes for more than 70 Broadway productions, including the original productions of Stalag 17
Stalag 17
Stalag 17 is a 1953 war film which tells the story of a group of American airmen held in a German World War II prisoner of war camp, who come to suspect that one of their number is a traitor...
(1951), Bernardine
Bernardine (play)
Bernardine is a play by Mary Chase. It premiered at the Playhouse Theatre on Broadway on October 16, 1952. It closed on February 28, 1953 after 157 performances. Actors John Kerr and Johnny Stewart won Theatre World Awards for their performances in the production. The play was later adapted into a...
(1952), Dial M for Murder
Dial M for Murder
Dial M for Murder is a 1954 American thriller film adapted from a successful stage play by Frederick Knott, directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, and Robert Cummings. The movie was released by the Warner Bros...
(1952), The Teahouse of the August Moon
The Teahouse of the August Moon (play)
The Teahouse of the August Moon is a 1953 play written by John Patrick adapted from the 1951 novel by Vern Sneider. It was later adapted for film in 1956, and the 1970 Broadway musical, Lovely Ladies, Kind Gentlemen.-Plot summary:...
(1953), No Time for Sergeants
No Time for Sergeants
No Time for Sergeants is a 1954 best-selling novel by Mac Hyman, which was later adapted into a teleplay on The United States Steel Hour, a popular Broadway play and 1958 motion picture, as well as a 1964 television series. The book chronicles the misadventures of a country bumpkin named Will...
(1955), Auntie Mame
Auntie Mame
Auntie Mame is a 1955 novel by Patrick Dennis that chronicles the madcap adventures of a boy, Patrick, growing up as the ward of his deceased father's eccentric sister, Mame Dennis. The book is a work of fiction inspired by the author's eccentric aunt, Marion Tanner, whose life and outlook in many...
(1956), The Body Beautiful
The Body Beautiful
The Body Beautiful is a musical with a book by Joseph Stein and Will Glickman, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and music by Jerry Bock.The first collaboration by Harnick and Bock, and the only one to have a contemporary setting, its plot focuses on a wealthy Dartmouth College graduate who aspires to be...
(1958), Tall Story
Tall Story
Tall Story is a 1960 American sports comedy film directed by Joshua Logan and starring Anthony Perkins and Jane Fonda. Future star Robert Redford made his big-screen debut as a basketball player....
(1959), Write Me a Murder
Write Me a Murder
Write Me A Murder is a 1961 mystery play in 3 acts by Frederick Knott.The play tells the story of the brothers Clive and David Rodingham, who inherit the family fortune upon the death of their father....
(1961), The Night of the Iguana
The Night of the Iguana
The Night of the Iguana is a stageplay written by American author Tennessee Williams, based on his 1948 short story. The play premiered on Broadway in 1961. Two film adaptations have been made, including the Academy Award-winning 1964 film of the same name....
(1961) and (1976), Great Day in the Morning
Great Day in the Morning
Great Day In The Morning is a 1956 film. It was directed by Jacques Tourneur and starring Robert Stack and Virginia Mayo, set in 1860s Denver.-Plot and overview:...
(1962), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (play)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a play based on Ken Kesey's 1962 novel of the same name. Dale Wasserman's stage adaptation, with music by Teiji Ito, made its Broadway preview on November 12, 1963, its premiere on November 13, and ran until January 25, 1964 for a total of one preview and 82...
(1963), What Makes Sammy Run?
What Makes Sammy Run?
What Makes Sammy Run? is a novel by Budd Schulberg. It is a rags to riches story chronicling the rise and fall of Sammy Glick, a Jewish boy born in New York's Lower East Side who very early in his life makes up his mind to escape the ghetto and climb the ladder of success...
(1964), Hughie
Hughie
Hughie is a short two-character play by Eugene O’Neill set in the lobby of a small hotel on a West Side street in midtown New York during the summer of 1928. The play is essentially a long monologue delivered by a small time hustler named Erie Smith to the hotel’s new night clerk Charlie Hughes,...
(1964), Slapstick Tragedy (1966), Lovers
Lovers (play)
Lovers is a 1967 play written by Northern Irish playwright Brian Friel.Lovers is a play broken in to two parts, Winners and Losers.-Winners:...
(1968), The Last of Mrs. Lincoln
The Last of Mrs. Lincoln
The Last of Mrs. Lincoln is a play by James Prideaux. It depicts the final seventeen years of Mary Todd Lincoln's life, following her husband's assassination....
(1972), The Norman Conquests
The Norman Conquests
The Norman Conquests is a trilogy of plays written in 1973 by Alan Ayckbourn. The small scale of the drama is typical of Ayckbourn. There are only six characters, namely Norman, his wife Ruth, her brother Reg and his wife Sarah, Ruth's sister Annie, and Tom, Annie's next-door-neighbour...
(1975), and Chapter Two (1977). He also designed costumes for revivals of Twentieth Century
Twentieth Century (play)
Twentieth Century is a play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur based on the unproduced play Napoleon of Broadway by Charles B. Millholland, inspired by his experience working for the eccentric Broadway impresario David Belasco....
(1950), The Wild Duck
The Wild Duck
The Wild Duck is an 1884 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.-Plot:The first act opens with a dinner party hosted by Håkon Werle, a wealthy merchant and industrialist. The gathering is attended by his son, Gregers Werle, who has just returned to his father's home following a self-imposed...
(1951), The Apple Cart
The Apple Cart
The Apple Cart: A Political Extravaganza is a 1928 play by George Bernard Shaw. It is satirical comedy about several political philosophies which are expounded by the characters, often in lengthy monologue...
(1956), Strange Interlude
Strange Interlude
Strange Interlude is an experimental play by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. O'Neill finished the play in 1923, but it was not produced on Broadway until 1928, when it won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Lynn Fontanne originated the central role of Nina Leeds on Broadway...
(1963), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum is a musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and book by Burt Shevelove and Larry Gelbart....
(1972), Mourning Becomes Electra
Mourning Becomes Electra
Mourning Becomes Electra is a play cycle written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play premiered on Broadway at the Guild Theatre on 26 October 1931 where it ran for 150 performances before closing in March 1932...
(1972), The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie
The Glass Menagerie is a four-character memory play by Tennessee Williams. Williams worked on various drafts of the play prior to writing a version of it as a screenplay for MGM, to whom Williams was contracted...
(1994), and The Gin Game
The Gin Game
The Gin Game is a two-person, two-act play by D.L. Coburn that premiered at American Theater Arts in Hollywood in September 1976, directed by Kip Niven. It was Coburn's first play, and the theater's first production.-Plot:...
(1997). His last Broadway show was designs for the 1997 revival of Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
's The Sunshine Boys
The Sunshine Boys
The Sunshine Boys is a play by Neil Simon that was produced on Broadway in 1972 and later adapted for film and television.-Plot:The play focuses on aging Al Lewis and Willy Clark, a one-time vaudevillian team known as "Lewis and Clark" who, over the course of forty-odd years, not only grew to hate...
.
Taylor made his first foray into television designing costumes for several television films made for the Hallmark Hall of Fame
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011...
between 1955-1965. He received his first Emmy nomination for one of these files, The Magnificent Yankee
The Magnificent Yankee (1965 film)
The Magnificent Yankee is a 1965 biographical film in the Hallmark Hall of Fame television anthology series. The film was adapted by Robert Hartung from the Emmet Lavery play of the same title, which was in-turn adapted from the book Mr. Justice Holmes by Francis Biddle. The story examines the life...
in 1965. In 1966 he designed the costumes for Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
's television opera Labyrinth
Labyrinth (opera)
Labyrinth is an opera in one act by composer Gian Carlo Menotti. The work was commissioned for television by the NBC Opera Theatre and uses an English language libretto by the composer. Unlike Menotti's previous television operas, such as Amahl and the Night Visitors, this opera was written with...
. He continued to design costumes for television up into the mid 1990s, garnering further Emmy nominations for Eleanor, First Lady of the World (1982) and Ironclads
Ironclads (film)
Ironclads is a 1991 made-for-television movie produced by Ted Turner's TNT company about the events behind the creation of the CSS Virginia from the remains of the USS Merrimack and the battle between the Virginia and the USS Monitor in the Battle of Hampton Roads, March 8, 1862-March 9, 1862...
(1991). He won the Emmy Award in 1978 for Actor: The Paul Muni Story. He also designed costumes for seven feature films during his career, including Mrs. Pollifax-Spy
Mrs. Pollifax-Spy
Mrs. Pollifax-Spy is a 1971 adventure film directed by Leslie H. Martinson. It stars Rosalind Russell and Darren McGavin.-Cast:*Rosalind Russell as Mrs. Pollifax*Darren McGavin as Farrell*Nehemiah Persoff as Berisha*Harold Gould as Nexdhet...
(1971), Rhinoceros
Rhinoceros (film)
Rhinoceros is a 1974 comedy film based on the play by Eugène Ionesco. The film was produced and released as part of the American Film Theatre, which adapted theatrical works for a subscription-driven cinema series.-Plot:...
(1974), An Enemy of the People (1978), and The Legend of the Lone Ranger
The Legend of the Lone Ranger
The Legend of the Lone Ranger is a 1981 British-American western film directed by William A. Fraker and starring Klinton Spilsbury, Michael Horse and Christopher Lloyd....
(1981).
Noel Taylor died at Los Angeles County+USC Medical Center in Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, on November 4, 2010, at the age of 97. He was a resident of West Hollywood, California
West Hollywood, California
West Hollywood, a city of Los Angeles County, California, was incorporated on November 29, 1984, with a population of 34,399 at the 2010 census. 41% of the city's population is made up of gay men according to a 2002 demographic analysis by Sara Kocher Consulting for the City of West Hollywood...
.