Joan Taylor

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Joan Taylor (August 18, 1929 - March 4, 2012) was an American television and film actress.

Video Joan Taylor

Personal life

Taylor was born Rose Marie Emma in Geneva, Illinois. Her father, Joseph Emma, from Sicily, was a prop man in Hollywood in the 1920s. After his daughter's birth he became the manager of the Deerpath movie theatre in Lake Forest, Illinois, where Joan was brought up and a Hollywood prop man. Her mother Amelia Berky, was from Austria, and was a vaudeville singing-dancing star in the 1920s.

Taylor married Leonard Freeman, later the creator of Hawaii Five-O, in 1953. The couple had three daughters. After her contract for The Rifleman ran out, she retired from acting to raise her children.

When Freeman died in January 1974, following heart surgery, Taylor began managing Leonard Freeman Productions and the business of Hawaii Five-O under the name Rose Freeman. She attended at least one Hawaii Five-O convention to talk to fans.

With her children older, she found herself writing, including co-author credit for the comedy Fools Rush In starring Matthew Perry and Salma Hayek. She remarried, to television producer-director Walter Grauman in 1976; the couple divorced in 1980.

Maps Joan Taylor

Career

Taylor's career began at the Pasadena Playhouse. She met Freeman there when both were involved with putting on Here Comes Mr. Jordan. In the early 1950s, she was chosen by Paramount Pictures as a member of the studio's "Golden Circle", described as a "group consisting of a dozen unusually talented young actors for whom Paramount held high hopes." Her first film was Fighting Man of the Plains, starring Randolph Scott. Her producer had also insured the 19-year-old's legs for $100,000 against injury.

Her television career consisted of guest appearances on popular shows, in only one or two episodes. However, she had a successful recurring role in eighteen episodes of The Rifleman, starring Chuck Connors from 1960-1962.

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Death

Taylor died of natural causes March 4, 2012, in Santa Monica, California.

She was survived by three daughters, two brothers and six grandchildren.

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Filmography

Television

Mike Hammer as Diane Baxter / (2 episodes, 1958)
Zane Grey Theater as Rose Bailey (1 episode, 1958)
Yancy Derringer as Lavinia Lake (1 episode, 1958)
Peter Gunn as Liz Taylor (1 episode, 1958)
Wagon Train as Bright Star (1 episode "A Man Called Horse", 1958)
Gunsmoke as Anna Wheat (1 episode, 1959)
U.S. Marshal as Maryjo (1 episode, 1959)
21 Beacon Street as Ruth (2 episodes, 1959)
Men into Space as Carol Gordon (1 episode, 1959)
Philip Marlowe as Julie Kenton (1 episode, 1959)
The Texan (1 episode, 1959)
The Millionaire as Mary Ann Wilson (1 episode, 1959)
Colt .45 as Dr. Ellen McGraw (1 episode, 1959)
Lock Up as Lauren Bodret (1 episode, 1960)
The Detectives Starring Robert Taylor as Myrna Fontaine (1 episode, 1961)
Rawhide as Paibada (1 episode, 1961)
My Three Sons as Muriel Stewart (1 episode, 1961)
Bronco as Lorain (1 episode, 1962)
The Dick Powell Show (1 episode, 1962)
The Rifleman as Milly Scott (18 episodes, 1960-1962)
77 Sunset Strip as Beth Collins (1 episode, 1963)
Split (1989) as Tourist

Feature films

Fighting Man of the Plains (1949) as Evelyn Slocum
Last Date (1950) as Jeanne
On Dangerous Ground (1952) as Hazel (uncredited)
The Savage (1952) as Luta
Off Limits (1953) as Helen
War Paint (1953) as Wanima
Rose Marie (1954) as Wanda
Apache Woman (1955) as Anne LeBeau
Fort Yuma (1955) as Francesca
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956) as Carol Marvin
Girls in Prison (1956) as Anne Carson
War Drums (1957) as Riva
20 Million Miles to Earth (1957) as Marisa Leonardo
Omar Khayyam (1957) as Yaffa