21 October, 2006

Be at Jack Taylor's 70TH Birthday Party tonight!

Jack Taylor (background-left) checks out Lorna's transgressive act in Lisbon...
Or is it Berlin? Time and place are as shifty as Identity in SUCCUBUS (1967).
A good, solid actor (rn: George Brown) who worked (sometimes as "Grek Martin") in US TV during the 1950s, then in Mexican horror features (NEUTRON CONTRA DR CARONTE), Eurowesterns (BILLY THE KID), spy films (AGENTE SIGMA 3: MISSIONE GOLDWATHER), until Franco tapped him in 1966 for NECROMONICON. Franco would again find signficant roles for him in NIGHTMARES COME AT NIGHT, EUGENIE, HER JOURNEY..., EL CONDE DRACULA, SEX CHARADE (still unavailable but we're hoping...), FEMALE VAMPIRE, TENDER AND PERVERSE EMANUELLE, and others. He also did a damn good job as the art director on THE BLOODY JUDGE (1970). He went on to become one of the most prominent leading men in Spanish horror films of the 1970s (THE MUMMY'S REVENGE, NIGHT OF THE SORCERERS, THE GHOST GALLEON, ORGY OF THE VAMPIRES, etc.). He's still active (check him out in the Francoesque THE NINTH GATE) and has some interesting things to say in Uwe Huber's documentary BACK TO BERLIN on BU's recent SUCCUBUS DVD.
Effective as the "Mickey Spillane" type in SUCCUBUS, TENDER AND PERVERSE EMANUELLE and his Eurospy adventures, a good Quincey Morris in EL CONDE DRACULA, but I think my favorite Jack Taylor performance is as the charming and chilling psychopathic brother of Madame St. Ange (Maria Rohm) in EUGENIE, HER JOURNEY INTO PERVERSION. The melancholy poet who succumbs to the loves of Irina in LA COMTESSE NOIRE would be a close second.
What's your favorite Jack Taylor performance?
Happy Birthday, Jack. Hope to see you in more Jess Franco and other films in the future.
COPYRIGHT ROBERT MONELL 2006.



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