Taylor Holmes

Early life

Holmes was born on May 16, 1878, in Newark, New Jersey.

Career

Stage

He made his Broadway debut in February 1900 in the controversial play Sapho, which was briefly closed for indecency. Holmes played Rosencrantz with E. H. Sothern in a production of Hamlet and toured with Robert Edeson. He appeared in stage hits such as The Commuters, The Music Master, and His Majesty Bunker Bean.

Film

Early film appearances included Efficiency Edgar's Courtship and Fools for Luck. One of his first starring roles was in A Pair of Sixes (1918).

By the 1940s, he was working more on film than on stage. Holmes played a number of memorable roles, particularly in film noir, including the gullible millionaire conned in Nightmare Alley (1947), a shifty lawyer in Kiss of Death (1947), and as Gavery, a reptilian disbarred lawyer in Act of Violence (1949). He is also recognized for playing the Bishop of Avranches, who fiercely denounces Pierre Cauchon in the Ingrid Bergman Joan of Arc (1948), Marilyn Monroe's potential father-in-law in the 1953 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes ("I don't want to marry your son for his money, I want to marry him for your money!"), and the voice of King Stefan in the final cut of Disney's animated feature Sleeping Beauty (1959), Holmes' last credited screen role. He also played Ebenezer Scrooge in a low-budget half-hour television version of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, first telecast in 1949.

Personal life

Holmes was married to actress Edna Phillips and was the father of actors Phillips Holmes, Madeleine Taylor Holmes, and Ralph Holmes.

Eight months after the release of Sleeping Beauty, Holmes died on October 1, 1959, at the age of 81. He was interred in Culver City's Holy Cross Cemetery.

Legacy

Holmes has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Holmes’ 1915 spoken-word recording of the Rudyard Kipling poem "Boots" was used for its psychological effect in U.S. military SERE schools. His recitation was also used for the first and second trailers for the 2025 zombie apocalypse movie 28 Years Later, directed by Danny Boyle, and in the film.

Partial filmography

Silent

• Efficiency Edgar's Courtship (1917) (short) as Edgar Bumpus
• Fools for Luck (1917) as Philander Jepson
• Two-Bit Seats (1917) as Jimmy Mason
• The Small Town Guy (1917) as Ernest Gledhill
• Uneasy Money (1918) as Lord Dawlish
• Ruggles of Red Gap (1918) as Marmaduke Ruggles
• A Pair of Sixes (1918) as T. Boggs Johns
• It's a Bear (1919) as Orlando Wintrhop
• A Regular Fellow (1919) (*George Eastman preserved) as Dalion Pemberton
• Taxi (1919) as Robert Hervey Randolph
• Upside Down (1919) as Archibald Pim
• Three Black Eyes (1919) as Larry Van Cortlandt
• Nothing But the Truth (1920) as Robert Bennett
• The Very Idea (1920) as Gilbert Goodhue
• Nothing but Lies (1920) as George Cross
• Twenty Dollars a Week (1924) as William Hart
• Her Market Value (1925) as Courtney Brooks
• The Crimson Runner (1925) as Bobo (valet)
• The Verdict (1925) as Valet
• Borrowed Finery (1925) as Billy
• One Hour of Love (1927) as Joe Monahan
• Should a Mason Tell? (1927) (short) as Henry
• Their Second Honeymoon (1927) (short) as Henry
• King Harold (1927) (short) as Henry

Sound

• Lovers' Delight (1929, Short)
• He Did His Best (1929, Short)
• Let Me Explain (1930, Short)
• Dad Knows Best (1930, Short)
• ''Terry of the 'Times''' (1930) (unconfirmed, uncredited)
• It Happened in Paris (1932)
• Before Morning (1933) as Leo Bergman
• The First Baby (1936) as Mr. Wells
• The Crime of Dr. Forbes (1936) as Dr. Robert Empey
• Make Way for a Lady (1936) as George Terry
• Boomerang (1947) as T.M. Wade
• Kiss of Death (1947) as Earl Howser—Attorney
• Nightmare Alley (1947) as Ezra Grindle
• Let's Live Again (1948) as Uncle Jim
• Smart Woman (1948) as Dr. Jasper
• Hazard (1948) as Mr. Meeler
• The Plunderers (1948) as Eben Martin
• Joan of Arc (1948) as The Bishop of Avranches
• That Wonderful Urge (1948) as Attorney Rice
• Act of Violence (1948) as Gavery
• Joe Palooka in the Big Fight (1949) as Dr. Benson
• Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1949) as Dr. Gibbs
• Once More, My Darling (1949) as Jed Connell
• A Christmas Carol (1949) as Ebeneezer Scrooge
• Woman in Hiding (1950) as Jed Connell
• Mr. Belvedere Goes to College (1950) as Lucius Maury
• Quicksand (1950) as Harvey
• Caged (1950) as Senator Ted Donnolly (uncredited)
• Father of the Bride (1950) as Warner
• Bright Leaf (1950) as Lawyer Calhoun
• Copper Canyon (1950) as Theodosius Roberts
• Double Deal (1950) as C.D. 'Corpus' Mills
• The First Legion (1951) as Father Keene
• Rhubarb (1951) as P. Duncan Munk
• Drums in the Deep South (1951) as Albert Monroe
• Two Tickets to Broadway (1951) as Willard Glendon
• Hold That Line (1952) as Dean Forrester
• Hoodlum Empire (1952) as Benjamin Lawton
• Sudden Fear (1952) as Scott Martindale (uncredited)
• Beware, My Lovely (1952) as Mr. Walter Armstrong
• Woman of the North Country (1952) as Andrew Dawson
• Ride the Man Down (1952) as Lowell Priest
• She's Back on Broadway (1953) as Talbot (uncredited)
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) as Mr. Esmond Sr.
• Wonder Valley (1953) as Sweetheart's Father
• Untamed Heiress (1954) as Walter Martin
• The Outcast (1954) as Andrew Devlin
• Tobor the Great (1954) as Prof. Arnold Nordstrom
• Hell's Outpost (1954) as Timothy Byers
• Lady and the Tramp (1955) as Jim's Friend #2/Doctor (voice, uncredited)
• The Fighting Chance (1955) as Railbird - the Tout
• The Maverick Queen (1956) as Pete Callaher
• The Peacemaker (1956) as Mr. Wren
• The Book of Acts Series (1957) as High Priest
• The Helen Morgan Story (1957) as Elderly Actor on Train (uncredited)
• Wink of an Eye (1958) as Mr. Vanryzin
• Sleeping Beauty (1959) as King Stefan (voice) (final film role)

References

References

1. (October 2, 1959). "Taylor Holmes, Actor, Dies at 80". New York Times.
2. (1 June 1960). "Screen World". Biblo & Tannen Publishers.
3. "The Christmas Carol (1949) - Review @ EOFFTV".
4. "Oct 02, 1959, page 43 - Daily News at Newspapers.com".
5. Macias, Amanda. "This Freaky Recording Of A Rudyard Kipling Poem Is Used To Train Elite Soldiers For Captivity".
6. (10 December 2024). "'28 Years Later' Trailer: Zombified Cillian Murphy Looms Over Jodie Comer In Gripping Teaser For Danny Boyle Sequel".