Dub Taylor
Walter Clarence Taylor Jr. collected his ‘Dub’ moniker as a kid when his pals cut him a ‘Walter-break’, calling him double-u for short. Short eventually shortened to Dub. Who knows, if he’d scored a ‘Dub-ya’, he might have been president. Dub got his acting start in vaudeville. He took a trip to L.A. in 1938 to play in the Rose Bowl as a member of the Alabama Crimson Tide football team and decided to stay after the game to try his hand at film.
In 1939 he was cast in a role for the film, Taming of the West that would define his early career. Cannonball began as comic sidekick to Bill Elliott’s Wild Bill Saunders, later Wild Bill Hickok. The pairing would go on to do thirteen films together before Tex Ritter moved it as Elliott’s co-star for the film King of Dodge City. Dynamics of the Cannonball role changed with that pairing. Dub moved on, taking Cannonball with him.
Dub next found Cannonball paired with Charles Starrett’s Durango Kid at Columbia. Dub and Cannonball would move on to Monogram Pictures in 1947 for a two year run of sixteen films. Dub’s filmography lists fifty-two films in which he played Cannonball. No doubt the sidekick we fondly remember.
The fifties saw Dub appear in film and on television. In film you could find him in a variety of Western character roles ranging from clerks to cooks and a couple semi-sober sawbones. His TV appearances included a run as Alan Hale Jr.’s fireman on Casey Jones. Hale would later go on to skipper the S.S. Minnow on Gilligan’s Island. Other TV appearances included episodes of 26 Men, Cheyenne, Death Valley Days and The High Chaparral.
In the sixties Dub caught on with Sam Peckinpah for Major Dundee (’65), The Wild Bunch, Junior Bonner, The Getaway and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. The little screen brought comedic appearances on The Andy Griffith Show, I love Lucy, Hazel, The Cosby Show and Hee Haw.
Dub Taylor fathered Buck Taylor who sidekicked for Matt Dillon as Newly O’Brien on Gunsmoke. Dub Taylor passed away in 1994 after suffering a heart attack.
Next Week: Edgar Buchanan
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Ride easy,
Paul
In 1939 he was cast in a role for the film, Taming of the West that would define his early career. Cannonball began as comic sidekick to Bill Elliott’s Wild Bill Saunders, later Wild Bill Hickok. The pairing would go on to do thirteen films together before Tex Ritter moved it as Elliott’s co-star for the film King of Dodge City. Dynamics of the Cannonball role changed with that pairing. Dub moved on, taking Cannonball with him.
Dub next found Cannonball paired with Charles Starrett’s Durango Kid at Columbia. Dub and Cannonball would move on to Monogram Pictures in 1947 for a two year run of sixteen films. Dub’s filmography lists fifty-two films in which he played Cannonball. No doubt the sidekick we fondly remember.
The fifties saw Dub appear in film and on television. In film you could find him in a variety of Western character roles ranging from clerks to cooks and a couple semi-sober sawbones. His TV appearances included a run as Alan Hale Jr.’s fireman on Casey Jones. Hale would later go on to skipper the S.S. Minnow on Gilligan’s Island. Other TV appearances included episodes of 26 Men, Cheyenne, Death Valley Days and The High Chaparral.
In the sixties Dub caught on with Sam Peckinpah for Major Dundee (’65), The Wild Bunch, Junior Bonner, The Getaway and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. The little screen brought comedic appearances on The Andy Griffith Show, I love Lucy, Hazel, The Cosby Show and Hee Haw.
Dub Taylor fathered Buck Taylor who sidekicked for Matt Dillon as Newly O’Brien on Gunsmoke. Dub Taylor passed away in 1994 after suffering a heart attack.
Next Week: Edgar Buchanan
Return to Facebook to comment
Ride easy,
Paul
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Ed
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Sep 29, 2019 10:36AM
As the other “Sidekicks” Dub Taylor holds a special place in my heart. If anything they taught me that it was okay not to be the “Star” in life, just be yourself. Also, I didn’t know that he was Buck Taylor’s father. Thank you.
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Ed wrote: "As the other “Sidekicks” Dub Taylor holds a special place in my heart. If anything they taught me that it was okay not to be the “Star” in life, just be yourself. Also, I didn’t know that he was Bu..."Glad you enjoyed it Ed. Thanks for the comment.
