Eric Taylor (screenwriter)

Eric Taylor (June 17, 1897 – September 8, 1952) was an American screenwriter with over fifty titles to his credit. He began writing crime fiction for the pulps before working in Hollywood. He contributed scripts to The Crime Club, Crime Doctor, Dick Tracy, Ellery Queen, and The Whistler series, as well as six Universal monster movies.[1]

Eric Taylor
Born(1897-06-17)June 17, 1897
Chicago, Illinois
DiedSeptember 8, 1952(1952-09-08) (aged 55)
San Francisco, California
OccupationScreenwriter, short story writer
NationalityAmerican
GenreCrime fiction, Mystery fiction

Career

Taylor wrote for various pulp magazines in the 1920s and 30s, including Black Mask, Clues, and Dime Detective. He published seven stories with Black Mask: "Jungle Justice" (1928), "The Murder Rap" (1928), "Boulevard Louis" (1928), "A Pinch of Snuff" (1929), "Red Death" (1935), "Murder to Music" (1936), and "The Calloused Hand" (1936).[1][2]

In 1936, Taylor began writing for newly-formed Republic Pictures. Over the next three years he received a credit on six Republic movies and one with Universal. Beginning in 1939, Taylor began working with producers Larry Darmour and Rudolph Flothow. Taylor's first assignments under Darmour and Flothow were a number of action-adventure movies starring Jack Holt. From 1940 to 1942, Taylor contributed to eight Ellery Queen movies for Columbia Pictures. In 1942, Columbia replaced Ellery Queen with two other mystery series, both based on radio programs: The Crime Doctor and The Whistler. Taylor wrote on six Crime Doctor and two Whistler movies. From 1941 to 1946, Taylor also contributed to six Universal monster movies, including entries in the Frankenstein and Dracula series. He wrote two Dick Tracy movies for RKO Pictures in 1945 and 1947. In the 1950s he returned to Republic Pictures where he wrote six more movies, five of which were Westerns.[1][3]

Personal life

Little is known of Taylor's personal life. He was born in Chicago in 1897 and died in 1952 in San Francisco of a heart attack while on vacation with his wife.[1]

Works

References
  1. Wilt, David (1991). Hardboiled in Hollywood. Bowling Green: Bowling Green State University Popular Press. ISBN 978-0-879-72525-9.
  2. Penzler, Otto, ed. (2010). The Black Lizard Big Book of Black Mask Stories. New York: Vintage Crime / Black Lizard. ISBN 978-0-307-45543-7.
  3. Eric Taylor (I) (1897-1952), IMDb, retrieved July 27, 2018.
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