Estelle Taylor

From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Estelle Taylor May 20 1894April 15 1958 was an American Hollywood actress whose career was most prominent during the silent film era of the 1920s Born Ida Estelle Taylor in Wilmington Delaware the daughter of Harry D Taylor and Ida LaBertha Barrett Taylor Estelle married three times during her lifetime Her first husband was banker Kenneth Malcom Peacock her second was William Harrison Jack Dempsey Jack Dempsey the world heavyweight boxing champion and theatrical producer Paul Smith After relocating to Hollywood she began taking bit parts in films One of Taylors earliest successes was in 1920 in Foxs While New York Sleeps with Marc McDermott She and McDermott play three sets of characters in different time periods This film was lost for decades but has been recently discovered and screened at a film festival in Los Angeles Taylor is possibly best recalled for her roles in the 1922 drama Monte Cristo opposite John Gilbert the enormously successful 1923 Cecil B DeMille directed The Ten Commandments as Miriam the sister of Moses as Lucrezia Borgia in the 1926 Warner Bros first featurelength film with synchronized Vitaphone sound effects and musical soundtrack Don Juan opposite John Barrymore Mary Astor and Warner Oland 1927s New York opposite Ricardo Cortez and Lois Wilson 1931s Street Scene with Sylvia Sidney and both the Academy Award winning Cimarron and the Clara Bow talkie Call Her Savage in 1932 Taylor married heavyweight boxing champion Jack Dempsey in 1925 She was supposed to have costarred in a movie with actor Rudolph Valentino which would have brought her more widespread fame but he died just before production was to begin In 1928 she and husband Dempsey starred in a Broadway play titled The Big Fight loosely based around Dempseys boxing popularity which ran for 31 performances at the Majestic Theatre When she divorced Jack in July 1933 she walked away with 40000 in cash as well as 3 of their cars and their 150000 estate When a fan came up to her for an autographed picture of her which had Jacks name on top she allegedly wrote This is the last time that sonofabitch will be on top of me Her marriage to Dempsey produced no children Taylor was a close friend of Mexicanborn actress Lupe Vélez and on the evening of December 13 1944 she spent several hours at a restaurant having dinner and drinks with the actress before Vélez returned home and committed suicide The ensuing press coverage briefly propelled Taylor once again into the headlines Taylors last film appearance was in the 1945 Jean Renoir directed drama The Southerner In her later years Taylor devoted her free time to her pets and was the president and founder of the California Pet Owners Protective League In 1953 Taylor served on the City Animal Regulation Commission in Los Angeles California Taylor died in 1958She had been suffering for some time with cancer and had been bedridden the last six months She was interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery For her contribution to the motion picture industry Estelle Taylor was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1620 Vine Street in Hollywood California In a 1983 American madefortelevision movie biopic of boxer Jack Dempsey Estelle Taylor was portrayed by British actress Victoria Tennant Description above from the Wikipedia article Estelle Taylor licensed under CCBYSA full list of contributors on Wikipedia