Taylor Holmes


Taylor Holmes was an American actor who appeared in over 100 Broadway plays and on-screen performances over his five-decade career. The 1915 recording of his recitation of Rudyard Kipling's "Boots" was featured in the acclaimed theatrical trailer for Danny Boyle's 28 Years Later.

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.
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, a shifty lawyer in Kiss of Death, and as Gavery, a reptilian disbarred lawyer in Act of Violence. He is also recognized for playing the Bishop of Avranches, who fiercely denounces Pierre Cauchon in the Ingrid Bergman Joan of Arc, Marilyn Monroe's potential father-in-law in the 1953 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and the voice of King Stefan in the final cut of Disney's animated feature Sleeping Beauty, 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 as Edgar Bumpus
  • Fools for Luck as Philander Jepson
  • Two-Bit Seats as Jimmy Mason
  • The Small Town Guy as Ernest Gledhill
  • Uneasy Money as Lord Dawlish
  • Ruggles of Red Gap as Marmaduke Ruggles
  • A Pair of Sixes as T. Boggs Johns
  • It's a Bear as Orlando Wintrhop
  • A Regular Fellow as Dalion Pemberton
  • Taxi as Robert Hervey Randolph
  • Upside Down as Archibald Pim
  • Three Black Eyes as Larry Van Cortlandt
  • Nothing But the Truth as Robert Bennett
  • The Very Idea as Gilbert Goodhue
  • Nothing but Lies as George Cross
  • Twenty Dollars a Week as William Hart
  • Her Market Value as Courtney Brooks
  • The Crimson Runner as Bobo
  • The Verdict as Valet
  • Borrowed Finery as Billy
  • One Hour of Love as Joe Monahan
  • Should a Mason Tell? as Henry
  • Their Second Honeymoon as Henry
  • King Harold as Henry
Sound
  • Lovers' Delight
  • He Did His Best
  • Let Me Explain
  • Dad Knows Best
  • Terry of the 'Times'
  • It Happened in Paris
  • Before Morning as Leo Bergman
  • The First Baby as Mr. Wells
  • The Crime of Dr. Forbes as Dr. Robert Empey
  • Make Way for a Lady as George Terry
  • Boomerang as T.M. Wade
  • Kiss of Death as Earl Howser—Attorney
  • Nightmare Alley as Ezra Grindle
  • Let's Live Again as Uncle Jim
  • Smart Woman as Dr. Jasper
  • Hazard as Mr. Meeler
  • The Plunderers as Eben Martin
  • Joan of Arc as The Bishop of Avranches
  • That Wonderful Urge as Attorney Rice
  • Act of Violence as Gavery
  • Joe Palooka in the Big Fight as Dr. Benson
  • Mr. Belvedere Goes to College as Dr. Gibbs
  • Once More, My Darling as Jed Connell
  • A Christmas Carol as Ebeneezer Scrooge
  • Woman in Hiding as Jed Connell
  • Mr. Belvedere Goes to College as Lucius Maury
  • Quicksand as Harvey
  • Caged as Senator Ted Donnolly
  • Father of the Bride as Warner
  • Bright Leaf as Lawyer Calhoun
  • Copper Canyon as Theodosius Roberts
  • Double Deal as C.D. 'Corpus' Mills
  • The First Legion as Father Keene
  • Rhubarb as P. Duncan Munk
  • Drums in the Deep South as Albert Monroe
  • Two Tickets to Broadway as Willard Glendon
  • Hold That Line as Dean Forrester
  • Hoodlum Empire as Benjamin Lawton
  • Sudden Fear as Scott Martindale
  • Beware, My Lovely as Mr. Walter Armstrong
  • Woman of the North Country as Andrew Dawson
  • Ride the Man Down as Lowell Priest
  • She's Back on Broadway as Talbot
  • Gentlemen Prefer Blondes as Mr. Esmond Sr.
  • Wonder Valley as Sweetheart's Father
  • Untamed Heiress as Walter Martin
  • The Outcast as Andrew Devlin
  • Tobor the Great as Prof. Arnold Nordstrom
  • Hell's Outpost as Timothy Byers
  • Lady and the Tramp as Jim's Friend #2/Doctor
  • The Fighting Chance as Railbird - the Tout
  • The Maverick Queen as Pete Callaher
  • The Peacemaker as Mr. Wren
  • The Book of Acts Series as High Priest
  • The Helen Morgan Story as Elderly Actor on Train
  • Wink of an Eye as Mr. Vanryzin
  • Sleeping Beauty as King Stefan