Joan Taylor | |
---|---|
Born | Rose Marie Emma August 18, 1929
Geneva, Illinois, U.S. |
Died | March 4, 2012
Santa Monica,
California, U.S. | (aged 82)
Other names | Rose Freeman |
Occupation(s) | Actress and screenwriter |
Years active | 1949–1989 |
Spouses | |
Children | 3 |
Joan Taylor (August 18, 1929 – March 4, 2012) was an American television and film actress.
Taylor was born Rose Marie Emma in Geneva, Illinois. Her father, Joseph Emma, from Sicily, was a prop man in Hollywood in the 1920s. After his daughter's birth he became the manager of the Deerpath movie theatre in Lake Forest, Illinois, where Joan was brought up. [1] Her mother, Amelia Berky, was from Austria, and was a vaudeville singing-dancing star in the 1920s. [2]
Taylor married Leonard Freeman, later the creator of Hawaii Five-O, in 1953. The couple had three daughters. After her contract for The Rifleman ran out, she retired from acting to raise her children. [3]
When Freeman died in January 1974, following heart surgery, Taylor began managing Leonard Freeman Productions and the business of Hawaii Five-O under the name Rose Freeman. [4] She attended at least one Hawaii Five-O convention to talk to fans. [5]
With her children older, she found herself writing, including co-author credit for the comedy Fools Rush In starring Matthew Perry and Salma Hayek. [6] She remarried, to television producer-director Walter Grauman in 1976; the couple divorced in 1980. [7]
Taylor's career began at the Pasadena Playhouse. She met Freeman there when both were involved with putting on Here Comes Mr. Jordan. [8] In the early 1950s, she was chosen by Paramount Pictures as a member of the studio's "Golden Circle", described as a "group consisting of a dozen unusually talented young actors for whom Paramount held high hopes." Her first film was Fighting Man of the Plains, starring Randolph Scott. [9] Her producer had also insured the 19-year-old's legs for $100,000 against injury. [9]
Her television career consisted of guest appearances on popular shows, in only one or two episodes. However, she had a successful recurring role in eighteen episodes of The Rifleman, starring Chuck Connors from 1960 to 1962.
Taylor died of natural causes March 4, 2012, in Santa Monica, California. [10]