Meshach Taylor was an American actor.
He was Emmy-nominated for his role as Anthony Bouvier on the CBS sitcom Designing Women,.
He is also known for his portrayal of Hollywood Montrose, a flamboyant window dresser in Mannequin.
He played Sheldon Baylor on the CBS sitcom Dave's World, appeared as Tony on the short-lived
NBC sitcom Buffalo Bill opposite Dabney Coleman, and appeared as the recurring character Alastair
Wright, the social studies teacher and later school principal, on Nickelodeon's sitcom,
Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide.
Early life Taylor was born in Boston, Massachusetts to
Hertha Mae and Joseph T. Taylor, former dean of students at Dillard University in New Orleans,
who was also the first dean of arts and sciences at Indiana University – Purdue University
Indianapolis.
After the family moved from New Orleans to Indianapolis, Taylor graduated from Crispus
Attucks High School in 1964, where he took an interest in acting, and went on to study
in the dramatic arts programs at Wilmington College and Florida A&M University.
Leaving Florida A&M a few credits shy of graduation, he worked in Indianapolis as a State House
reporter for AM radio station WIFE, where he used the on-air name Bruce Thomas, and
as the host of a community-affairs program on television station WLWI, as Bruce Taylor.
Many years later, in May 1993, he received his bachelor's degree in theatre arts from
Florida A&M.
Career Theater and teleplays
Taylor's first professional acting gig was in a national tour of Hair.
He honed his craft in repertory theater as a member of Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, and
the Organic Theater Company alongside Joe Mantegna, André DeShields, Dennis Franz,
Keith Szarabajka, Jack Wallace, and director Stuart Gordon.
While in Chicago, he appeared in David Rabe's Streamers, Native Son, The Island and Athol
Fugard’s Sizwe Banzi Is Dead, for which he garnered the 1977 Joseph Jefferson Award
for Actor in a Principal Role in a Play.
He received an Emmy Award for his role as Jim in the WTTW production of Huckleberry
Finn and hosted the Chicago television show Black Life.
In 1998, Taylor made his Broadway debut as Lumiere in Beauty and the Beast, where he
starred alongside Toni Braxton.
In September, 2012, he appeared in Year of the Rabbit at Ensemble Studio Theater-LA as
Vietnam veteran JC Bridges.
Television and film
In 1978, Taylor moved to Los Angeles, where he crafted a gallery of memorable characters
in film and on television, including his Emmy nominated turn in the CBS sitcom Designing
Women, co-starring Dixie Carter, Delta Burke, Annie Potts, Jean Smart, Alice Ghostley, Jan
Hooks, Julia Duffy and Judith Ivey.
Taylor played Anthony Bouvier, the assistant at the fictitious Sugarbaker interior design
firm in Atlanta, Georgia.
In 1989, he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
In May 1981, the ninth season of M*A*S*H, he was seen as a corpsman in the final episode,
"The Life You Save".
From 1993-97, he was a series regular as plastic surgeon Sheldon Baylor on Dave's World, and
had a recurring role as Alastair Wright, the history teacher turned school principal, on
Nickelodeon's sitcom, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide and Buffalo Bill with Dabney
Coleman.
Other appearances include: The Unit, Jessie, Hannah Montana as a fashion designer, All
of Us as Neesee's father, The Drew Carey Show, Static Shock, Caroline in the City, Aaahh!!!
Real Monsters, Women of the House, In the Heat of the Night, Punky Brewster, What’s
Happening Now!, Hill Street Blues, ALF, Melba, The Golden Girls, Cagney & Lacey, Barney Miller,
Lou Grant, The White Shadow, The Incredible Hulk, and Barnaby Jones(CBS).
In 1996, Taylor hosted his own series on HGTV, The Urban Gardener with Meshach Taylor, and
in 1998, he hosted Meshach Taylor's Hidden Caribbean on The Travel Channel.
He was a regular panelist on the 2000 revival of the television game show To Tell the Truth.
He co-hosted Living Live!
with Florence Henderson on Retirement Living TV; in 2008, the program was revamped as The
Florence Henderson Show.
In November 2012, Taylor guest-starred on Criminal Minds, opposite Joe Mantegna, as
Harrison Scott, Rossi's former Marine sergeant with whom he served in Vietnam in "The Fallen".
In January 2014, he reprised this role in "The Road Home".
Taylor appeared in feature films, including Mannequin, Mannequin Two: On the Move, and
Damien: Omen II.
Personal life Taylor married actress Bianca Ferguson in
1983.
They had four children, daughters Tamar Taylor, Esme Taylor, Yasmine Taylor, and son Tariq
Taylor, and four grandchildren.
Death Suffering from colorectal cancer, Taylor died
on June 28, 2014, at his home in Altadena, California.
Taylor is survived by his wife Bianca Ferguson Taylor, their four children, his mother Hertha
Ward Taylor , his sister Judith Taylor, his brother Hussain Taylor and four grandchildren.
A memorial service to celebrate his life was held at Forest Lawn Memorial Parkon July 6,
2014.
Select filmography Damien: Omen II
One More Saturday Night The Haircut
Mannequin Mannequin Two: On the Move
Class Act The Howling
Double, Double, Toil and Trouble Explorers
References
External links Meshach Taylor at AllMovie
Meshach Taylor at the Internet Movie Database Meshach Taylor talks Wigger on Wendy Williams
Show, Backstage Pass with Lia Chang, New York, May 17, 2011.
Emmy Award-Nominated Actor Meshach Taylor, Guest Stars on Criminal Minds as Rossi’s
Former Marine Sergeant, Harrison Scott on November 14, 2012, Backstage Pass with Lia
Chang, New York, November 6, 2012.
Meshach Taylor Obituary at nytimes.com June 29, 2014
Meshach Taylor at Find a Grave 'Fresh Air' Remembers Actor Meshach Taylor
NPR 'Fresh Air' host, Terry Gross pays tribute to actor Meshach Taylor with rebroadcast of
1990 interview.