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John Taylor

Directing

0.3 Popularity Oct 05, 1914 (77 years old) Kentish Town, London, England, UK

John Elston Taylor (5 October 1914 – 15 September 1992) was a British documentary filmmaker.

Born in Kentish Town, London, on 5 October 1914, John Taylor had originally set his sights on a career in carpentry; however, shortly after finishing school he was offered a job by his sister's husband, d...

Biography

John Elston Taylor (5 October 1914 – 15 September 1992) was a British documentary filmmaker.

Born in Kentish Town, London, on 5 October 1914, John Taylor had originally set his sights on a career in carpentry; however, shortly after finishing school he was offered a job by his sister's husband, documentary filmmaker John Grierson.

Taylor started work as a film assistant at the Empire Marketing Board and in the years that followed he tried his hand at such jobs as camera operator, assistant director and production assistant. Along with working on Grierson's works, Taylor also had the fortune of working alongside some of his colleagues, such as Basil Wright (Song of Ceylon, 1934), Robert Flaherty (Man of Aran, 1934) and Alberto Cavalcanti on several of his travel documentaries, such as Men of the Alps (1937). By the end of the 1930s, Taylor was directing films himself, including Smoke Menace (1937) and Londoners (1939).

In the 1940s, Taylor began producing films which helped to expose and improve social issues: Margaret Thomson's Clean Milk (1943) helped improve the Scottish dairy industry; Alex Strasser's Your Children's Eyes (1945) showed how a child's squint could easily be corrected with a minor operation; Daybreak in Udi (d. Terry Bishop, 1949) followed the construction of a maternity hospital in a village in Eastern Nigeria.

In 1952, Taylor and Leon Clore set up Countryman Films, a company which made natural history documentaries. Their greatest achievement was probably The Conquest of Everest (d. Thomas Stobbart, 1953), a record of the successful British Everest expedition of 1953 accomplished by John Hunt, Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.

Taylor was involved in a vast number of documentary films that became classics of the genre. He continued working up to the 1980s, producing quality documentaries on themes of social welfare and conservation.

Filmography 32

2018
1965
Rail Report 5 Movie

Director

1965
Wild Wings Movie

Director

1964
Southampton Docks Movie

Director

1963
The Port of Hull Movie

Director

1963
The Port of Hull Movie

Script

1959
An Artist Looks at Churches Movie

Director of Photography

1959
1957
Lancashire Coast Movie

Director

1957
Holiday Movie

Director

1957
1953
1952
Journey Into History Movie

Director

1952
Farmer Moving South Movie

Director

1952
1945
French Town... Movie

Producer

1942
Newspaper Train Movie

Producer

1942
A Seaman's Story Movie

Director

1942
Dustbin Parade Movie

Producer

Personal Details

Known For Directing
Gender Male
Birthday October 05, 1914 (77 years old)
Died September 15, 1992
Place of Birth Kentish Town, London, England, UK
Also Known As Джон Тейлор
Years Active 1929 - 2018
Popularity 0.3
Career Stats
32 Total Credits