Robert Taylor born Spangler Arlington Brugh ; August 5, β June 8, was an American film and television actor and singer who was one of the most popular leading men of cinema. Taylor began his career in films in when he signed with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
He won his first leading role the following year in Magnificent Obsession. His popularity increased during the late s and s with appearances in Camille , A Yank at Oxford , Waterloo Bridge , and Bataan Taylor was married to actress Barbara Stanwyck from to He married actress Ursula Thiess in , and they had two children.
A chain smoker , Taylor died of lung cancer at the age of By September , the Brughs had moved to Beatrice, Nebraska , where they remained for 16 years. As a teenager, Brugh was a track and field star and played the cello in his high school orchestra. Upon graduation, he enrolled at Doane College in Crete, Nebraska. Gray, whom he admired and idolized. He was raw, but very sincere and wholly unaffected.
He stood before me, voice a little tight from nervousness, and read a scene from his favorite play I was impressed and did all I could for him.
His first leading role came by accident. In , Taylor was on the MGM payroll as "the test boy," a male juvenile who would be filmed opposite various young ingenues in screen tests.
