- Born
- Died
- Birth nameCharles Elmer Taylor Jr.
- Nicknames
- Prince of Pandemonium
- Master of Mayhem
- King of Camp and Confetti
- The Crying Comedian
- Height5′ 10″ (1.78 m)
- The nicknames, "The Prince of Pandemonium", "The Master of Mayhem" and "King of Camp and Confetti", are but a few valid applications that were thrust upon zany comedian Rip Taylor, whose flamboyant blend of burlesque and self-deprecating humor entertained audiences for over four decades. He headlined the top showrooms of Las Vegas, appeared on scores of television shows, starred in various musical stage slapstick comedies and even toyed with dramatic material over the years.
He was born Charles Elmer Taylor, Jr. in Washington, D.C., on January 13, 1931 to Charles Elmer Taylor Sr. and Elizabeth Evans Taylor. He began his career by tossing out one-liners in nightclubs and had his first big break on Ed Sullivan's The Ed Sullivan Show (1948) TV show in 1964. The tacky costumes, ridiculous props, handlebar mustache, wacky wigs and manic confetti-tossing didn't take long to follow as professional trademarks, and they soon made their way into the 1970s pop culture.
Frequently appearing on television, he appeared in everything from variety shows to talk shows (Merv Griffin and David Letterman) to sitcoms like The Monkees (1965). He was the gag man who delightfully wrangled out of every groan-inducing one-liner there was, eventually finding the perfect avenue for his brand of insanity via producer Chuck Barris and his syndicated TV shows of the 1970s and 1980s. Rip became a favorite panelist judge, along with Jaye P. Morgan, on Barris' The Gong Show (1976), and later served as host of the equally tacky The $1.98 Beauty Show (1978).
A mainstay in Las Vegas, whether as ringleader of a topless chorus line or opening act to a major entertainer, Rip also slayed 'em on Broadway ("Sugar Babies") and has demonstrated a fine singing instrument in musicals including "Anything Goes", "Oliver!" (as "Fagan"), "Peter Pan" (as "Captain Hook") and in a 1999 production of "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" (as "Pseudolus").
On a more serious side, he played Demi Moore's crusty boss in Indecent Proposal (1993) and showed up sans confetti as Kate Hudson's father in the Rob Reiner feature, Alex & Emma (2003).
For the most part, he continued merrily in such campy films as Barris' The Gong Show Movie (1980); the "Exorcist" spoof, Repossessed (1990), with Linda Blair and Leslie Nielsen; the foreign-made The Silence of the Hams (1994)and Jackass: The Movie (2002). Beginning in the early 1960s, when he first provided additional voices for The Jetsons (1962), Rip continued making voice-over work a viable means of income. His voice can be heard in such animated films as DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp (1990), Tom and Jerry: The Movie (1992) and Scooby-Doo and the Monster of Mexico (2003), and animated TV series as Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones? (2002) and The Emperor's New School (2006). He was nominated for an Emmy award for voicing "Uncle Fester" in the TV cartoon program, The Addams Family (1992).
Having suffered an epileptic seizure the week prior, 88-year-old Rip died of congestive heart failure on October 6, 2019, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. Once briefly married to Las Vegas showgirl Rusty Rowe, whom he divorced in the early 1960s, Rip was involved in a long-term relationship with Robert Fortney at the time of his death.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Gary Brumburgh / gr-home@pacbell.net
- Confetti
- Handlebar mustache
- Toupee
- His index cards of jokes
- Was a Congressional Page in his teens before serving in the Korean War.
- Taylor donated a large part of his time not only to AIDS causes, but to numerous other charitable causes including The Thalians, The Screen Actors Guild, The Actors' Home, and The Friars Charitable Trust. He was a welcome mainstay on "The Jerry Lewis Telethon".
- Rip started by throwing things like string beans, marshmallows and peanuts at the audience, who ended up throwing them back at him. That gave him his first taste of his unique rapport with audiences. Of course, once New Year's Eve came around, it was confetti-time (and safer for everyone concerned) and the bit caught on after the holiday season.
- Was named Las Vegas "Entertainer of the Year" three years in a row in the 1970s.
- Made an appearance in January 1988 on Super Password (1984), which has since been referred to as "The Testimony Incident", where he and actress Patty Duke were the celebrity contestants for the week. In one of the shows, Duke inadvertently revealed a password ("testimony") to a contestant, where after Taylor stands up, picks up a stool that host Bert Convy had previously tossed aside and then drops it down on the floor. As Convy walked to get the stool, Taylor returned to his seat, tore off his toupee, repeatedly exclaiming "It's not fair!" as Convy, the contestants and the studio audience to react with roaring laughter. This paused game play for a few minutes and Taylor quipped that it was the first time he'd been seen without his toupee on network television. He played the rest of the game without it.
- I always wanted to be a Vegas comic, and that's what I am. Las Vegas is the entertainment capital of the world -- if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere. Although I'm not a devout actor, it's nice to be able to do movies and TV, too. I want to be the second banana who works all the time. The ultimate for me would be to stay home and do a TV series for 13 weeks and then go do my nightclub act.
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content