Joan Taylor (August 18, 1929 – March 4, 2012) was an American television and film actress.
Personal life
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]
Career
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.
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