10 Facts About Buck Taylor
For many of us he’s still Newly O’Brien.
During his stint as Newly O’Brien in the classic TV series Gunsmoke he was sort of Dodge City’s Renaissance man. He came to Dodge as a gunsmith, studied medicine, and was a lawman. He had some rough patches as a lawman.
It seems that whenever Matt Dillion would leave town and leave Newly and/or Festus in charge things inevitably went sideways. It’s no wonder Matt so seldom took a day off.
Of course, there is so much more to Buck Taylor than his work on Gunsmoke. He has a number of other acting credits, many in westerns. He’s also an outstanding artist. So, like Newly, Buck is sort of a Renaissance man himself. With that background, here are some things you might not have known about Buck Taylor.
1: Buck is the son of prolific character actor Dub Taylor.
And it was Dub who gave Buck his nickname. Buck’s actual name is Walter Clarence Taylor III. Buck sounds so much more westerny.
2: Buck’s nickname was the result of his size at birth.
When he was born Buck weighed in at nine pounds which prompted his father Dub to say he “looked like a big buck.” And if you have seen Dub act, that sounds like exactly something he would say.
