Julia M. Taylor

Julia M. Taylor, a well-known stage star, was an important actress in Thanhouser films in 1910 and 1911.

Born on September 20, 1878, Julia Marie Taylor was raised in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She entered a vaudeville and stage career and was a popular actress for many years.

The April 6, 1911 issue of The Moving Picture News told of the actress: “Miss Julia Marie Taylor, leading lady of the Thanhouser Company, hails from Fort Wayne, Indiana, and her very first theatrical engagement was as a leading woman, playing in that capacity for Creston Clarke in classic repertory. She then became identified with the celebrated Fawcett stock company, of Baltimore, and among her greatest successes there was Lady Babbie, which she played for eight weeks. Miss Taylor then appeared in leading feminine parts with such artists as Richard Mansfield, in The Merchant of Venice, Walter Edwards in The Redemption of David Corson, S. Miller Kent in Fighting Bob, Frank Gilmore in The Liars, Orrin Johnson in The Man of the Hour, and was made a feature of Keith’s Philadelphia stock company.”

By early 1911 Julia M. Taylor appeared in Thanhouser films. At the time she was a well-known Broadway actress. Like many other stage players, she occasionally worked in films, although she was never a full-time member of the Thanhouser stock company. A notable role was Juliet in Romeo and Juliet (released in two reels, September 1 and 8, 1911). A note in the February 17, 1912 issue of The Moving Picture World stated that she was no longer with the New Rochelle studio.

She married Wallace Worsley (a stage and film director; he died in 1944). Her son, Wallace Worsley, Jr., had a cameo appearance at the age of two in a Thanhouser film. She died in Hollywood on December 4, 1976. She was survived by her son, Wallace Worsley, Jr. (who did not use the “Jr.” after his father’s death), who was a production manager at Universal at the time, a grandson, a granddaughter, and two great grandchildren.