Rip Taylor

Charles Elmer "Rip" Taylor, Jr. (January 13, 1931 – October 6, 2019) was an American comedian and actor.

Television and film
After serving a stint in the Army, Taylor played a wacky, but memorable villain named Wizard Glick in the final episode of The Monkees TV series in 1968 (he had also appeared in an episode from a few months earlier.) He continued to work as a voice performer in the 1970s NBC cartoon series Here Comes the Grump and in the second Addams Family cartoon series (as Uncle Fester).

Throughout the 1970s Rip Taylor was a frequent celebrity guest panelist on game shows such as Hollywood Squares, To Tell the Truth, and The Gong Show, and substituted for Charles Nelson Reilly on The Match Game. He became a regular on Sid & Marty Krofft's Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, playing Sheldon, a sea-genie who lived in a conch shell. In addition, Taylor was also a regular on The Brady Bunch Hour, playing a role of neighbor / performer Jack Merrill. He also hosted a short-lived send-up of beauty pageants called The $1.98 Beauty Show created by Gong Show producer/host Chuck Barris, in 1978. Taylor appeared as a celebrity on the slot-machine version of Match Game. On one episode of Super Password in 1988, gameplay went awry after another celebrity guest, Patty Duke, inadvertently gave away the password and host Bert Convy lost control of the show. Taylor reacted to the craziness first by throwing a stool, and then ripped off his toupee (something he claimed to have never done on network television before), Taylor, in a fit of mock frustration, shouted "That's not fair!" and pulled off his toupee resulting in hysterical laughter from everyone in the studio. This scene has been seen on TV many times since.

Rip Taylor was featured at the end of the 2 part Chalet 2000 skit on the television show The Kids In The Hall. He was referred to as Uncle Rip by one of the show's characters "Buddy Cole".

In 1997, Taylor appeared in a segment on the show "Beyond Belief: Fact or Fiction". He played the role of Elmo Middleton in the segment titled "The Man in the Model T" in Episode 17 (the 11th Episode of the 2nd season) of the show. Also in 1997, he appeared as himself on the sitcom Brotherly Love in the episode Easy Come Easy Go.

In 2003, Taylor also appeared as himself on the NBC sitcom Will & Grace. In 2005, he appeared as himself on an episode of ABC TV's The George Lopez Show. Taylor guest-starred as chef "Rappin' Rip" in four episodes of an earlier ABC sitcom featuring Lopez, Life With Bonnie.

Taylor was an accomplice of the Jackass crew. In 1995, he performed the intro for the Bloodhound Gang's Use Your Fingers album, and in 2002, he appeared in the final scene of Jackass: The Movie, wielding a pistol that, when fired, released a sign that read "The End" (Taylor's section of the film was originally considerably longer, and ended with him complaining about the heat, and fanning himself with his toupee. This footage was included on the DVD of the film.) He did the same thing at the ending of Jackass: Number Two. In the credits of the 2005 remake of The Dukes of Hazzard, Rip shows up in the blooper reel.

He guest starred in The Suite Life of Zack and Cody episode "Loosely Ballroom" as Leo. He was also in some episodes of The Emperor's New School, as the voice of the Royal Record Keeper. He was also recently in the Jetix animated series Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go!

He was also in the 1990 summer movie Walt Disney'sDuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp as the voice of the Genie.

Taylor made occasional appearances in movies, usually in broad comedies like the R-rated Deep Throat parody Chatterbox. In Amazon Women on the Moon a funeral service turns into a celebrity roast when guest Rip Taylor shows up to "honor" the deceased. In Cheech and Chong's Things Are Tough All Over, he picks them up in the middle of nowhere driving a convertible full of props. Rip then proceeds to drive them to Las Vegas and telling jokes the whole way and moving Chong to tears from laughter. In 1993, Taylor also appeared in Tom and Jerry: The Movie as Captain Kiddle, and in Wayne's World 2. In 1993's Indecent Proposal as Demi Moore's boss, he appears without his toupee. In 2002 he appeared in Jackass: The Movie again in 2006 he had a small part in Jackass: Number Two alongside Johnny Knoxville.

He made a special guest appearance at the end of the 1000th episode of G4's videogame review show X-Play.

Comic trademarks
Taylor was known for his high-voiced yells, wacky toupée, and handlebar moustache over a perpetually toothy grin. He often entered a venue tossing handfuls of confetti from a paper bag onto his audience and laughing hysterically, while the band plays his theme song, "Happy Days Are Here Again."

Taylor's comedic style includes puns, often in conjunction with props (for example, holding up a plastic fish full of holes and exclaiming "Holy Mackerel!") and miming along to novelty records (including the works of Spike Jones). If he gets little or no reaction following one of his jokes, he stops for a moment and yells at the audience: "I don't dance, folks! This is it!" Or, "Hello? Can you people hear me?"

Live theater
Taylor appeared for three years in the burlesque-themed musical comedy Sugar Babies, and was featured on the soundtrack album. He was a frequent co-star with Debbie Reynolds in her live shows in Las Vegas, Reno, and Lake Tahoe.

Outside of the Entertainment Industry
Prior to becoming famous, Taylor was a page in the U.S. Senate.

In 2006, Taylor returned to the nation's capital as the grand marshal of Washington D.C.'s Capital Pride parade.

Awards & Honors
He was named Las Vegas "Entertainer of the Year" for three consecutive years during the 1970s.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Live Theatre which is located at 6625 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.

Personal life and death
In 2005, Taylor appeared as the grand marshal of the Washington, D.C., Capital Pride parade. When Taylor had been referred to as "openly gay" in a 2009 interview for "Ask the Flying Monkey", Brent Hartinger recalled receiving an email from Taylor stating, "You don't know me to summarize I am openly gay. I don't know you're not an open heroin user. You see how that works? Think before you write." Taylor was married for a number of years to Las Vegas showgirl Rusty Rowe, whom he divorced in the early 1960s.

Taylor was a close personal friend of entertainer Liberace. Taylor cut the ribbon at the Las Vegas estate auction of Liberace's belongings and personal effects in 1988.

At the time of Taylor's death, he was in a long-term relationship with Robert Fortney.

Taylor died on October 6, 2019, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, having been hospitalized after suffering an epileptic seizure the week prior. His death certificate listed heart failure as a contributing cause. While Taylor often gave his date of birth as 1934 or 1935, his death certificate confirmed he was born in 1931.[citation needed] His ashes were scattered at sea in Hawaii.