New York Times, 11/6/2025
Sam Roberts reports:
As a young and prescient arts critic and author, John Russell Taylor praised the future Nobel laureate Harold Pinter as “the greatest” of the new wave of stylistically revolutionary playwrights to emerge in their native England in the late 1950s.
During his stint in the 1970s as a Los Angeles-based correspondent for The Times of London, Mr. Taylor bonded with Alfred Hitchcock over their mutual affection for English candy and, trust earned, wrote the filmmaker’s only authorized biography — one of many well-received and comprehensive books he published about secretive public figures in the arts.
Perhaps most memorably, Mr. Taylor, a lifelong movie aficionado, recalled writing for The Times such an effusive late-career appraisal of Bette Davis that she rang him up to say “she was thinking of forging down to the office to kiss me.”
Mr. Taylor, a widely praised author and critic whose reviews encompassed theater, painting, fashion and cinema, died on Aug. 18. He was 90.
He had homes in London and Wales, but his obituaries in British publications, including The Times of London, did not provide further details.
Related posts:
2025
Melody Beattie. (3/24)
John Carlos Blake. (2/4)
Barbara Taylor Bradford. (1/6)
John Casey. (3/5)
Edward Countryman. (5/8)
Marilyn Diamond. (9/15)
Nathalie Dupree. (1/19)
John Feinstein. (3/21)
Edna Ferber. (1/15)
Frederick Forsyth. (6/23)
Lynn Freed. (6/11)
Jane Gardam. (5/2)
Susan Griffin. (10/17)
Christopher Jencks. (2/15)
Paulette Jiles. (7/21)
Sam Keen. (4/8)
William Leuchtenburg. (2/2)
David Lodge. (1/6)
Martin E. Marty. (3/5)
Dennis McDougal. (3/20)
Joseph S. Nye, Jr. (6/8)
Tom Robbins. (2/11)
Martin Cruz Smith. (7/20)
Joseph Wambaugh. (3/1)
2024
Best books on politics. (9/2)
Dorothy Allison. (11/13)
Paul Auster. (5/9)
Lynne Reid Banks. (4/10)
Donald L. Barlett. (10/15)
John Barth. (4/3)
David Boaz. (6/13)
Caleb Carr. (5/26)
Shirley Conran. (5/25)
Robert Coover. (10/12)
Frederick Crews. (6/28)
Charles R. Cross. (8/25)
Nelson DeMille. (10/3)
Daniel C. Dennett. (4/22)
Anne Edwards. (2/4)
Edward Jay Epstein. (1/18)
Helen E. Fisher. (9/6)
H. Bruce Franklin. (6/9)
Sandra M. Gilbert. (11/24)
Ellen Gilchrist. (2/15)
Lesley Hazleton (5/11)
Cristina Henriquez . (3/6)
Gary Indiana. (10/30)
Barbara Howard . (8/8)
Sue Johnson. (6/7)
Barry Kemp. (6/1)
Elias Khoury. (10/4)
Ella Leffland. (10/9)
Hal Lindsey. (12/6)
Alice Munro. (5/19)
Stanley Pottinger. (12/18)
Terry Robards. (6/8)
Thomas Rockwell. (10/14)
Tom Shales. (1/21)
Ross Terrill. (8/14)
Vernor Wing . (4/1)
Dan Wakefield , (3/17)
Alexander Waugh. (8/7)
Westheimer, Dr. Ruth . (7/14)
2023
Martin Amis . (5/31)
Richard Anobile. (3/18)
Russell Banks. (1/11)
A. S. Byatt. (11/18)
Ted Bell. (2/8)
Carol Higgins Clark. (7/13)
Natalie Zemon Davis . (10/27)
Tim Dorsey. (12/10)
Herbert Gold. (11/24)
David Harris. (2/8)
Paul Johnson. (1/15)
Milan Kundera . (7/17)
Harold S. Kushner. (4/30)
Cormac McCarthy. (6/19)
Kevin Phillips. (10/19)
Betty Rollin. (11/26)
Norman Rush. (4/7)
Mimi Sheraton. (4/9)
Charles Simic. (1/16)
Donald Spoto . (2/18)
D. M. Thomas. (3/31)
John Underwood. (5/8)
Fay Weldon. (2/2)
Bill Zehme. (4/1)
2022
Roger Angell. (5/24)
Melissa Bank . (8/7)
Raymond Briggs. (8/20)
Thomas Cahill. (11/16)
Philip K. Dick. (11/20)
Bruce Duffy, (3/13)
Todd Gitlin . (2/8)
Rebecca Godfrey. (11/11)
Ron Goulart. (2/7)
Doris Grumbach . (11/10)
Robert Hicks. (3/8)
Thomas Hoving. (12/19)
Maureen Howard. (3/19)
Dominique Lapierre . (12/11)
Hilary Mantel. (9/26)
Nancy Mitford. (4/4)
P. J. O'Rourke. (2/24)
John J. Osborn Jr. (11/4)
Julie Powell. (11/5)
Thomas Pynchon. (12/17)
Dennis Smith. (1/27)
Susie Steiner . (7/27)
Larry Woiwode . (5/19)
2021
Joan Walsh Anglund. (4/3)
F. Lee Bailey. (6/11)
Katherine Barber. (5/26)
Mary Catherine Bateson. (1/26)
Rosalind Cartwright. (3/21)
Kim Chernin . (1/10)
Beverly Cleary. (4/8)
Angelo Codevilla. (10/10)
Christina Crosby. (1/31)
Geoff Crowther. (5/17)
Eric Jerome Dickey. (1/9)
Morrie Dickstein . (3/31)
Scott Donaldson. (1/11)
Stephen Dunn. (6/29)
Lawrence Ferlinghetti. (2/24)
James R. Flynn. (1/30)
Larry Flynt. (2/12)
Lucinda Franks. (5/11)
Joseph Galloway. (8/25)
Norman Golb. (2/22)
Lawrence Graham. (3/9)
Charles Grodin. (5/20)
Maria Guarnascheilli , book editor. (2/18)
James Gunn. (2/21)
Tony Hendra . (3/7)
Robert L. Herbert (2/12)
Norman Juster. (3/16)
Donald Kagan. (8/20)
His King . (4/9)
Lyn Macdonald. (5/15)
Janet Malcolm. (6/18)
Peter Manso , (4/10)
Jason Matthews. (5/4)
Margaret Maron. (3/13)
Larry McMurtry. (4/2)
Ved Mehta. (1/12)
Robert Middlekauff. (9/3)
Marie Mongan. (3/22)
John Naisbitt. (4/21)
Sharon Kay Penman. (2/8)
Steven B. Oates. (9/1)
Robert Quackenbush. (7/7)
Deborah Rhode. (1/28)
James Ridgeway. (2/16)
Naomi Rosenblum (3/6)
Donald Rumsfeld. (7/6)
Charles Saunders. (2/4)
David Swensen . (5/13)
Bryan Sykes. (1/14)
Athan Theoharis. (6/14/)
Ed Ward. (5/16)
Michael Thomas. (8/19)
Steven Weinberg. (8/5)
Adam Zagajewski. (3/27)
2020
Patricia Bosworth. (4/6)
Randall Kenan. (9/29)
John Le Carre . (12/23/2020)
Johanna Lindsey. (1/15)
Barry Lopez. (12/29)
Alison Lurie. (12/7)
Sylvia Jukes Morris. (1/20)
Charlers Portis. (2/19)
Jill Paton Walsh. (11/29)
Charles Webb. (6/30)
Elizabeth Wurtzel. (1/11)
2019
Warren Adler . (4/23)
Kate Braverman. (10/28)
Stephen Dixon. (11/12)
Ernest J. Gaines. (11/8)
And Jenkins . (3/10)
Judith Krantz. (6/27)
Paule Marshall. (8/27)
Robert K. Massie. (12/4)
Martin Mayer. (8/3)
Wright Morris. (7/25)
Toni Morrison. (8/12)
Anthony Price. (6/17)
James I. Robertson. (11/20)
Anne Rivers Siddons. (9/19)
John Simon. (12/1)
Sol Stein. (9/30)
Brad Watson. (8/2)
Lonnie Wheeler. (7/15)
Herman Wouk . (5/20)
2018
Neal Thompson. (6/17)
Barbara Kafka. (6/8)
2017
Aline Countess of Romanones. (12/17)
Kit Reed. (10/1)
2016
E. M. Nathanson. (4/10)
2015
Gunter Grass (1927-2015). (4/15)
2014
Thomas Berger (1924-2014). (7/23)
2013
Barbara Branden. (12/26)



No comments:
Post a Comment