Jud Taylor

TAYLOR--Jud, film and television director, and past president of the Directors Guild of America, passed away on August 6, 2008, after a long illness. Taylor's many films included Foxfire, for which he won a Directors Guild Award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement, and Tailgunner Joe, which was nominated for an Emmy. He also directed episodes of many classic TV series running the gamut from original Star Trek episodes to, more recently, episodes of Law and Order: Special Victims Unit. In the 1960s, Taylor acted in films such as The Great Escape and played the recurring role of Dr. Gerson in the hit series Dr. Kildare. As actor or director, he worked with Steve McQueen, Denzel Washington, James Stewart, Charles Bronson, and Lee Strassberg. A warm and loving husband, brother, father and grandfather, and a creative, witty and talented man, Taylor is survived by his wife, casting director Lynn Kressel, his sister Diana Olken, two daughters from a prior marriage, Alexandra Taylor and Darian Taylor, and a granddaughter, Daisy Lee. Funeral services will be held at 3pm, Friday at Riverside Memorial Chapel, 180 West 76th Street, New York, New York. In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that contributions be made in memory of Jud Taylor to the Directors Guild of America Foundation, 7920 Sunset Blvd., Suite 401, Los Angeles, CA 90046.