William Desmond Taylor: A Dossier (filmmakers series)

William Desmond Taylor (1872-1922) was a leading silent film director remembered as the victim of Hollywood's most sensational unsolved murder, which shook the nation and shattered the reputations of several top Hollywood stars. Until now, Taylor's film career and leadership role in the Hollywood film industry have been completely overshadowed by the scandal of his death. By reprinting over 400 items from contemporary newspapers, magazines, and trade journals, the book reveals Taylor's life in Hollywood_from his arrival as a minor actor in 1912 until his death in 1922 as one of Hollywood's top directors. These annotated clippings and articles, many containing Taylor's own words, provide substantial insight into Hollywood life and film production during the decade that transformed Hollywood into the movie capital of the world. Included in the book is the most extensive filmography of Taylor's work ever published. Taylor's murder is also examined, including a critical analysis of two published 'solutions' to the crime.

Bruce Long is an acknowledged leading researcher on the William Desmond Taylor murder case. He was the editor of Taylorology. This book has always been beyond the reach of those of us of modest means.

Review
...a more detailed account of Taylor's career and murder than anything ever written.....

...a compendium of primary sources as fascinating for students of early Hollywood as of unsolved crime.....

As film history, human story or murder mystery the book...grips the attention throughout.....

Long's absorbing tale sheds a curious light on that period's Hollywood lifestyle.....