Holland Taylor

Actor

• Born: January 14, 1943
• Place of Birth: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Contribution: Holland Taylor is an Emmy Award–winning actor best known for her roles in the sitcom Two and a Half Men and the legal drama The Practice.

Background

Holland Virginia Taylor was born on January 14, 1943, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her father, C. Tracy Taylor, was a lawyer, and her mother, Virginia Taylor, was a painter. Taylor attended the private Westtown School in Philadelphia.

After graduation, Taylor enrolled at Bennington College in Vermont to study drama. She knew that she wanted to become a professional actor, and throughout her time in college, she performed in various plays in several regional theaters. She graduated from Bennington in 1964 and promptly moved to New York City with the intention of pursuing an acting career on Broadway.

Career

In 1965, Taylor was cast in the Broadway production of The Devils, based on a 1952 work by Aldous Huxley and starring Academy Award–winning actor Anne Bancroft. More stage work followed, including roles in Off-Broadway shows such as The Poker Session in 1967 and The David Show in 1968.

After returning to Broadway for a production of Butley in 1972, Taylor secured some minor television work, appearing in a small role in the soap opera Somerset. This role was the first of what would become a long string of guest appearances over the years. She next played a part in the television drama Beacon Hill and also acted in episodes of Kojak and The Edge of Night.

In 1980 Taylor took on a supporting role in the sitcom Bosom Buddies, starring Tom Hanks and Peter Scolari. She remained with the show until its cancellation in 1982. During the early 1980s, she also began to perform in small roles in feature films. She played the more substantial role of a book publisher in the 1984 adventure blockbuster Romancing the Stone, a role she reprised the following year in the film’s sequel, The Jewel of the Nile.

Taylor returned to theater in the late 1980s for Off-Broadway productions of The Perfect Party and The Cocktail Hour. In 1992 she obtained a main role as Margaret Powers, the wife of a US senator, in the political sitcom The Powers That Be, which ran for two seasons. She kept busy throughout the 1990s with guest spots on miscellaneous television shows and supporting roles in features, including To Die For (1995), One Fine Day (1996), and George of the Jungle (1997).

From 1998 to 2003, Taylor portrayed the recurring character of Judge Roberta Kittleson on the legal drama The Practice. She received the 1999 Emmy Award for outstanding supporting actress in a drama series in recognition of her performance. She was again nominated for her performance as Kittleson in 2000 and also earned a nomination for the Emmy Award for outstanding guest actress for her guest role in The Lot. The following year, she played the prominent role of Nancy Reagan in the television biopic The Day Reagan Was Shot.

In 2003 Taylor again found mainstream television success when she was cast in the sitcom Two and a Half Men. The first eight seasons of the show focus on the lives of Charlie Harper (Charlie Sheen) and his brother, Alan (Jon Cryer), and nephew, Jake (Angus T. Jones), who live together in Charlie’s Malibu home; Ashton Kutcher joined the cast as billionaire Walden Schmidt following Sheen’s departure in 2011. Taylor portrayed Charlie and Alan’s domineering mother, Evelyn Harper, a successful Los Angeles broker with a wild personal life. Two and a Half Men grew to become one of CBS’s top-rated sitcoms, winning numerous awards. For her performance as Evelyn, Taylor was nominated for the Emmy Award for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series in 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2010.

While working on Two and a Half Men, Taylor appeared in a number of other television shows, including Monk and The L Word, and played memorable roles in films such as Baby Mama (2008). In 2011, after years of research and writing, Taylor began starring in the one-woman play Ann, a character study of Ann Richards, governor of Texas from 1991 to 1995. The show ran on Broadway from March to June 2013 and earned Taylor a Tony Award nomination for best lead actress.

Though Two and a Half Men came to an end in 2015, Taylor continued to find work in television, film, and theater throughout the remainder of the 2010s. After appearing in the family-adventure film Kepler's Dream in 2016, she became a regular member of the cast of Audience network's series Mr. Mercedes. The show, based on a trilogy by Stephen King, began airing in 2017 and ran for three seasons until 2019. Meanwhile, in addition to joining a cast that included Nathan Lane for a limited Broadway production of The Front Page from late 2016 to early 2017, she made appearances on the shows The Orville and Good Behavior in 2017 before landing a role in the 2018 film Gloria Bell.

Maintaining both a television and film presence in the 2020s, Holland had a part in the romantic-comedy sequel To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You, the television miniseries Hollywood (for which she secured an Emmy nod), and the sequel Bill & Ted Face the Music in 2020 alone. While she continued to work on other projects as well, 2021 saw the beginning of one of her next most critically lauded roles as a recurring member of the cast of the popular Apple TV+ series The Morning Show, starring Jennifer Aniston and Reese Witherspoon. Playing network executive Cybil Richards, her performance was notable enough to warrant a 2024 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series. Having also appeared in the film Quiz Lady and three episodes of the series Billions in 2023, in 2024 she took to the stage again for the Off-Broadway Mario Correa political play N/A.

Impact

Though Taylor began her career as a stage actor and has returned to the theater over the years, she has become famous in large part for her work in television. Perhaps best known as a comic actor, she has been praised by critics and viewers for her dry wit. Taylor has received several awards and nominations for her extensive work in television and theater.

Personal Life

Taylor began a relationship with actor Sarah Paulson in 2015.

Bibliography

Ginsburg, Steve. “Holland Taylor on Life, Love, and Charlie Sheen.” Reuters, 26 Dec. 2011, www.reuters.com/article/lifestyle/holland-taylor-on-life-love-and-charlie-sheen-idUSTRE7BP0CP/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

Haun, Harry. "Holland Taylor on 'N/A' and Playing Powerful Women." Observer, 8 Aug. 2024, observer.com/2024/08/holland-taylor-on-n-a-and-playing-powerful-women/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

"Holland Taylor." IMDb, www.imdb.com/name/nm0852466/. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

Isherwood, Charles. “Fiery, Salty and Brash, This Rose of Texas.” Review of Ann, directed by Benjamin Endsley Klein. The New York Times, 7 Mar. 2013, www.nytimes.com/2013/03/08/theater/reviews/ann-with-holland-taylor-at-vivian-beaumont-theater.html. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

Stamberg, Susan. “Holland Taylor: A Class Act’s Next Tough Dame.” NPR, 5 Apr. 2010, www.npr.org/2010/04/05/125224542/holland-taylor-a-class-acts-next-tough-dame. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

Taylor, Holland, and Christine Quinn. “Leave a Place Setting for Ann.” Interview by Philip Galanes. TheNew York Times, 9 May 2013, www.nytimes.com/2013/05/12/fashion/a-lunch-with-holland-taylor-and-christine-quinn.html. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.