Joan Taylor was a talented actress and screenwriter who appeared in many TV shows and films in the 1950s and 1960s. She is best known for her role as Milly Scott, the general store owner and love interest of Chuck Connors, in the western series The Rifleman. She also co-wrote the 1997 romantic comedy Fools Rush In, starring Matthew Perry and Salma Hayek. But how did Joan Taylor die? Here is what we know about her cause of death and her life.
Joan Taylor’s Early Life and Career
Joan Taylor was born Rose Marie Emma on August 18, 1929, in Geneva, Illinois. Her father, Joseph Emma, was a prop man in Hollywood in the 1920s, and later became the manager of a movie theater in Lake Forest, Illinois. Her mother, Amelia Berky, was a vaudeville singer and dancer in the 1920s.
Taylor’s career began at the Pasadena Playhouse, where she met her future husband, Leonard Freeman, a writer and producer. They married in 1953 and had three daughters. Taylor made her film debut in Fighting Man of the Plains, starring Randolph Scott, in 1949. She also appeared in several sci-fi and horror films, such as Earth vs. the Flying Saucers and 20 Million Miles to Earth.
Taylor’s television career consisted of guest appearances on popular shows, such as Wagon Train, Peter Gunn, Gunsmoke, and The Texan. She landed a recurring role as Milly Scott in The Rifleman in 1960, and stayed on the show for two years. She left acting to raise her children after her contract expired.
Joan Taylor’s Later Years and Death
After Freeman’s death in 1974 following heart surgery, Taylor took over his production company and the business of Hawaii Five-O, a crime drama series that he created. She also wrote an episode of the ABC drama Family in 1979. She remarried to Walter Grauman, a television producer and director, in 1976, but they divorced in 1980.
Taylor returned to writing in the 1990s, and co-wrote the screenplay for Fools Rush In with Katherine Reback. The film was based on her daughter’s relationship with a Mexican-American man. Taylor also attended some Hawaii Five-O conventions to talk to fans.
Taylor died of natural causes on March 4, 2012, in Santa Monica, California. She was 82 years old. She is survived by her three daughters and six grandchildren. She is remembered as a talented and versatile actress and screenwriter who left a mark on Hollywood.
