# Buck Taylor
**Buck Taylor** (Walter Clarence Taylor III; born May 13, 1938, in [Hollywood, Los Angeles](https://www.edgepedia.org/hollywood-los-angeles), California) is an American actor and Western artist best known for playing the gunsmith-turned-deputy Newly O'Brien on the CBS television series *Gunsmoke* and, more recently, rancher Emmett Walsh on the neo-Western series *Yellowstone*.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852076/) • [2](https://bucktaylor.com/filmography/) He is also an accomplished watercolor painter whose work has been used for official rodeo posters across the United States.[3](https://texasrodeocowboy.com/inductees/taylor-buck/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | May 13, 1938, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, as Walter Clarence Taylor III[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852076/) |
| Signature role | Newly O'Brien on *Gunsmoke*, 1967–1975, the final eight seasons of the series' twenty-year run[4](https://www.texastrailoffame.org/inductees/buck-taylor) • [3](https://texasrodeocowboy.com/inductees/taylor-buck/) |
| Family | Son of character actor Dub Taylor; married to Goldie Ann Maudlin since April 1995[5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852076/bio/) |
| Other notable roles | Turkey Creek Jack Johnson in *Tombstone* (1993), Col. William Gamble in *Gettysburg* (1993), Emmett Walsh in *Yellowstone* (2018–2022)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852076/) • [2](https://bucktaylor.com/filmography/) |
| Art career | Watercolor and acrylic paintings of cowboys, Native Americans, and horses; posters for rodeos throughout the United States, including the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo[3](https://texasrodeocowboy.com/inductees/taylor-buck/) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852076/) |
| Honors | Wrangler award, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum (1972); Cowboy Spirit Award, National Festival of the West (1998); Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame (2007)[4](https://www.texastrailoffame.org/inductees/buck-taylor) |
## Early life
Taylor grew up in Hollywood among actors and on film sets as the son of the veteran character actor [Dub Taylor](https://www.edgepedia.org/dub-taylor), who appeared in roughly 500 Westerns and other films over six decades.[6](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/buck-taylor/) • [7](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-10-05-mn-46632-story.html) He became a talented gymnast at North Hollywood High School, and the actor Guinn "Big Boy" Williams sponsored him to attend the U.S. Olympic Trials as a gymnast, though he failed to qualify for the 1960 Summer Olympics.[8](https://gunsmoke.fandom.com/wiki/Buck_Taylor) He was also awarded a scholarship to the Chouinard Art Institute while still in high school, and studied theater at USC.[3](https://texasrodeocowboy.com/inductees/taylor-buck/) • [6](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/buck-taylor/) He served two years in the [United States Navy](https://www.edgepedia.org/united-states-navy) before beginning his acting career.[6](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/buck-taylor/)
## Gunsmoke
Taylor's early television work came in the late 1950s and early and mid 1960s, with frequent guest roles on Westerns such as *The Rebel*, where he made his debut, *Stoney Burke*, and *12 O'Clock High*, along with appearances on *Mr. Novak* and *Combat!*.[6](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/buck-taylor/) After a regular role on the Western *The Monroes*, he joined *Gunsmoke* in 1967.[6](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/buck-taylor/) • [4](https://www.texastrailoffame.org/inductees/buck-taylor)
He described his entry into the cast in a 1970 interview: after a guest appearance in the show's 13th season, "they liked me so much they decided to test me as Newly O'Brien, who was a gunsmith and U.S. Deputy Marshal. Six months later, I was on the show."[5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852076/bio/) The character arrived in Dodge City as a gunsmith and later became a deputy marshal, and Taylor played the role through the end of the series in 1975.[8](https://gunsmoke.fandom.com/wiki/Buck_Taylor) He reprised the part, by then the city's marshal, in the 1987 television movie *Gunsmoke: Return to Dodge*.[8](https://gunsmoke.fandom.com/wiki/Buck_Taylor)
Accounts of how many *Gunsmoke* episodes he appeared in differ: 113 episodes over the last eight seasons, 174, 173 per a MeTV feature, and 103 per a fan wiki.[9](https://auteurgraph.com/person/buck-taylor/ratings) • [10](https://939c9b01811224bb3dcf-d6f090436a6f3838a347f2f22505b78d.ssl.cf5.rackcdn.com/uploads/editions/482/original_28fc26338e540a24203afe11dc30af1939552aa4.pdf) • [11](https://www.metv.com/stories/buck-taylor-on-his-gunsmoke-role) • [8](https://gunsmoke.fandom.com/wiki/Buck_Taylor) In the 1970 interview he noted the role was deliberately not overexposed: he had a contract for 26 weeks a year and said, "I only drew my gun one time last season."[11](https://www.metv.com/stories/buck-taylor-on-his-gunsmoke-role)
His regard for the show carried into his family life: he named his second son Matthew after [James Arness](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-arness)'s Marshal Matt Dillon, and his third son Cooper Glenn after [Glenn Strange](https://www.edgepedia.org/glenn-strange), who played the bartender Sam.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852076/) Arness, his acting mentor and best friend, died in 2011, and Taylor read the eulogy at his funeral.[5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852076/bio/)
## Film and later television
After *Gunsmoke* ended, Taylor worked steadily in made-for-TV Westerns and features. His screen credits include *Tombstone* (1993) as Turkey Creek Jack Johnson, *Gettysburg* (1993) as Col. William Gamble, *The Mist* (2007), *Cowboys & Aliens* (2011), and *Hell or High Water* (2016), the last of them an Academy Award-nominated film for which he received a Western Heritage Award in 2017.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852076/) • [3](https://texasrodeocowboy.com/inductees/taylor-buck/) On television he appeared in *Dallas*, *Walker, Texas Ranger*, and *Rectify*, and played the rancher Emmett Walsh on *Yellowstone* from 2018 to 2022.[12](https://dramaticarts.usc.edu/buck-taylor/) • [2](https://bucktaylor.com/filmography/)
## Western art
Alongside acting, Taylor has built a parallel career as a Western artist specializing in watercolor. He studied art on a scholarship in college and was often seen sketching during breaks on film and television sets; his subjects include cowboys, Native Americans, horses, and everyday frontier scenes such as hitching horses or setting up camp.[5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852076/bio/) He has been selling his watercolor and acrylic paintings since 1993, and many depict characters and scenes from productions in which he appeared.[8](https://gunsmoke.fandom.com/wiki/Buck_Taylor) His watercolors have been used for official rodeo posters throughout the United States, and he attends annual events such as the Fort Worth Stock Show & Rodeo to exhibit and promote his work.[3](https://texasrodeocowboy.com/inductees/taylor-buck/) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852076/)
## Honors and personal life
Taylor received the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum's Wrangler award in 1972, was inducted into that museum's Cowboy Hall of Fame in 1981 with the Trustee Award for his *Gunsmoke* performance, and received the National Festival of the West Cowboy Spirit Award in 1998.[4](https://www.texastrailoffame.org/inductees/buck-taylor) • [8](https://gunsmoke.fandom.com/wiki/Buck_Taylor) • [13](https://www.gunsmokenet.com/GunsmokeTGAW/Marks-Stuff/Gunsmoke/misc/cowboy.htm) He was inducted into the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame in 2007 and the National Multicultural Western Heritage Museum Hall of Fame in 2011, and holds a plaque on the Walk of Western Stars in [Santa Clarita, California](https://www.edgepedia.org/santa-clarita-california).[4](https://www.texastrailoffame.org/inductees/buck-taylor) • [14](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852076/trivia/)
He married Judy Nugent in March 1961; the marriage ended in divorce in November 1981 and produced four children.[5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852076/bio/) He met his second wife, Goldie Ann Maudlin, in 1995 at a world quarter-horse show where his paintings were being exhibited, and they married after a three-month courtship.[5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852076/bio/) The couple lives on a ranch in Young County, Texas, along the [Brazos River](https://www.edgepedia.org/brazos-river) north of Fort Worth.[5](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852076/bio/) • [3](https://texasrodeocowboy.com/inductees/taylor-buck/)
## References
1. [Buck Taylor, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852076/)
2. [Filmography, Buck Taylor Art](https://bucktaylor.com/filmography/)
3. [Taylor, Buck, Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame](https://texasrodeocowboy.com/inductees/taylor-buck/)
4. [Buck Taylor, Texas Trail of Fame](https://www.texastrailoffame.org/inductees/buck-taylor)
5. [Buck Taylor Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852076/bio/)
6. [Buck Taylor, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/buck-taylor/)
7. [Dub Taylor; Character Actor, Los Angeles Times (October 5, 1994)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-10-05-mn-46632-story.html)
8. [Buck Taylor, Gunsmoke Wiki](https://gunsmoke.fandom.com/wiki/Buck_Taylor)
9. [Buck Taylor Ratings, AuteurGraph](https://auteurgraph.com/person/buck-taylor/ratings)
10. [The Millennium Shopper, October 1, 2015](https://939c9b01811224bb3dcf-d6f090436a6f3838a347f2f22505b78d.ssl.cf5.rackcdn.com/uploads/editions/482/original_28fc26338e540a24203afe11dc30af1939552aa4.pdf)
11. [Yellowstone's Buck Taylor on his Gunsmoke role, MeTV](https://www.metv.com/stories/buck-taylor-on-his-gunsmoke-role)
12. [Buck Taylor, USC School of Dramatic Arts](https://dramaticarts.usc.edu/buck-taylor/)
13. [The National Festival of the West press release, GunsmokeNet](https://www.gunsmokenet.com/GunsmokeTGAW/Marks-Stuff/Gunsmoke/misc/cowboy.htm)
14. [Buck Taylor Trivia, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0852076/trivia/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Film people and crafts › Film actors and performers › Character actors, B-movie and genre-circuit performers › American performers, mid era › Surnames K to Z*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license