If you’ve searched for Faydean Taylor Tharp, you probably already know one of two names — Dub Taylor or Buck Taylor. You’re trying to figure out where Faydean fits into the picture. That’s exactly what this article covers.
Faydean was not a Hollywood actress or public figure. She was a private person connected to a well-documented entertainment family. Her name comes up in genealogy searches, celebrity-family lookups, and obituary references because of who her father and brother were — not because of her own career in the spotlight.
This article lays out what is reliably documented, what is reported but uncertain, and what simply isn’t known about her life.
Who Faydean Taylor Tharp Was?
Faydean Taylor Tharp was the daughter of actor Dub Taylor and the sister of actor Buck Taylor. That family connection is the clearest and most important thing to establish right at the start.
She was not an entertainer. She does not appear in entertainment databases the way her father and brother do. Her name shows up primarily in genealogy records, memorial listings, and family-context sections of celebrity biography pages.
The strongest public confirmation of her identity comes from a 1994 obituary published in The Oklahoman following Dub Taylor’s death. That obituary lists Faydean Tharp as his daughter and Buck Taylor as his son. A contemporary newspaper source like that carries more weight than the many biography websites that have repeated similar information since.
Her Parents — Dub Taylor and Florence Gertrude Heffernan
Dub Taylor is the name most people know, but his legal name was Walter Clarence Taylor Jr. He used “Dub Taylor” throughout his professional life, which can cause confusion when searching genealogy records. If you’re cross-referencing family trees, you may see him listed under his birth name rather than his stage name.
Secondary sources identify Faydean’s mother as Florence Gertrude Heffernan. Florence is consistently listed as Dub Taylor’s wife and the mother of both Faydean and Buck Taylor.
Dub Taylor built a long and varied career in entertainment. His work started in vaudeville and extended through decades of film and television. While he is most often remembered for his Western roles, his career was not limited to that genre — he also appeared in comedies and a wide range of mainstream film and TV productions, working from the 1930s well into the 1990s.
He was a character actor rather than a leading man, but that made him one of the more recognizable faces of his era. Audiences often knew his face without knowing his name. That kind of steady, long-running presence in Hollywood is the backdrop against which Faydean grew up.
Her Brother, Buck Taylor, and the Gunsmoke Connection
Buck Taylor was born in 1938, making him Faydean’s younger brother. Unlike his sister, he followed his father into the entertainment industry and built a notable acting career of his own.
He is best known for playing Deputy Newly O’Brien on Gunsmoke, the long-running television Western that ran for 20 seasons. That role gave Buck Taylor a lasting place in television history and is why many people still search out information about the Taylor family today.
When readers look up Buck Taylor and find references to his family, Faydean’s name appears alongside their shared parents. That’s the most common path that leads someone to search specifically for Faydean Taylor Tharp.
It’s worth being clear: Faydean had no role on Gunsmoke or in Buck’s acting work. The two siblings shared a family but followed completely different paths — one very public, one entirely private.
What Reported Sources Say About Her Birth and Early Life?
Several online biography sources report that Faydean was born in 1931. One source gives a more specific date of September 2, 1931, and lists Los Angeles as her birthplace.
These details appear across multiple biography pages, but they are not consistently backed by primary records in the available public sources. They come from genealogy-adjacent biography websites rather than from official documents or contemporary news reporting. For that reason, it’s fair to describe them as reported details rather than confirmed facts.
Her married surname, Tharp, tells us she married at some point. But reliable details about her husband are not consistently documented across the available sources, so no specific name or marriage history is presented here as fact.
Some secondary sources report that she had a son named Walter Tac Tharp. That detail appears in more than one biography listing, but again, it comes from sources that do not cite primary records. It’s worth mentioning as reported information while being honest that it hasn’t been independently verified through official documents.
Her Death and Memorial Record
Find a Grave includes a memorial listing for Faydean Taylor Tharp and records her death date as July 15, 2002. A secondary biography source gives the same date and notes that she died in California.
Find a Grave is a useful genealogy reference tool, but memorial pages on that platform are submitted by individual contributors rather than drawn from official records. The death date of July 15, 2002, is the most consistently cited figure across the available sources, which gives it some reliability, though it should still be understood as genealogical evidence rather than certified documentation.
No public reporting around the time of her death has surfaced in the available research — which is consistent with her status as a private individual rather than a public figure.
Understanding Her Place in the Taylor Family Story
The easiest way to understand Faydean’s place in this story is to think of the Taylor family across three different experiences of Hollywood.
Dub Taylor lived and worked at the center of it — decades of film sets, Western productions, comedy roles, and television appearances. He was in the industry for most of his life and was recognized widely, even if rarely by name.
Buck Taylor grew up with that background and then built his own career, most visibly through Gunsmoke. He represented the next generation of the family’s entertainment connection.
Faydean occupied a different position entirely. She grew up in the same household, connected to the same world, but did not pursue a public career. Her life, as far as public records show, was lived away from the entertainment industry.
That’s not unusual. Many children of actors live entirely private lives. What makes Faydean’s name searchable is simply the combination of who her father was and who her brother became. For those researching the Taylor family’s Hollywood legacy, she is a genuine part of that family story — just not the public-facing part of it.
For anyone building a fuller picture of this family’s history, resources like Todaybusinesspoint can be useful for finding background information on entertainment figures and their family connections.
Separating What We Know from What Is Uncertain
It helps to be direct about what the available sources actually confirm versus what they only suggest.
- Confirmed: Faydean Tharp was Dub Taylor’s daughter and Buck Taylor’s sister. A 1994 newspaper obituary supports this directly.
- Reported but not verified by primary records: Birth date of September 2, 1931; birthplace of Los Angeles; a son named Walter Tac Tharp.
- Noted in memorial records: Death date of July 15, 2002, in California, per Find a Grave and a secondary biography source.
- Not documented: Details about her husband, her occupation, or any involvement in the entertainment industry.
Readers doing genealogical research should weigh these details accordingly. Biography websites that repeat 1931 birth details are drawing from the same pool of unverified genealogy-style sources, not from independent research.
Conclusion
Faydean Taylor Tharp was a private individual who happened to be part of a family with a real and documented Hollywood history. Her father, Dub Taylor, had a career spanning six decades. Her brother, Buck Taylor, built his own lasting reputation through Gunsmoke. Faydean herself lived outside that spotlight.
The honest summary is a short one: she was Dub Taylor’s daughter, Buck Taylor’s sister, and by all available accounts, someone who lived a quiet private life away from the industry her family is known for. That’s not a diminishment — it’s simply the most accurate picture the available record allows.
For anyone researching the Taylor family, that context is genuinely useful. And for anyone who just stumbled across her name while looking up Dub or Buck Taylor, now you know exactly where she fits.
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