Trivia

Was a Congressional Page in his teens before serving in the Korean War.

Taylor donated a large part of his time not only to AIDS causes, but to numerous other charitable causes including The Thalians, The Screen Actors Guild, The Actors' Home, and The Friars Charitable Trust. He was a welcome mainstay on "The Jerry Lewis Telethon".

Rip started by throwing things like string beans, marshmallows and peanuts at the audience, who ended up throwing them back at him. That gave him his first taste of his unique rapport with audiences. Of course, once New Year's Eve came around, it was confetti-time (and safer for everyone concerned) and the bit caught on after the holiday season.

Was named Las Vegas "Entertainer of the Year" three years in a row in the 1970s.

He was awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Live Theatre at 6625 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California on October 15, 1992.

Made an appearance in January 1988 on Super Password (1984), which has since been referred to as "The Testimony Incident", where he and actress Patty Duke were the celebrity contestants for the week. In one of the shows, Duke inadvertently revealed a password ("testimony") to a contestant, where after Taylor stands up, picks up a stool that host Bert Convy had previously tossed aside and then drops it down on the floor. As Convy walked to get the stool, Taylor returned to his seat, tore off his toupee, repeatedly exclaiming "It's not fair!" as Convy, the contestants and the studio audience to react with roaring laughter. This paused game play for a few minutes and Taylor quipped that it was the first time he'd been seen without his toupee on network television. He played the rest of the game without it.

His first Las Vegas appearance was in "The Eleanor Powell Show" at the Dunes. In turn, this led to sharing the nightly stage with such stars as Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Debbie Reynolds, Ann-Margret and Judy Garland, among many, many others.

He was cremated at Neptune Society in West Covina, California. His ashes were sprinkled into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Honolulu, Hawaii afterwards.

Taylor's last work product was writing and producing a one-man-show, "Let'er Rip".

Was a surprise guest in the "Martin Short Fame Becomes Me" Thursday, August 24 performance, being interviewed by "Jimminy Glick" on stage.