Editing Meshach Taylor (section)

===Television and film===
[[File:Meshach Taylor 1989 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Taylor at the 1989 [[Emmy Awards]]]]
In 1977, Taylor moved to Los Angeles, where he crafted a gallery of memorable characters in film and on television, including his Emmy-nominated turn in the CBS sitcom ''[[Designing Women]]''. Taylor played Anthony Bouvier, the deliveryman at the Sugarbaker interior design firm in Atlanta, Georgia.  In 1989, he received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.<ref name=NYT/> In May 1981, the ninth season of ''[[M*A*S*H (TV series)|M*A*S*H]]'', he was seen as a corpsman in the final episode, "The Life You Save".<ref name="FilmRef">[http://www.filmreference.com/film/99/Meshach-Taylor.html Biodata], filmreference.com; accessed June 29, 2018.</ref>

From 1993 to 1997, he was a series regular as plastic surgeon Sheldon Baylor on ''[[Dave's World]]'' (CBS), and had a recurring role as Alastair Wright, the history teacher turned school principal, on [[Nickelodeon]]'s sitcom, ''[[Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide]]'' (2004–07) and ''[[Buffalo Bill (TV series)|Buffalo Bill]]'' on NBC with [[Dabney Coleman]].<ref name="imdb"/>

Other appearances include: ''[[The Unit]]'', ''[[Jessie (2011 TV series)|Jessie]]'', ''[[Hannah Montana]]'' as a fashion designer, ''[[All of Us]]'' as Neesee's father, ''[[The Drew Carey Show]]'', ''[[Static Shock]]'', ''[[Caroline in the City]]'', ''[[Aaahh!!! Real Monsters]]'', ''[[Women of the House]]'', ''[[In the Heat of the Night (TV series)|In the Heat of the Night]]'', ''[[Punky Brewster]]'', ''[[What's Happening Now!!]]'', ''[[Hill Street Blues]]'', ''[[ALF (TV series)|ALF]]'', ''[[Melba (TV series)|Melba]]'', ''[[The Golden Girls]]'', ''[[Cagney & Lacey]]'', ''[[Barney Miller]]'',  ''[[Lou Grant (TV series)|Lou Grant]]'', ''[[The White Shadow (TV series)|The White Shadow]]'', ''[[The Incredible Hulk (1978 TV series)|The Incredible Hulk]]'', ''[[The Secret of NIMH 2: Timmy to the Rescue]]'', and ''[[Barnaby Jones]]''.<ref name="imdb"/>

In 1996, Taylor hosted his own series on [[HGTV]], ''The Urban Gardener with Meshach Taylor'', and in 1998, he hosted ''Meshach Taylor's Hidden Caribbean'' on [[The Travel Channel]]. He was a regular panelist on the 2000 revival of the television [[game show]] ''[[To Tell the Truth]]''. He co-hosted ''Living Live!'' with [[Florence Henderson]] on [[Retirement Living TV]] in 2008 until the program was revamped as ''The Florence Henderson Show''.<ref name="imdb"/>

Taylor had been friends with actor [[Joe Mantegna]] since they appeared together in 1969 in the musical ''[[Hair (musical)|Hair]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-07-08 |title=Lia Chang: Joe Mantegna, Delta Burke, Gerald McRaney, President Bill Clinton and More Remember Meshach Taylor |url=https://liachang.wordpress.com/2014/07/08/lia-chang-joe-mantegna-delta-burke-gerald-mcraney-president-bill-clinton-and-more-remember-meshach-taylor/ |access-date=2025-01-19 |website=Backstage Pass with Lia Chang |language=en}}</ref> Taylor guest-starred in 2012 on ''[[Criminal Minds]]''' [[Criminal Minds (season 8)|eighth season]] in the episode "The Fallen", opposite Mantegna as Harrison Scott, Rossi's former Marine sergeant with whom he served in Vietnam.<ref name="tv.com">{{cite news|url=http://www.tv.com/shows/criminal-minds/the-fallen-2597817|work=tv.com|title=The Fallen (Season 8, Episode 7)|date=November 14, 2012}}</ref> In January 2014, he reprised this role in "The Road Home" which aired January 22, 2014, just five months before his death.<ref name="tv.broadwayworld.com">{{cite news|url=http://www.tv.com/shows/criminal-minds/the-road-home-2996303|work=tv.com|title=The Road Home (Season 9, Episode 13)|date=January 22, 2014}}</ref> Mantegna led a ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' [[Criminal Minds (season 10)|tenth season]] episode "Anonymous", to honor Taylor on January 21, 2015.

Taylor appeared in such feature films as ''[[Mannequin (1987 film)|Mannequin]]'', ''[[Mannequin Two: On the Move]]'', and ''[[Damien: Omen II]]''.<ref name="imdb">{{IMDb name|0852886}}</ref>