List of Planet of the Apes characters

George Taylor, more commonly known as Taylor, is the main protagonist of the original ''Planet of the Apes'' film also appearing in ''Beneath the Planet of the Apes''. Taylor is an American astronaut and the leader of a space expedition. Taylor was played by Charlton Heston. Taylor's first name is never spoken in dialogue, the end credits of ''Planet of the Apes'' identify him as George Taylor. Taylor was born or very likely born, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he learned to read and write in Jefferson Public School.

At the start of ''Planet of the Apes'', Taylor and two of his crew wake from hibernation to discover their spaceship has crash-landed in a lake on what they take to be an Earth-like, but largely barren, planet orbiting a Sun-like star in the constellation Orion. The ship's chronometer reads as Earth year 3978, 2,010 Earth years after their take-off. As the ship sinks, the three astronauts escape.

Taylor and his crew explore, finding mute humans being hunted by gorillas on horseback. Taylor is shot in his throat, and taken to Ape City. His crew mates Dodge and Landon are killed and lobotomised, respectively. Taylor is examined by chimpanzee psychologist Dr. Zira and Dr. Cornelius, thinking he might be a missing link between humans and their "evolved superiors", the apes. Learning of Taylor's intelligence, orangutan Dr Zaius wants Taylor put to death and to know where he came from. Taylor escapes from the laboratory with Cornelius and Zira, and eventually ends up discovering the planet he is on is Earth.

In ''Beneath the Planet of the Apes'', Heston returns as Taylor helping another astronaut named Brent, who was originally sent to rescue Taylor, to destroy a nuclear weapon worshipped by underground mutants. In the process, the weapon is detonated, destroying everything.

In ''Escape from the Planet of the Apes'', Taylor is briefly mentioned and referred to as Colonel Taylor despite the character never being given a military rank in the two previous films. Provided by Wikipedia