Taylor Mead has been at the furiously beating heart of the American avant-garde and counterculture for over sixty years. A vital bridge between the Beat movement and the New York art world of the 1960s, he has remained an important creative force ever since, as a writer, a performer and a muse – with this latter role lovingly exemplified by his performance in Jim Jarmusch's recent Coffee and Cigarettes (2003). Although it was as a poet that Mead first made a name for himself, he soon became a leading onscreen figure in American experimental and independent cinema, as well as an important collaborator off-screen, often contributing to the editing and soundtracks of the films in which he appears.

Born in 1924 to a prominent Michigan family, Mead left his job at a Detroit brokerage firm to flee to the freedom of New York's bohemian circles in the 1940s where he quickly became a fixture on the poetry scene. Upon relocating to San Francisco like so many of his fellow Beats, Mead struck up a collaboration with aspiring filmmaker Ron Rice, commencing with a starring role in the seminal The Flower Thief (1960), whose tremendous success brought Mead to the attention of artists working in New York experimental film and theater scenes. Soon after Mead began to appear onstage with major roles in plays by LeRoi Jones and Frank O'Hara and eventually a "contract" as one of Andy Warhol's first superstars.

By turns raunchy, childlike and satirical, Mead's performances, like his poetry, are completely guileless and sincere. On screen he radiates an insouciance that is both innocent and knowing – demonstrated most palpably in his interplay with children, one of the highlights of both The Flower Thief and Tarzan and Jane. A vital inspiration to the filmmakers who cast him, Mead effortlessly improvises in character and reacts with a lightning-quick wit. An uninhibited use of his gangly body and underappreciated skill at physical comedy complete a thoroughly engaging onscreen presence. He has well-earned the status of a "living legend," and we are pleased to host him in person, along with a selection of films featuring some of his most remarkable performances. – David Pendleton