Buck Taylor grew up on movie sets, watching his father, celebrated actor Dub Taylor, appear with movie greats John Wayne and Tex Ritter. Buck pursued gymnastics before becoming a television actor in the 1950s, appearing in Have Gun - Will Travel, The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and Bonanza. For eight years, he portrayed Newly O'Brien on Gunsmoke.

Buck began selling his watercolors at the 1993 National Finals Rodeo. He uses the faces of cowboys, Native Americans, horses, and homesteaders to tell stories of adventure, nobility, hardship, and sacrifice.

Buck is in the Texas Cowboy Hall of Fame and has received the Spirit of the West Award. In 1981, he was inducted as a trustee into the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.