- Tayback had a listed number in the phone book. When his local phone company decided to pay tribute to his listed number by putting him on the cover, he got so many phone calls he had to change it to unlisted.
- Served in the United States Navy before starting his career as an actor at age 25.
- Winner of two Golden Globe Awards and an Emmy Award nomination for his role of Mel Sharples on the situation comedy Alice (1976).
- Had Syrian Arabic ancestry.
- With fellow actors Richard Chamberlain and Sally Kellerman, he founded the theatre group Company of Angels in Los Angeles.
- Best remembered for his role as diner owner Mel Sharples on the situation comedy Alice (1976).
- During his struggling actor days, he worked for various temporary employment agencies between acting gigs, including the Kelly Corporation. When the big, imposing Tayback showed up for work at a bank one morning with "Hi. I'm your Kelly Girl bank teller", no one was about to argue the point.
- His son Christopher Tayback graduated from the University of Notre Dame in 1985 and Harvard Law School in 1989. He was a Deputy District Attorney in Los Angeles County from 1989-1991, then served as an Assistant United States Attorney in the Central District of California, Criminal Division. He is currently (2010) a trial lawyer with Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP in Los Angeles.
- Has appeared in both the first (The New Man (1984)) and last (Basher Malone (1988)) episodes of Tales from the Darkside (1983).
- Following his death, he was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) in Los Angeles, California.
- His brother, Joe, had a career in radio and owned AM radio station KAZM, which was, for many years, the only radio station in Sedona, Arizona.
- Parents are Najeeb James and Helen Tayback.
- Attended and graduated from Burbank High School in Burbank, California in 1949. Debbie Reynolds also attended and graduated from Burbank High School in 1950.
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