--- title: Ken Taylor: Why the World Remembered the 'Instant Hero' description: Taylor, who helped American diplomats escape during the Iran Hostage Crisis, died on Thursday canonical: https://time.com/4075861/ken-taylor-instant-hero/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-15T22:44:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T11:51:07.054Z article:section: History og:title: Why the World Remembered 'Instant Hero' Ken Taylor og:description: Taylor helped American diplomats escape during the Iran Hostage Crisis og:url: https://time.com/4075861/ken-taylor-instant-hero/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt740c7a755ad05e05/6988688bcf40a86536c40393/ap_219432018553.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Ken Taylor og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why the World Remembered 'Instant Hero' Ken Taylor twitter:description: Taylor helped American diplomats escape during the Iran Hostage Crisis twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt740c7a755ad05e05/6988688bcf40a86536c40393/ap_219432018553.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why the World Remembered 'Instant Hero' Ken Taylor by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 15, 2015 10:44 PM UTC  Ken Taylor, former Canadian ambassador to Iran, in Toronto, Canada on Sept. 12, 2013. Ken Taylor, former Canadian ambassador to Iran, in Toronto, Canada on Sept. 12, 2013.Galit Rodan—AP by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Oct 15, 2015 10:44 PM UTC Former Canadian Ambassador [Ken Taylor](http://time.com/vault/issue/1980-02-11/page/26/), who died Thursday at the age of 81, was considered a hero in America thanks to his cunning plan to help six Americans, who he’d sheltered following the 1979 raid on the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, escape Iran. Though a new generation of Americans became familiar with the plan after the release of the 2012 film, _Argo_, the real story of the daring escape and Taylor’s role in it is pretty significant, too. The Canadian Ambassador opened his doors to the American officials a week after Iranians stormed the American embassy. For two months, they busied themselves with books and endless games of Scrabble. “I’d nominate any one of them for the world Scrabble championship,” Taylor said at a press conference after they’d all returned home. “They are also probably the six best-read Foreign Service officers.” But soon, reporters began poking around for information, which lit a fire under Taylor to work on helping the Americans escape. As [TIME](http://time.com/vault/issue/1980-02-11/page/26/) wrote in 1980: --- > “” --- After someone called his home asking for two of the Americans by name, Taylor expedited the plan. First, he reduced size of the staff of the Canadian embassy. Then, shortly after an Iranian election, the Americans were moved out. --- > “” --- The Iranians were notably upset, but in America, there was an outpouring of love. --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4075861/ken-taylor-instant-hero/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4075861/ken-taylor-instant-hero/"},"headline":"Why the World Remembered 'Instant Hero' Ken Taylor","datePublished":"2015-10-15T22:44:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:51:07.054Z","description":"Former Canadian Ambassador Ken Taylor, 81, died on Thursday","url":"https://time.com/4075861/ken-taylor-instant-hero/","keywords":["Iran","Death","Tehran","Canada","America"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt740c7a755ad05e05/6988688bcf40a86536c40393/ap_219432018553.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt740c7a755ad05e05/6988688bcf40a86536c40393/ap_219432018553.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Ken Taylor","caption":"Ken Taylor","creditText":"Galit Rodan—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4075861/ken-taylor-instant-hero/","name":"Why the World Remembered 'Instant Hero' Ken Taylor"}}]}] ```