William Boyd
Acting
- Born:
- 1895-06-04
- Died:
- 1972-09-12
- Place of birth:
- Hendrysburg, Ohio, USA
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia William Lawrence Boyd (June 5, 1895 – September 12, 1972) was an American film actor who is best known for portraying the cowboy hero Hopalong Cassidy. Boyd was born in Hendrysburg, Ohio, and reared in Cambridge, Ohio and Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was the son of a day laborer, Charles William Boyd, and his wife, the former Lida Wilkens (aka Lyda). Following his father's death, he moved to California and worked as an orange picker, surveyor, tool dresser and auto salesman. In Hollywood, he found work as an extra in Why Change Your Wife? and other films. During World War I, he enlisted in the army but was exempt from military service because of a "weak heart". More prominent film roles followed, including his breakout role as Jack Moreland in Cecil B. DeMille's The Road to Yesterday (1925) which starred also Joseph Schildkraut, Jetta Goudal, and Vera Reynolds. Boyd's performance in the film was praised by critics, while movie-goers were equally impressed by his easy charm, charisma, and intense good-looks. Due to Boyd's growing popularity, DeMille soon cast him as the leading man in the highly acclaimed silent drama film, The Volga Boatman. Boyd's role as Feodor blew critics away, and with Boyd now firmly established as a matinee idol and romantic leading man, he began earning an annual salary of $100,000. He acted in DeMille's extravaganza The King of Kings (in which he played Simon of Cyrene, helping Jesus carry the cross) and DeMille's Skyscraper (1928). He then appeared in D.W. Griffith's Lady of the Pavements (1929). Radio Pictures ended Boyd's contract in 1931 when his picture was mistakenly run in a newspaper story about the arrest of another actor, William "Stage" Boyd, on gambling and liquor charges. Although the newspaper apologized, explaining the mistake in the following day's newspaper, Boyd said, "The damage was already done." William "Stage" Boyd died in 1935, the same year William L. Boyd became Hopalong Cassidy, the role that led to his enduring fame. But at the time in 1931, Boyd was virtually broke and without a job, and for a few years he was credited in films as "Bill Boyd" to prevent being mistaken for the other William Boyd.
Known For
Filmography
Golden Saddles, Silver Spurs
Television: The First Fifty Years
Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star
Going Hollywood: The '30s
Western von gestern
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
It's Showtime
The Movie Orgy
Little Smokey
Hopalong Cassidy
The Greatest Show on Earth
Strange Gamble
False Paradise
Borrowed Trouble
Sinister Journey
The Dead Don't Dream
Silent Conflict
Hoppy's Holiday
The Marauders
Dangerous Venture
Unexpected Guest
The Devil's Playground
Fool's Gold
Forty Thieves
Mystery Man
Lumberjack
Texas Masquerade
Riders of the Deadline
False Colors
Bar 20
Colt Comrades
Leather Burners
Border Patrol
Hoppy Serves a Writ
Lost Canyon
Undercover Man
Secret of the Wastelands
Outlaws of the Desert
Twilight on the Trail
Riders of the Timberline
Stick to Your Guns
Wide Open Town
Pirates on Horseback
Border Vigilantes
In Old Colorado
Doomed Caravan
Three Men from Texas
Stagecoach War
Hidden Gold
The Showdown
Santa Fe Marshal
Law of the Pampas
Range War
Renegade Trail
Land of Liberty
Silver on the Sage
Sunset Trail
The Frontiersmen
In Old Mexico
Pride of the West
Bar 20 Justice
Heart of Arizona
Cassidy of Bar 20
Partners of the Plains
Texas Trail
Hopalong Rides Again
Rustlers' Valley
North of the Rio Grande
Hills of Old Wyoming
Borderland
Trail Dust
Hopalong Cassidy Returns
Go-Get-'Em, Haines
Burning Gold
Three on the Trail
Federal Agent
Call of the Prairie
Heart of the West
Bar 20 Rides Again
Racing Luck
The Eagle's Brood
Hop-a-long Cassidy
Port of Lost Dreams
Cheaters
Emergency Call
Lucky Devils
Men Of America
Flaming Gold
Carnival Boat
Suicide Fleet
The Big Gamble
Beyond Victory
The Painted Desert
Screen Snapshots Series 10, No. 5
Officer O'Brien
His First Command
The Flying Fool
High Voltage
The Leatherneck
Lady of the Pavements
Power
The Cop
Skyscraper
The Night Flyer
Dress Parade
Two Arabian Knights
The Yankee Clipper
The King of Kings
Jim the Conqueror
Her Man o' War
The Last Frontier
The Volga Boatman
Eve's Leaves
The Road to Yesterday
The Midshipman
New Lives for Old
Forty Winks
Feet of Clay
Tarnish
Changing Husbands
Enemies of Children
The Temple of Venus
Hollywood
Michael O'Halloran
The Young Rajah
Manslaughter
On the High Seas
Nice People
Moran of the Lady Letty
Saturday Night
Bobbed Hair
Exit the Vamp
After the Show
The Affairs of Anatol
Moonlight and Honeysuckle
A Wise Fool
Brewster's Millions
The Jucklins
Forbidden Fruit
A City Sparrow
Something to Think About
The City of Masks
The Six Best Cellars
Was He Guilty?
Old Wives for New