Paul Hurst
Acting
- Born:
- 1888-10-14
- Died:
- 1953-02-27
- Place of birth:
- Traver, California, USA
Biography
Paul Hurst (October 15, 1888 - February 27, 1953) was an American character actor of prodigious output who also directed and wrote silent films. Much of his early work was in low budget western films. A native of central California, Hurst had a first-hand knowledge of Western lore, growing up surrounded by the multi-million acre Lux & Miller ranches which ran cattle throughout the state. Visiting San Francisco as a young man, Hurst became involved in amateur theatricals and thereafter traveled to Los Angeles to join in the emerging film industry there. He began appearing in films as early as 1912, most of them Westerns. By 1916, he was directing them as well (some sources report that he served in the First World War as a member of the French Foreign Legion, but the dates of his film projects make this story highly suspect). In the early 1920s, Hurst wrote several scenarios for films he directed and appeared in. He proved adept at working as a director for some of the cheapest producers along Gower Gulch, where movies were normally shot on location in a week or less and where stunt men were often the highest paid folks on the set. Within a few years, he focused all of his energies into acting, notably becoming one of the few successes to emerge from Hollywood's Poverty Row. Hurst quickly became one of the more prolific and familiar characters in American movies. With his blocky build and squinty demeanor, and with a raspy voice that enhanced his memorability once sound pictures came in, Hurst played villains and cops and comedy sidekicks in more than 250 films. His most famous role was that of the deserter shot dead on the stairway of Tara by Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind (1939). Hurst was the sidekick to Monte Hale in a number of B-Westerns. Former Gower Gulch veteran John Wayne hired Hurst for Big Jim McLain (1952) knowing that Hurst was ill with terminal cancer. In 1953, at the age of 64, due to his health problems, Paul Hurst committed suicide. Date of Death: 27 February 1953, Hollywood, California (suicide)
Known For
Filmography
The Sun Shines Bright
Toughest Man in Arizona
Big Jim McLain
Million Dollar Pursuit
The Missourians
The Old Frontier
The Vanishing Westerner
Pioneer Marshal
Ranger of Cherokee Strip
San Antone Ambush
South of Rio
Outcasts of the Trail
Law of the Golden West
Prince of the Plains
Gun Smugglers
Yellow Sky
Son of God’s Country
The Arizona Ranger
Heart of Virginia
Who Killed Doc Robbin?
California Firebrand
Madonna of the Desert
Under Colorado Skies
Angel and the Badman
The Plainsman and the Lady
Death Valley
In Old Sacramento
The Virginian
Murder in the Music Hall
Dakota
Midnight Manhunt
Steppin' in Society
Scared Stiff
The Big Show-Off
Something for the Boys
Girl Rush
Barbary Coast Gent
Summer Storm
The Ghost That Walks Alone
The Sky's the Limit
Coney Island
The Ox-Bow Incident
December 7th
Hi'ya, Chum
Calaboose
Night in New Orleans
Sundown Jim
Dudes Are Pretty People
Pardon My Stripes
Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring
This Woman Is Mine
The Parson of Panamint
Caught in the Draft
The Great Mr. Nobody
Petticoat Politics
Virginia
Tall, Dark and Handsome
Tugboat Annie Sails Again
Goin' Fishin'
Spring Parade
The Westerner
South to Karanga
They Drive by Night
Torrid Zone
Edison, the Man
Star Dust
Castle on the Hudson
Remember?
Gone with the Wind
Glove Slingers
Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence
On Your Toes
Bad Lands
Quick Millions
Each Dawn I Die
It Could Happen to You
Broadway Serenade
Cafe Society
Topper Takes a Trip
Secrets of a Nurse
The Last Express
Hold That Co-ed
My Lucky Star
Prison Break
Josette
Alexander's Ragtime Band
In Old Chicago
Island in the Sky
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
No Time to Marry
Second Honeymoon
Ali Baba Goes to Town
The Lady Fights Back
Danger – Love at Work
Wife, Doctor and Nurse
Wake Up and Live
She's No Lady
You Can't Have Everything
The Legion of Missing Men
Super-Sleuth
You Can't Beat Love
Slave Ship
Angel's Holiday
Fifty Roads to Town
This Is My Affair
Trouble in Morocco
We Who Are About to Die
North of Nome
The Gay Desperado
I'd Give My Life
To Mary - with Love
Blackmailer
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Robin Hood of El Dorado
Riffraff
The Gay Deception
Wilderness Mail
The Daring Young Man
Calm Yourself
Public Hero Number 1
The Case of the Curious Bride
Mississippi
Shadow of Doubt
Carnival
Sequoia
Maybe It's Love
The Ballad of Paducah Jail
Tomorrow's Youth
Among the Missing
Take the Stand
Midnight Alibi
Charlie Chan's Courage
A Very Honorable Guy
The Line-Up
The Big Race
Queen Christina
The Women in His Life
Day of Reckoning
Saturday's Millions
Tugboat Annie
Hold Your Man
The Sphinx
Terror Aboard
Grand Slam
Island of Lost Souls
Men Are Such Fools
The Big Stampede
The Phantom President
Hold 'Em Jail
The Thirteenth Guest
State's Attorney
My Pal, the King
Panama Flo
The Secret Witness
Bad Company
Maker of Men
The Public Defender
That's My Line
Sweepstakes
Kick In
The Secret Six
The Single Sin
The Third Alarm
Borrowed Wives
Paradise Island
Hot Curves
Shadow of the Law
The Runaway Bride
Mountain Justice
Swellhead
Officer O'Brien
Lucky Larkin
His First Command
The Racketeer
Oh, Yeah!
Sailor's Holiday
The California Mail
Tide of Empire
The Lawless Legion
The Rainbow
Lilac Time
The Cossacks
Buttons
The Valley of the Giants
The Red Raiders
The Devil's Saddle
Outlaw's Paradise
Blue Streak O'Neil
The Fighting Ranger
Roaring Road
The Man Who Would Not Die
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Lightning Bryce
Smashing Through
Rimrock Jones
The Further Adventures of Stingaree
The Railroad Raiders
The Hazards of Helen
The Manager of the B & A
The Diamond Runners
Judith of the Cumberlands
Medicine Bend
Whispering Smith
A Lass of the Lumberlands
Stingaree
The Vivisectionist
The Red Signal
The Hazards of Helen: Episode13, The Escape on the Fast Freight
The Girl Detective
The Plot at the Railroad Cut
The Chief of Police
The Quicksands
The Cave Men's War
The Driver Of The Deadwood Coach