Known For
Acting
Born
Oct 14, 1888
Died
Feb 27, 1953
Place of Birth
Traver, California, USA
Credits
236 titles
Paul Hurst
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
Jimmy Bagby
Toughest Man in Arizona
Big Jim McLain
Mr. Lexiter
Million Dollar Pursuit
Ray Harvey
The Missourians
John X. Finn
The Old Frontier
Skipper Horton
The Vanishing Westerner
Waldorf Worthington
Pioneer Marshal
Huck Homer
Ranger of Cherokee Strip
Sheriff Jug Mason
San Antone Ambush
Happy Daniels
South of Rio
Andy Weems
Outcasts of the Trail
Doc Meadowlark
Law of the Golden West
Otis Ellis
Prince of the Plains
Sheriff Hank Hartley
Gun Smugglers
Sergeant Hasty Jones
Yellow Sky
Drunk (uncredited)
Son of God’s Country
Eli Walker
The Arizona Ranger
Ben Riddle
Heart of Virginia
Whit Galtry
Who Killed Doc Robbin?
Jailer
California Firebrand
Chuck Waggoner
Madonna of the Desert
Pete Connors
Under Colorado Skies
Lucky John Hawkins
Angel and the Badman
Frederick Carson
The Plainsman and the Lady
Al
Death Valley
Sergeant Dailey
In Old Sacramento
Stagecoach Driver
The Virginian
Murder in the Music Hall
Hobarth
Dakota
Captain Spotts
Midnight Manhunt
Murphy
Steppin' in Society
Cookie
Scared Stiff
Sheriff
The Big Show-Off
Herbert Trafagan, aka "The Devil", a wrestler
Something for the Boys
Defense Plant Foreman (uncredited)
Girl Rush
Muley
Barbary Coast Gent
Jake Compton
Summer Storm
Orloff
The Ghost That Walks Alone
Sheriff Slim Carson
The Sky's the Limit
Dock Foreman (uncredited)
Coney Island
Louie
The Ox-Bow Incident
Monty Smith
December 7th
World War I Ghost Soldier
Hi'ya, Chum
Archie Billings
Calaboose
Ed the bartender
Night in New Orleans
Sergeant Casper Riordan
Sundown Jim
Broderick
Dudes Are Pretty People
Two-Gun
Pardon My Stripes
Feets
Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring
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