Cast

Paul Hurst

Acting

Cast

Paul Hurst

Known for

Acting

Born

1888-10-14

From

Traver, California, USA

Died

1953-02-27

Also known as Paul Causey Hurst, Paul C. 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)

Paul Hurst

Paul Hurst

Biography

Gone with the Wind

State's Attorney

Death Valley

Whispering Smith

In Old Chicago

The Red Raiders

Wilderness Mail

Buttons

Island of Lost Souls

Rimrock Jones

The Ox-Bow Incident

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

Angel and the Badman

Roaring Road

Petticoat Politics

They Drive by Night

Dudes Are Pretty People

Stingaree

Wake Up and Live

The Vivisectionist

The Westerner

Smashing Through

The Big Stampede

Yellow Sky

In Old Sacramento

Medicine Bend

Pioneer Marshal

Sundown Jim

Sweepstakes

The Rainbow

The Virginian

The Quicksands

Hi'ya, Chum

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

Danger – Love at Work

Big Jim McLain

You Can't Have Everything

You Can't Beat Love

The Gay Deception

The Sun Shines Bright

The Line-Up

Oh, Yeah!

Outcasts of the Trail

Queen Christina

The Gay Desperado

Dakota

Super-Sleuth

Castle on the Hudson

The Valley of the Giants

Officer O'Brien

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Coney Island

Law of the Golden West

The Diamond Runners

Each Dawn I Die

The Big Race

Judith of the Cumberlands

The Driver Of The Deadwood Coach

Calaboose

Men Are Such Fools

Star Dust

Prince of the Plains

The Arizona Ranger

Alexander's Ragtime Band

The Daring Young Man

Edison, the Man

The Great Mr. Nobody

Pardon My Stripes

Hot Curves

The Racketeer

Torrid Zone

Swellhead

It Could Happen to You

This Is My Affair

The Girl Detective

The Sky's the Limit

No Time to Marry