Paul Hurst | WatchedThis
Paul Hurst
Acting
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)
Filmography Movies
Acting
The Ox-Bow Incident
A posse discovers a trio of men they suspect of murder and cow theft and are split between handing them over to the law or lynching them on the spot.
Gone with the Wind
The spoiled daughter of a Georgia plantation owner conducts a tumultuous romance with a cynical profiteer during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era.
Island of Lost Souls
An obsessed scientist conducts profane experiments in evolution, eventually establishing himself as the self-styled demigod to a race of mutated, half-human abominations.
Paradise Island
The south sea island Tonga is full of plantations and scoundrels. Ellen Bradford arrives expecting marriage to respectable and successful plantation owner only to find he is a drunk and gambler. Being the only white woman she is the desire of scoundrels and cut-throats.
Angel and the Badman
Notorious shootist and womanizer Quirt Evans' horse collapses as he passes a Quaker family's home. Quirt has been wounded, and the kindly family takes him in to nurse him back to health against the advice of others. The handsome Evans quickly attracts the affections of their beautiful daughter, Penelope. He develops an affection for the family and their faith, but his troubled past follows him.
Steppin' in Society
In this crime comedy, a prominent judge's vacation is interrupted during a sudden storm that forces him to seek refuge in a shady nightclub where he is mistaken by the mobsters for a highly esteemed racketeer.
Roaring Road
A young racing driver combines the best features of two rival cars, thus producing an automobile which is the best entry in the race. He triumphs over the other contestants, incidentally winning the girl of his heart.
Petticoat Politics
Pa Higgins has decided to retire but winds up being forced to run for mayor. Ladd is both boyfriend to the Higgins girl and the son of Pa's opponent.
Trouble in Morocco
A newspaperman Paul Cluett (Jack Holt) gets rival reporter Linda Lawrence (Mae Clark) to admit that she is investigating a story in Morocco that guns are being smuggled illegally.
The Secret Six
Bootlegger/cafe owner, Johnny Franks recruits crude working man Scorpio to join his gang, masterminded by crooked criminal defense lawyer Newton. Scorpio eventually takes over Frank's operation, beats a rival gang, becomes wealthy, and dominates the city for several years until a secret group of six masked businessmen have him prosecuted and sent to the electric chair.
Production
The Further Adventures of Stingaree
The movie serial sequel to the popular original series featuring Stingaree. Both are now lost.
The Red Signal
Brent, the night operator has been knocked unconscious by a piece of lumber projecting from a passing freight, and has been rendered temporarily insane. Meantime, a furious storm arises, a track walker discovers a washout and wires a warning to Helen, who sets the danger signal for the Limited which is due in ten minutes.
Play Straight or Fight
Helen is a strong-minded, upright, two-handed gunwoman and the protector of a younger brother who has fallen under the evil influence of unscrupulous companions. The climax of the story comes when Helen learns that her brother is to take part in a stage hold-up. To save him she dons male attire and holds up the stage at a point several miles in advance of her brother's attempt.
The Woman in the Web
15 chapter adventure serial: 1. Caught in the Web; 2. The Open Switch; 3. The Speeding Doom; 4. The Clutch of Terror; 5. The Hand of Mystery; 6. Full Speed Ahead; 7. The Crater of Death; 8. The Plunge of Horror; 9. The Fire Trap; 10. Out of the Dungeon; 11. In the Desert's Grip; 12. Hurled to Destruction; 13. The Hidden Menace; 14. The Crash of Fate; 15. Out of the Web.
Branded a Bandit
A miner has struck it rich and gives some ore to cowhand Jess Dean to take to his granddaughter. But Horse Williams has the miner shot and uses the ore found on Jess to accuse him of the murder. Jess escapes from the mob of townspeople who later learn that the body of the supposedly dead miner has mysteriously disappeared.
The Demon Rider
A ranch foreman captures a notorious gang of gold thieves. He ties them up and leaves them for a pursuing posse while he goes out to find the gold they stole. When the posse arrives, the gang's leader convinces them that the foreman is actually the gold thief, and the posse sets out in pursuit of him.
A Lass of the Lumberlands
15-episode serial directed by Paul Hurst and J.P. McGowan.
Golden Silence
Sam Corwin, stage line owner and camp bully, makes unwelcome love to Polly, daughter of an old prospector. The old man drives him off the place at gunpoint and Sam conspires to have the old man sent to prison. He stages a fake hold-up, leaving the old man's hat on the scene. This is managed with the connivance of one of Sam's stage drivers.
Haunted Range
The hero must solve the murder of his benefactor within six months in order to inherit a valuable ranch.
Shadows of the West
California cowpuncher Jim Kern and his pal enlist in the war against Germany and, shortly thereafter, meet Frank Akuri, who has pledged to colonize the United States for his homeland, Japan. While Jim and other white males are fighting in France, Akuri forces Jim's sweetheart Mary to sell her ranch, as she is not able to run it because the only men left, the Japanese, have pledged not to work for the whites. With the ranch, Akuri begins his colony. Mary counters by organizing her society women friends to appeal to Congress against the "yellow menace." When it seems that his plans will be thwarted, Akuri issues orders for the death of Mary and her friends, but Jim and his pal return and rescue them. Akuri then kidnaps Mary and takes her to his apartment, but with the help of Akuri's wronged Japanese lover, Jim learns her whereabouts. He organizes a posse of American Legion locals and rescues Mary just as Akuri is about to murder her. Akuri's group is routed out.
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