Acting
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)
Movies with Paul Hurst
Gone with the Wind
1939
The Ox-Bow Incident
1943
Queen Christina
1934
Angel and the Badman
1947
Island of Lost Souls
1932
In Old Chicago
1938
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
1936
The Virginian
1946
Sundown Jim
1942
Sweepstakes
1931
They Drive by Night
1940
Super-Sleuth
1937
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
1923
Yellow Sky
1948
The Rainbow
1929
Big Jim McLain
1952
Dakota
1945
Each Dawn I Die
1939
Blackmailer
1936
Edison, the Man
1940
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
1938
Oh, Yeah!
1929
Petticoat Politics
1941
Summer Storm
1944
Buttons
1927
Death Valley
1946
The Westerner
1940
Castle on the Hudson
1940
Wilderness Mail
1935
Rimrock Jones
1918
The Gay Deception
1935
The Quicksands
1914
Remember?
1939
The Secret Six
1931
Coney Island
1943
Public Hero Number 1
1935
The Phantom President
1932
The Sun Shines Bright
1953
Pioneer Marshal
1949
Medicine Bend
1916
In Old Sacramento
1946
Prison Break
1938
Wake Up and Live
1937
The Gay Desperado
1936
Toughest Man in Arizona
1952
Hot Curves
1930
To Mary - with Love
1936
The Vivisectionist
1915
Mississippi
1935
Secrets of a Nurse
1938
Slave Ship
1937
Outcasts of the Trail
1949
Smashing Through
1918
Gun Smugglers
1948
The Big Stampede
1932
The Sky's the Limit
1943
Calaboose
1943
You Can't Have Everything
1937
Dudes Are Pretty People
1942
Danger – Love at Work
1937
The Great Mr. Nobody
1941
Torrid Zone
1940
December 7th
1943
Alexander's Ragtime Band
1938
Robin Hood of El Dorado
1936
Topper Takes a Trip
1938
The Big Race
1934
Paradise Island
1930
Maybe It's Love
1935
My Lucky Star
1938
Stingaree
1915
Shadow of the Law
1930
Spring Parade
1940
The Public Defender
1931
Terror Aboard
1933
Ali Baba Goes to Town
1937
Law of the Golden West
1949
This Woman Is Mine
1941
Hold That Co-ed
1938
Cafe Society
1939
Whispering Smith
1916
Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence
1939
Something for the Boys
1944
The Ghost That Walks Alone
1944
Hold Your Man
1933
Virginia
1941
The Line-Up
1934
Day of Reckoning
1933
Prince of the Plains
1949
Star Dust
1940
My Pal, the King
1932
On Your Toes
1939
The Valley of the Giants
1927
Son of God’s Country
1948
Night in New Orleans
1942
The Cossacks
1928
Barbary Coast Gent
1944
State's Attorney
1932
North of Nome
1936
The Old Frontier
1950
Girl Rush
1944
Island in the Sky
1938
Midnight Alibi
1934
That's My Line
1931
Lilac Time
1928
Angel's Holiday
1937
The Racketeer
1929
Calm Yourself
1935
Grand Slam
1933
Officer O'Brien
1930
Hold 'Em Jail
1932
Hi'ya, Chum
1943
South of Rio
1949
Tugboat Annie
1933
The Sphinx
1933
Caught in the Draft
1941
Bad Lands
1939
This Is My Affair
1937
Broadway Serenade
1939
The Daring Young Man
1935
Midnight Manhunt
1945
Who Killed Doc Robbin?
1948
Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring
1941
The Hazards of Helen: Episode13, The Escape on the Fast Freight
1915
Tomorrow's Youth
1934
Murder in the Music Hall
1946
Borrowed Wives
1930
No Time to Marry
1938
We Who Are About to Die
1937
The Arizona Ranger
1948
Shadow of Doubt
1935
Tide of Empire
1929
Kick In
1931
Sequoia
1935
Charlie Chan's Courage
1934
It Could Happen to You
1939
Swellhead
1930
Carnival
1935
Riffraff
1936
The Runaway Bride
1930
Take the Stand
1934
The Big Show-Off
1945
The Case of the Curious Bride
1935
Roaring Road
1926
Panama Flo
1932
Second Honeymoon
1937
Quick Millions
1939
Men Are Such Fools
1932
Ranger of Cherokee Strip
1949
The Fighting Ranger
1926
Fifty Roads to Town
1937
Saturday's Millions
1933
The Parson of Panamint
1941
Goin' Fishin'
1940
Maker of Men
1931
Scared Stiff
1945
The Girl Detective
1915
A Lass of the Lumberlands
1916
Wife, Doctor and Nurse
1937
You Can't Beat Love
1937
The Thirteenth Guest
1932
The Missourians
1950
The Plainsman and the Lady
1946
The Cave Men's War
1913
A Very Honorable Guy
1934
The Women in His Life
1933
The Ballad of Paducah Jail
1934
The Driver Of The Deadwood Coach
1912
Pardon My Stripes
1942
Million Dollar Pursuit
1951
Among the Missing
1934
The Last Express
1938
California Firebrand
1948
Heart of Virginia
1948
Sailor's Holiday
1929
Madonna of the Desert
1948
South to Karanga
1940
The Legion of Missing Men
1937
Josette
1938
Judith of the Cumberlands
1916
The Red Raiders
1927
The Diamond Runners
1916
Bad Company
1931
Glove Slingers
1939
His First Command
1929
Tall, Dark and Handsome
1941
The Hazards of Helen
1917
Lightning Bryce
1919
The Secret Witness
1931
Tugboat Annie Sails Again
1940
The Red Signal
1915
The Third Alarm
1930
The Further Adventures of Stingaree
1917
She's No Lady
1937
Lucky Larkin
1930
The Man Who Would Not Die
1924
The Plot at the Railroad Cut
1914
The Vanishing Westerner
1950
Trouble in Morocco
1937
Mountain Justice
1930
I'd Give My Life
1936
Blue Streak O'Neil
1926
San Antone Ambush
1949
Steppin' in Society
1945
The Lady Fights Back
1937
Under Colorado Skies
1947
The Single Sin
1931
The Devil's Saddle
1927
Outlaw's Paradise
1927
The Chief of Police
1914
The California Mail
1929
The Manager of the B & A
1916
The Railroad Raiders
1917
The Lawless Legion
1929