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)
Personal info
Gender
Male
Birthday
1888-10-14
Place of birth
Traver, California, USA
Images
Cast
The Ox-Bow Incident
1943
7.71
Gone with the Wind
1939
7.93
Island of Lost Souls
1932
6.94
Paradise Island
1930
3.14
Angel and the Badman
1947
6.40
Steppin' in Society
1945
0.00
Roaring Road
1926
0.00
Petticoat Politics
1941
0.00
Trouble in Morocco
1937
6.00
The Secret Six
1931
5.80
The Driver Of The Deadwood Coach
1912
0.00
Scared Stiff
1945
4.00
The Railroad Raiders
1917
0.00
The Hazards of Helen
1917
0.00
The Girl Detective
1915
5.80
A Lass of the Lumberlands
1916
0.00
Hi'ya, Chum
1943
6.00
The Westerner
1940
7.00
Alexander's Ragtime Band
1938
6.70
Toughest Man in Arizona
1952
0.00
Million Dollar Pursuit
1951
5.80
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
1938
6.70
The Big Stampede
1932
4.81
Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring
1941
5.70
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
1923
6.50
Summer Storm
1944
5.30
The Sphinx
1933
4.46
Topper Takes a Trip
1938
6.40
The Gay Deception
1935
6.40
Whispering Smith
1916
0.00
Angel's Holiday
1937
5.50
Tall, Dark and Handsome
1941
5.67
The Quicksands
1914
0.00
The Thirteenth Guest
1932
4.95
Bad Company
1931
4.60
The Chief of Police
1914
0.00
In Old Chicago
1938
6.48
The Racketeer
1929
4.90
December 7th
1943
5.80
Rimrock Jones
1918
0.00
Stingaree
1915
0.00
Terror Aboard
1933
6.00
Ali Baba Goes to Town
1937
5.89
Caught in the Draft
1941
5.80
The Sun Shines Bright
1953
6.50
The Red Signal
1915
0.00
The Plot at the Railroad Cut
1914
0.00
Sequoia
1935
6.00
The Diamond Runners
1916
0.00
Judith of the Cumberlands
1916
0.00
Medicine Bend
1916
0.00
Night in New Orleans
1942
4.00
Broadway Serenade
1939
6.20
Swellhead
1930
0.00
Danger – Love at Work
1937
7.30
Island in the Sky
1938
7.00
It Could Happen to You
1939
1.50
Borrowed Wives
1930
4.60
Ranger of Cherokee Strip
1949
0.00
That's My Line
1931
0.00
Second Honeymoon
1937
5.80
Midnight Alibi
1934
6.00
I'd Give My Life
1936
6.00
The Cossacks
1928
7.30
Calaboose
1943
0.00
Sweepstakes
1931
4.50
Hot Curves
1930
5.70
Shadow of Doubt
1935
6.20
Secrets of a Nurse
1938
3.00
The Big Show-Off
1945
4.50
Tugboat Annie Sails Again
1940
5.50
Remember?
1939
5.80
Bad Lands
1939
3.70
The Plainsman and the Lady
1946
3.00
The Legion of Missing Men
1937
5.00
Wake Up and Live
1937
5.30
Girl Rush
1944
5.00
Virginia
1941
0.00
Prison Break
1938
5.17
Hold That Co-ed
1938
6.30
The Sky's the Limit
1943
6.20
Something for the Boys
1944
6.20
The Runaway Bride
1930
5.00
My Lucky Star
1938
5.30
Officer O'Brien
1930
3.70
State's Attorney
1932
6.70
The Devil's Saddle
1927
0.00
The Single Sin
1931
0.00
The California Mail
1929
0.00
Men Are Such Fools
1932
0.00
The Red Raiders
1927
8.00
The Lawless Legion
1929
0.00
Lucky Larkin
1930
0.00
Mountain Justice
1930
5.00
The Cave Men's War
1913
0.00
My Pal, the King
1932
0.00
She's No Lady
1937
0.00
The Lady Fights Back
1937
6.00
Tide of Empire
1929
5.90
Shadow of the Law
1930
6.40
Slave Ship
1937
4.80
Josette
1938
6.50
Lightning Bryce
1919
0.00
Public Hero Number 1
1935
6.20
Sailor's Holiday
1929
5.20
We Who Are About to Die
1937
6.80
Blue Streak O'Neil
1926
0.00
You Can't Have Everything
1937
5.70
Robin Hood of El Dorado
1936
4.00
A Very Honorable Guy
1934
2.00
Cafe Society
1939
6.00
Lilac Time
1928
6.20
The Secret Witness
1931
3.00
Who Killed Doc Robbin?
1948
3.70
The Virginian
1946
6.10
Tomorrow's Youth
1934
0.00
The Public Defender
1931
6.00
Maybe It's Love
1935
6.00
On Your Toes
1939
3.90
Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence
1939
6.30
Each Dawn I Die
1939
6.79
Take the Stand
1934
4.00
Dudes Are Pretty People
1942
0.00
Prince of the Plains
1949
0.00
Glove Slingers
1939
4.00
Pioneer Marshal
1949
0.00
Spring Parade
1940
6.73
The Valley of the Giants
1927
0.00
San Antone Ambush
1949
4.00
The Phantom President
1932
5.50
Among the Missing
1934
6.33
The Arizona Ranger
1948
6.00
Tugboat Annie
1933
7.00
Oh, Yeah!
1929
4.30
Hold 'Em Jail
1932
6.80
The Great Mr. Nobody
1941
5.30
The Daring Young Man
1935
0.00
South of Rio
1949
0.00
The Vivisectionist
1915
0.00
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
1936
7.53
Dakota
1945
5.10
Edison, the Man
1940
6.60
Death Valley
1946
5.00
You Can't Beat Love
1937
6.00
Madonna of the Desert
1948
6.00
Coney Island
1943
6.13
North of Nome
1936
6.00
Maker of Men
1931
0.00
No Time to Marry
1938
6.00
Son of God’s Country
1948
0.00
The Parson of Panamint
1941
5.00
The Last Express
1938
1.00
Gun Smugglers
1948
0.00
This Is My Affair
1937
7.30
In Old Sacramento
1946
6.00
Midnight Manhunt
1945
4.50
California Firebrand
1948
3.00
Smashing Through
1918
0.00
Queen Christina
1933
6.80
To Mary - with Love
1936
4.50
Wife, Doctor and Nurse
1937
6.00
Torrid Zone
1940
6.39
Castle on the Hudson
1940
6.80
They Drive by Night
1940
6.94
Panama Flo
1932
7.00
The Missourians
1950
6.00
The Old Frontier
1950
0.00
This Woman Is Mine
1941
3.67
Sundown Jim
1942
0.00
Big Jim McLain
1952
4.90
Kick In
1931
6.00
Goin' Fishin'
1940
6.00
Under Colorado Skies
1947
0.00
Carnival
1935
0.00
The Vanishing Westerner
1950
2.00
Law of the Golden West
1949
6.00
Outcasts of the Trail
1949
0.00
The Gay Desperado
1936
2.80
Yellow Sky
1948
6.90
Barbary Coast Gent
1944
4.60
Saturday's Millions
1933
0.00
Heart of Virginia
1948
0.00
Super-Sleuth
1937
5.00
Fifty Roads to Town
1937
0.00
Star Dust
1940
4.70
Day of Reckoning
1933
5.00
Murder in the Music Hall
1946
4.60
The Big Race
1934
0.00
The Women in His Life
1933
4.00
Grand Slam
1933
3.70
Outlaw's Paradise
1927
0.00
Pardon My Stripes
1942
6.00
The Fighting Ranger
1926
0.00
The Ghost That Walks Alone
1944
3.67
Blackmailer
1936
5.00
South to Karanga
1940
0.00
Buttons
1927
1.00
The Manager of the B & A
1916
0.00
The Third Alarm
1930
0.00
Quick Millions
1939
7.50
Mississippi
1935
6.70
His First Command
1929
7.00
Riffraff
1936
5.00
The Ballad of Paducah Jail
1934
0.00
Charlie Chan's Courage
1934
8.00
Calm Yourself
1935
4.50
Hold Your Man
1933
6.10