Paul Hurst

Paul Hurst

actor, director, writer

Paul Hurst was born on Oct 15, 1888 in USA. Paul Hurst's big-screen debut came with Trooper Billy directed by George Melford in 1913, strarring Sunrise Beek - a Half-Breed. Paul Hurst is known for Yellow Sky directed by William A. Wellman, Gregory Peck stars as James 'Stretch' Dawson and Anne Baxter as Constance Mae 'Mike'. The upcoming new movie Paul Hurst plays is The Sun Shines Bright which will be released on May 02, 1953.

An American character actor of prodigious output who also directed and wrote silent films, Paul Hurst spent much of his early work in low-budget westerns. A native of Traver, California (in the San Joaquin Valley), Hurst had first-hand knowledge of western lore, growing up surrounded by the multimillion-acre Lux & Miller ranches that ran cattle throughout the state. Visiting San Francisco as a young man, he became involved in amateur theatricals and thereafter traveled to Los Angeles to join the emerging film industry there. He began appearing in films as early as 1912, most of them westerns. By 1916 Hurst was directing them as well (some sources report that he served in World War I 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 in which he appeared. 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 stuntmen were often the highest-paid folks on the set. Within a few years he focused all of his energies into acting, however, notably becoming one of the few successes to emerge from "Poverty Row".Hurst quickly became one of the more prolific and familiar characters in American movies. With his stocky build and squinty demeanor, and with a raspy voice that enhanced his memorability once sound pictures came in, Hurst played villains, 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 Autant en emporte le vent (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 age 64, owing to his health problems, Paul Hurst committed suicide.

  • Birthday

    Oct 15, 1888

  • Place of Birth

    Traver, Tulare County, California, USA

Known For

Yellow Sky
Movie
Yellow Sky

19487.4

The Ox-Bow Incident
Movie
The Ox-Bow Incident

19438.0

Petticoat Politics
Movie
Petticoat Politics

19417.3

Gone with the Wind
Movie
Gone with the Wind

19408.2

The Westerner
Movie
The Westerner

19407.3

They Drive by Night
Movie
They Drive by Night

19407.2

Goin' Fishin'
Movie
Goin' Fishin'

19407.1

Each Dawn I Die
Movie
Each Dawn I Die

19397.3

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
Movie
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

19367.8

North of Nome
Movie
North of Nome

19367.2

Movies & TV Shows

All
Movies