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
all 236
Movies 236
Director 21
The Sun Shines Bright (1953)
Big Jim McLain (1952)
Million Dollar Pursuit (1951)
The Missourians (1950)
The Old Frontier (1950)
The Vanishing Westerner (1950)
Pioneer Marshal (1949)
Ranger of Cherokee Strip (1949)
San Antone Ambush (1949)
South of Rio (1949)
Outcasts of the Trail (1949)
Law of the Golden West (1949)
Prince of the Plains (1949)
Gun Smugglers (1948)
Yellow Sky (1948)
Son of God’s Country (1948)
The Arizona Ranger (1948)
Heart of Virginia (1948)
California Firebrand (1948)
Madonna of the Desert (1948)
Under Colorado Skies (1947)
Angel and the Badman (1947)
Death Valley (1946)
In Old Sacramento (1946)
Dakota (1945)
Scared Stiff (1945)
The Big Show-Off (1945)
Something for the Boys (1944)
Barbary Coast Gent (1944)
Summer Storm (1944)
The Ghost That Walks Alone (1944)
The Sky's the Limit (1943)
The Ox-Bow Incident (1943)
December 7th (1943)
Hi'ya, Chum (1943)
Calaboose (1943)
Night in New Orleans (1942)
Sundown Jim (1942)
This Woman Is Mine (1941)
The Parson of Panamint (1941)
Caught in the Draft (1941)
Glove Affair (1941)
The Great Mr. Nobody (1941)
Petticoat Politics (1941)
Fresh as a Freshman (1941)
Virginia (1941)
Bowery Boy (1940)
Goin' Fishin' (1940)
Spring Parade (1940)
The Westerner (1940)
They Drive by Night (1940)
Torrid Zone (1940)
Edison, the Man (1940)
Star Dust (1940)
Castle on the Hudson (1940)
Remember? (1939)
Gone with the Wind (1939)
Glove Slingers (1939)
Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence (1939)
On Your Toes (1939)
Bad Lands (1939)
Quick Millions (1939)
Broadway Serenade (1939)
Cafe Society (1939)
Topper Takes a Trip (1938)
Secrets of a Nurse (1938)
The Last Express (1938)
Josette (1938)
Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938)
No Time to Marry (1938)
Second Honeymoon (1937)
Danger – Love at Work (1937)
You Can't Have Everything (1937)
Super-Sleuth (1937)
You Can't Beat Love (1937)
Angel's Holiday (1937)
Trouble in Morocco (1937)
We Who Are About to Die (1937)
North of Nome (1936)
The Gay Desperado (1936)
Blackmailer (1936)
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936)
Riffraff (1936)
The Gay Deception (1935)
Wilderness Mail (1935)
The Daring Young Man (1935)
Calm Yourself (1935)
Public Hero Number 1 (1935)
Shadow of Doubt (1935)
Carnival (1935)
Sequoia (1935)
Maybe It's Love (1935)
The Ballad of Paducah Jail (1934)
Tomorrow's Youth (1934)
Among the Missing (1934)
Take the Stand (1934)
Midnight Alibi (1934)
Charlie Chan's Courage (1934)
The Line-Up (1934)
The Big Race (1934)
Queen Christina (1933)
The Women in His Life (1933)
Saturday's Millions (1933)
The Sphinx (1933)
Terror Aboard (1933)
Grand Slam (1933)
The Big Stampede (1932)
The Phantom President (1932)
Hold 'Em Jail (1932)
The Thirteenth Guest (1932)
State's Attorney (1932)
The Secret Witness (1931)
Bad Company (1931)
That's My Line (1931)
Sweepstakes (1931)
Kick In (1931)
The Secret Six (1931)
The Third Alarm (1930)
Borrowed Wives (1930)
Hot Curves (1930)
Shadow of the Law (1930)
Mountain Justice (1930)
The Runaway Bride (1930)
Officer O'Brien (1930)
Lucky Larkin (1930)
His First Command (1929)
The Racketeer (1929)
Oh, Yeah! (1929)
Sailor's Holiday (1929)
The California Mail (1929)
Lilac Time (1928)
The Cossacks (1928)
Buttons (1927)
The Red Raiders (1927)
The Devil's Saddle (1927)
The Overland Stage (1927)
The Midnight Message (1926)
Roaring Road (1926)
Haunted Range (1926)
The Demon Rider (1925)
The Fighting Cub (1925)
The Were-Tiger (1925)
A Western Engagement (1925)
Branded a Bandit (1924)
Battling Bunyan (1924)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1923)
Golden Silence (1923)
Table Top Ranch (1922)
The Heart of a Texan (1922)
Rangeland (1922)
King Fisher's Roost (1921)
Shadows of the West (1921)
Lightning Bryce (1919)
The Tiger's Trail (1919)
Smashing Through (1918)
The Woman in the Web (1918)
Rimrock Jones (1918)
The Railroad Raiders (1917)
The Hazards of Helen (1917)
The Manager of the B & A (1916)
The Diamond Runners (1916)
Judith of the Cumberlands (1916)
Medicine Bend (1916)
Whispering Smith (1916)
The Missing Millionaire (1916)
Stingaree (1915)
The Vivisectionist (1915)
The Red Signal (1915)
The Girl Detective (1915)
The Plot at the Railroad Cut (1914)
The Quicksands (1914)
The Cave Men's War (1913)
The Invaders (1913)
The Driver Of The Deadwood Coach (1912)
Information
Known ForActing
GenderMale
Birthday1888-10-15
Deathday1953-02-27 (64 years old)
Birth PlaceTraver, United States
CitizenshipsUnited States
Also Known AsPaul Causey Hurst, Paul C. Hurst
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