
Paul Hurst
Born: 1888-10-14
Place of Birth: Traver, California, USA
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)
Known For

To Mary - with Love

Gone with the Wind

South to Karanga

Hold Your Man

Dakota

Bad Lands

Edison, the Man

Maybe It's Love

His First Command

Queen Christina

Tugboat Annie

Scared Stiff

Trouble in Morocco

Coney Island

The Runaway Bride

The Virginian

The Racketeer

Steppin' in Society

Mississippi

Day of Reckoning

Terror Aboard

The California Mail

Night in New Orleans

California Firebrand

The Cossacks

Paradise Island

Blackmailer

Sequoia

Summer Storm

The Cave Men's War

Borrowed Wives

Sweepstakes

The Old Frontier

Yellow Sky

Remember?

Calm Yourself

The Missourians

Prison Break

Rimrock Jones

Swellhead

Quick Millions

The Public Defender

Gun Smugglers

San Antone Ambush

Spring Parade

Pioneer Marshal

The Sphinx

Carnival

Riffraff

The Manager of the B & A

Super-Sleuth

The Hazards of Helen

Panama Flo

Calaboose

Shadow of Doubt

The Vanishing Westerner

Star Dust

The Valley of the Giants

Alexander's Ragtime Band

The Ox-Bow Incident

Outcasts of the Trail

The Driver Of The Deadwood Coach

Danger – Love at Work

Buttons

The Sun Shines Bright

The Red Raiders

Glove Slingers

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

Death Valley

Lilac Time

Bad Company

The Parson of Panamint

The Lawless Legion

Petticoat Politics

They Drive by Night

Angel and the Badman

Sundown Jim

The Big Stampede

This Woman Is Mine

Big Jim McLain

The Secret Witness

The Railroad Raiders

Heart of Virginia

The Third Alarm

The Gay Deception

Sailor's Holiday

Hold That Co-ed

Goin' Fishin'

Whispering Smith

Oh, Yeah!

Men Are Such Fools

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

The Westerner

Son of God’s Country

The Great Mr. Nobody

The Thirteenth Guest

Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm

The Big Show-Off

In Old Sacramento

This Is My Affair

In Old Chicago

Tide of Empire

Island of Lost Souls

The Single Sin

Broadway Serenade

Smashing Through

Tall, Dark and Handsome

Hot Curves

The Secret Six

Murder in the Music Hall

On Your Toes

The Arizona Ranger

The Vivisectionist

The Last Express

Roaring Road

My Lucky Star

Stingaree

A Very Honorable Guy

Prince of the Plains

North of Nome

Tomorrow's Youth

Wake Up and Live

The Devil's Saddle

Madonna of the Desert

You Can't Beat Love

Each Dawn I Die

The Sky's the Limit

Take the Stand

Law of the Golden West

You Can't Have Everything

The Girl Detective

The Gay Desperado

Among the Missing

Dudes Are Pretty People

Robin Hood of El Dorado

Hi'ya, Chum

My Pal, the King

Public Hero Number 1

Josette

Slave Ship

The Case of the Curious Bride

The Hazards of Helen: Episode13, The Escape on the Fast Freight

The Plot at the Railroad Cut

Medicine Bend

Topper Takes a Trip

Who Killed Doc Robbin?

Torrid Zone

Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence

No Time to Marry

Midnight Manhunt

Maker of Men

The Red Signal

Caught in the Draft

That's My Line

December 7th

Lightning Bryce

Charlie Chan's Courage

Something for the Boys

Barbary Coast Gent

Ranger of Cherokee Strip

Pardon My Stripes

She's No Lady

Kick In

The Big Race

State's Attorney

A Lass of the Lumberlands

Hold 'Em Jail

Castle on the Hudson

Tugboat Annie Sails Again

The Ghost That Walks Alone

Grand Slam

Ali Baba Goes to Town

The Legion of Missing Men

Cafe Society

Lucky Larkin

Island in the Sky

Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring

Virginia

Girl Rush

Secrets of a Nurse

South of Rio

We Who Are About to Die

Shadow of the Law

The Women in His Life

Angel's Holiday

Second Honeymoon

Midnight Alibi

Mountain Justice

Wife, Doctor and Nurse

Under Colorado Skies

The Phantom President

The Plainsman and the Lady

Saturday's Millions

Toughest Man in Arizona

The Daring Young Man

The Ballad of Paducah Jail

Fifty Roads to Town

Million Dollar Pursuit

The Further Adventures of Stingaree

Judith of the Cumberlands

Blue Streak O'Neil
