William Boyd

Acting

William Boyd

Born — Died

1895-06-04 — 1972-09-12

Place of birth

Hendrysburg, Ohio, USA

Known for

Acting

Credits

63 titles

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia William Lawrence Boyd (June 5, 1895 – September 12, 1972) was an American film actor who is best known for portraying the cowboy hero Hopalong Cassidy. Boyd was born in Hendrysburg, Ohio, and reared in Cambridge, Ohio and Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was the son of a day laborer, Charles William Boyd, and his wife, the former Lida Wilkens (aka Lyda). Following his father's death, he moved to California and worked as an orange picker, surveyor, tool dresser and auto salesman. In Hollywood, he found work as an extra in Why Change Your Wife? and other films. During World War I, he enlisted in the army but was exempt from military service because of a "weak heart"…

Known for

Film credits

1940s · 17 titles

Hoppy Serves a Writ poster
5.6

Posing as a cattle buyer, Hoppy crosses over into Oklahoma where the Jordan brother's and their outlaw gang operate outside the law. After receiving an unfriendly reception when he finds them, he, California, and Johnny rustle their cattle and drive across the river into Texas. He hopes they will cross over to retrieve their cattle and then he can arrest them.

Hoppy Serves a Writ

1943

Lost Canyon poster
6.3

Burton is after Clark's ranch. He gets the banker to refuse to renew Clark's note and then sends his men to rustle his cattle. Hoppy is Clark's new foreman and is on to Burton's scheme. But just as he learns of the rustling and is about to go after the gang, the Sheriff arrives and arrests him for hiding Johnny who has been accused of robbery.

Lost Canyon

1942

Riders of the Deadline poster
5.3

When Ranger Hoppy's falsely accused young ranger friend is killed while supposedly trying to escape from jail, Hoppy is blamed and drummed out of the Texas Rangers.

Riders of the Deadline

1943

Forty Thieves poster
5.0

When he runs for sheriff, Hoppy is beaten by Jerry Doyle, the gutless wonder voted for by every crook in town. When Hoppy moves to have the new sheriff impeached, outlaw leader Tad Hammond hires forty gunslingers to stop him. Stop Hoppy? Hah!

Forty Thieves

1944

False Colors poster
4.7

Before he was killed by Mark Foster's men, Bud Lawton willed part ownership in his ranch to Hoppy and his two pals. When the three arrive they find a fake posing as Lawton. When they expose the imposter, Foster gets the Sheriff to jail them for Lawton's murder.

False Colors

1943

Secret of the Wastelands poster
4.3

Hoppy is leading a scientific expedition and the Chinese who have a hidden settlement nearby are trying to stop them. Saulters and his outlaw gang are also in the area looking for a gold mine. When Saulters men attack, the gold mine is found. Hoppy agrees to file for the Chinese and heads after Saulters in the chase to the land office.

Secret of the Wastelands

1941

Riders of the Timberline poster
4.5

Hopalong Cassidy and Johnny Nelson ride to the mountains to help a man and his daughter save their logging business from someone who is sabotaging their efforts.

Riders of the Timberline

1941

The Marauders poster
7.0

Hoppy, California and Lucky take refuge from a storm inside a supposedly abandoned church outside a ghost town, only to meet a young woman and her mother there, then find themselves surrounded by a gang of "workmen" intent on tearing down the church if they have to kill the five to do it.

The Marauders

1947

Unexpected Guest poster
6.0

At the reading of his late cousin's will, California learns the estate will be divied among whoever remains of the seven relatives. With one already dead, another immediately murdered, and the Lawyer telling them the ranch is almost worthless, Hoppy investigates.

Unexpected Guest

1947

Stick to Your Guns poster
5.7

Buck Peters arranges for Hoppy, California, Johnny and other cowboys to go to the aid of friends whose cattle are being rustled. Hoppy and California locate the rustlers' hideout and join the gang by posing as outlaws themselves, but must find a way to let the rest of the posse know where they are.

Stick to Your Guns

1941

The Dead Don't Dream poster
6.0

Hoppy, California and Lucky arrive at a remote inn, where Lucky expects to be married - but finds the bride-to-be in distress over her uncle, who has suddenly disappeared from the inn. Then Hoppy finds the uncle's body in the shaft of his nearby mine...

The Dead Don't Dream

1948

Strange Gamble poster
6.5

Hoppy and his pals arrive in a remote town to investigate the counterfeiting of both U.S. and Mexican money; his only clues are the name "Mordigan" and a drawing of a comet. He quickly finds out that Mordigan is the town "boss"; but what or who is "the comet", and why are Mordigan and his henchmen intent on persecuting a young woman, her drunken brother, and her deathly ill sister-in-law who've also just arrived in town?

Strange Gamble

1948

Hoppy's Holiday poster
6.0

Hoppy, California, and Lucky travel to Mesa City for a short vacation. California buys new clothes and carrying his old ones in a suitcase, bumps into escaping bank robbers in the dark. His suitcase gets switched with that of the robbers and he is seen with the money. Hoppy must find the money that has mysteriously disappeared and also the robbers so that he can clear California who is now in jail.

Hoppy's Holiday

1947

In Old Colorado poster
6.4

Joe Weller has instigated a conflict over water rights between two ranchers. The idea is to have the ranchers do each other in then move in and take over. Hoppy and the good guys won't let this happen.

In Old Colorado

1941

Twilight on the Trail poster
5.0

Hoppy, California and Johnny come to the ranch of a friend and his daughter, disguised as dude detectives from the east, to investigate the disappearances, without a trace, of several herds of cattle.

Twilight on the Trail

1941

Leather Burners poster
6.1

As rustled cattle have mysteriously disappeared, Johnny sends for his friend Hoppy, Hoppy arrives and immediately suspects Dan Slack. Realizing his telegram about Slack was intercepted, he locks up the operator Lafe knowing he can escape. Tailing Lafe he finds a secret entrance to a mine and inside finds the missing cattle. But Slack's men also find him just as the cattle are stampeded through the mine shaft.

Leather Burners

1943

Lumberjack poster
5.8

Julie's husband has been murdered and land agents want her to sign away her property rights. Hoppy warns against this but she does so anyway. It looks as though she will be unable to deliver the timber called for in her agreement. Hoppy has to make the lumber deal happened and solve the murder.

Lumberjack

1944

1930s · 17 titles

The Eagle's Brood poster
5.8

When the outlaw El Toro saves Hoppy's life, Hoppy agrees to find his missing grandson.

The Eagle's Brood

1935

Law of the Pampas poster
5.0

Hoppy and Lucky are headed to South America to deliver a heard of cattle. Bay guy Ralph Merritt gets in their way. For a while.

Law of the Pampas

1939

Federal Agent poster
8.0

A federal agent sets out to track down his partner's killers.

Federal Agent

1936

The Big Gamble poster
6.1

A gambler, hopelessly in debt, agrees to pay off his debt by allowing his creditor to take out a life insurance policy on him and collecting once the one-year suicide clause has elapsed.

The Big Gamble

1931

Cassidy of Bar 20 poster
6.0

Hopalong Cassidy, boss of the Bar 20 ranch in Texas, rides down the Camino Real in the New Mexico cattle country near Alamogordo, in response to an urgent message from his lifelong sweetheart, Nora Blake, who is in serious trouble. Before he and his saddlemates, "Lucky" Jenkins and "Pappy", can reach her ranch, they are stopped by Clay Allison, a cattle-rustler who is in almost complete control of the district, and wants to extend his holdings by seizing Nora's cattle and driving her out. Seeing Cassidy as a menace to his plans, he has him arrested on a trumped-up charge. Cassidy and his pals shoot their way out of the trouble and reach Nora;s ranch where they learn that Allison's henchmen have murdered her foreman, Tom Dillon, and Allison has sent for a crew of outlaws on the Texas border.

Cassidy of Bar 20

1938

Heart of the West poster
5.2

Problems come in the form of one of Hopalong Cassidy's neighbors, but the matter is settled when Hoppy roots out the troublemaker.

Heart of the West

1936

Call of the Prairie poster
5.8

Hoppy returns to find Johnny in trouble. Buck Peters has been shot by Porter who made it look like Johnny did it. When Johnny flees he runs into Linda. He takes a liking to her only to learn her father Shanghai is one of Porter's gang. Going after Shanghai, he gets captured by the gang and Porter now plans to kill him. But Hoppy is near by and Johnny will get unexpected help from Shanghai.

Call of the Prairie

1936

Officer O'Brien poster
5.2

Bill O'Brien is promoted to lieutenant in the police department for his arrest of Mike Patello, gang leader and racketeer, for murder. Ruth Dale, who loves Bill, is concerned when her brother, Johnny, who witnessed the murder, proposes to testify against the racketeer. Meanwhile, Captain Antrim informs Bill that his father has just been released from prison and does not know his son is a policeman. On the way from prison, O'Brien (J. P.) meets Limo, a former cockney pal who recognizes Bill and keeps J. P. from seeing his son; later, J. P. arrives intoxicated and is enraged, forcing Bill to knock him unconscious. J. P. is arrested for robbery but returns the loot to save his son from disgrace; Johnny is killed before testifying against Patello, who is released but confronted by J. P., who proves his guilt and, when he struggles with the police, kills him. Bill plans to resign, but confident of Ruth's love, he decides to remain on the force.

Officer O'Brien

1930

Go-Get-'Em, Haines poster
4.9

Reporter Steve Haines, on the trail of a business tycoon, follows his subject onto an ocean liner and gets wound up in a cruise full of intrigue, romance and murder.

Go-Get-'Em, Haines

1936

Flaming Gold poster
6.2

Two friends working a jungle oil field clash when one marries a lady of the evening.

Flaming Gold

1932

Emergency Call poster
6.3

A surgeon and an ambulance driver fight racketeers who take over their hospital.

Emergency Call

1933

Port of Lost Dreams poster
7.3

A gangster's girlfriend on the run from the police, who suspect her of helping her boyfriend commit a robbery, holes up in a waterfront bar. She stows away on a fishing boat headed out to sea, and winds up falling in love with and marrying one of the fishermen, but doesn't tell him about her past. However, a year after they're married and have a child, her ex-boyfriend gets out of jail and comes looking for her.

Port of Lost Dreams

1934

Pride of the West poster
6.5

Caldwell and Nixon have their men rob the stage and then critcize the Sheriff for not catching the robbers. With her father the Sheriff under pressure, Mary sends for Hoppy who finds the stolen money and sets a trap to bring in the entire gang.

Pride of the West

1938

In Old Mexico poster
6.7

Escaped criminal "The Fox" hates Hoppy and a Rurales colonel for imprisoning him and lures Cassidy to Mexico in order to exact his vengeance.

In Old Mexico

1938

Lucky Devils poster
6.4

Two Hollywood stuntmen compete for the same pretty extra.

Lucky Devils

1933

Hop-a-long Cassidy poster
6.5

An evil ranch foreman tries to provoke a range war by playing two cattlemen against each other while helping a gang to rustle the cattle. Each cattleman blames the other for missing cattle. With the help of Bill Cassidy (Hop-along, because of an earlier bullet wound) and Johnny Nelson, the warring cattlemen join forces to do in the outlaws.

Hop-a-long Cassidy

1935

Men Of America poster
6.0

Bank robbers and killers cause mayhem in a small western town.

Men Of America

1932

1920s · 19 titles

The King of Kings poster
6.4

The King of Kings is the Greatest Story Ever Told as only Cecil B. DeMille could tell it. In 1927, working with one of the biggest budgets in Hollywood history, DeMille spun the life and Passion of Christ into a silent-era blockbuster. Featuring text drawn directly from the Bible, a cast of thousands, and the great showman’s singular cinematic bag of tricks, The King of Kings is at once spectacular and deeply reverent—part Gospel, part Technicolor epic.

The King of Kings

1927

The Volga Boatman poster
6.5

During the Russian Revolution Princess Vera, though betrothed to Prince Dimitri, is attracted to the peasant Feodor.

The Volga Boatman

1926

The Affairs of Anatol poster
5.9

Socialite Anatol Spencer, finding his relationship with his wife lackluster, goes in search of excitement. After bumping into old flame Emilie, he lets an apartment for her only to find that she cheats him. He is subsequently robbed, conned, and booted from pillar to post. He decides to return to his wife and discovers her carousing with his best friend Max.

The Affairs of Anatol

1921

Dress Parade poster
7.2

An amateur boxing champion stops at West Point to see a dress parade and falls for the commandant's daughter. He wins an appointment to the Academy and begins a rivalry for her affection.

Dress Parade

1927

Something to Think About poster
6.8

Wealthy cripple Markley finances the education of blacksmith's daughter Ruth. When she returns to their small town he asks to marry her, but she runs off with city worker Jim Dirk who is then killed in a subway accident. Markley offers to marry her in name only to protect her new son.

Something to Think About

1920

Moran of the Lady Letty poster
6.7

Wealthy young man Ramon Laredo is abducted and put into service aboard a ship commanded by a none-too-scrupulous smuggler. When the ship encounters the foundering "Lady Letty," some of the Letty's crew is brought aboard, including Letty 'Moran' Sternerson, feisty daughter of the Letty's captain. Moran and Ramon have little use for each other, but when trouble erupts and the smuggler Captain Kitchell turns his evil eye on Moran, it is Ramon who comes to her rescue.

Moran of the Lady Letty

1922

The Jucklins poster
8.0

Pampered debutante Betty Baylock buys a wishing rug from a peddler and wishes for a dark-haired, blue-eyed man, hoping to rid herself of three annoying suitors. However, her wealthy stockbroker father, Robert Baylock, decrees that Betty must choose one of the young men immediately, and she defies him by dismissing them all. Robert's aggravation compounds when Betty falls in love with Jack Grey, who is penniless after squandering a $100,000 fortune. Robert orders Jack to earn back the money he has lost before he can marry Betty. Jack goes into the laundry business and discovers that Robert writes stock tips on his shirt cuffs. He copies the notations and corners a stock, earning $100,000 at Robert's expense. Admitting defeat, Robert gives the young couple his blessing.

The Jucklins

1921

The Leatherneck poster
5.7

A film about male bonding. At the end of WW I, two Americans befriend a simple minded German and win him over into becoming an American. All three are still peacetime officers in the US Marines when an unscrupulous character steals Boyd's girl and his two buddies go off to rescue her. When they don't come back, Boyd goes after them to rescue all. This is all done in flashback from a court martial trial for desertion.

The Leatherneck

1929

Power poster
8.0

Tale of a pair of dam workers who, despite their strong friendship, duke it out on a regular basis. But when the dam threatens to burst, the battling buddies work side by side to rescue the deluge-threatened townsfolk.

Power

1928

The Six Best Cellars poster
9.0

Henry Carpenter and his wife Millicent are the envy of their exclusive suburban set because of their abundant wine cellar, a blessing in the face of the recent prohibition against alcohol initiated by the Volstead Act. In reality, Henry is down to his last few bottles, and, faced with an impending dinner party, he decides to save face by denouncing the evils of drink. His impassioned speech earns him the support of the Prohibition party for a Congressional seat. Henry is relishing his popularity when his aunt discovers twenty-one cases of rare wine in the cellar, forcing the candidate to choose between political and social success.

The Six Best Cellars

1920

The Temple of Venus poster
8.0

Venus, the Goddess of Love (Celeste Lee) sends Cupid to Earth to look for romance.

The Temple of Venus

1923

Hollywood poster
9.0

Angela comes to Hollywood with only two things: Her dream to become a movie star, and Grandpa. She leaves an Aunt, a brother, Grandma, and her longtime boyfriend back in Centerville. Despite seeing major movie stars around every corner, and knocking on every casting office door in town, at the end of her first day she is still unemployed. To her horror, when she arrives back at their hotel, she finds that Grandpa has been cast in a movie by William DeMille and quickly becomes a star during the ensuing weeks. Her family, worried that Angela and Grandpa are getting into trouble, come to Hollywood to drag them back home. In short order Aunt, Grandma, brother, boyfriend and even the parrot become superstars, but Angela is still unemployed...

Hollywood

1923

Her Man o' War poster
7.0

During World War I, an American soldier is captured and taken prisoner by the Germans. However, instead of being placed in a prisoner-of-war camp, he is assigned to the small farm of a young woman and her son to help raise crops to help feed the German army and people.

Her Man o' War

1926

The Cop poster
6.7

Pete Smith, a lift bridge operator in a harbor, feels lonely in his cabin, his only visitor being a policeman on patrol, Sgt. Coughlin. One night, after hearing shots, Smith gives shelter to a wounded man, whom he hides from Coughlin. Before leaving, the man, Marcas, promises to return the favor and the coat he borrows from him. Later, Smith enters the police, and his chief, Mather, suspects he is protecting Marcas, who is actually a gangster. Marcas sends a girl, Mary Monks, to deliver a luxurious coat with a fur collar to Smith. Pete and Mary get along well, and for his sake, she betrays Marcas, who is eventually shot to death by the cops, after having stopped his mob from killing Smith. Mary goes away alone into the night, and when Mather finds out that Pete is protecting her, he drops away the evidence of her presence on the spot.

The Cop

1928

Forbidden Fruit poster
6.6

Mary Maddock works as a seamstress to bring home money while her husband Steve, unemployed, has no real prospects of earning money. Mary's employers, are trying to strike an oil related business deal with a rich man by the name of Nelson Rogers. The deal does not seem to be on the table, as Mr. Rogers is leaving town shortly and does not have the time to work out the details of such a deal. In an order to entice him to stay, Mrs. Mallory - wife of Mr. Mallory who is proposing the business deal - convinces Mary to be her guest at a dinner party with the intent of making Mr. Rogers fall for her and thus stay long enough for Mr. Mallory to make him agree to a business deal.

Forbidden Fruit

1921

The Yankee Clipper poster
6.7

A race between a British clipper ship and an American ship of a new design will determine the right to transport Chinese tea.

The Yankee Clipper

1927

On the High Seas poster
8.0

Three castaways all from differing levels of society reach and board a deserted schooner in mid-ocean.

On the High Seas

1922

Lady of the Pavements poster
5.2

Karl, a German diplomat in Paris, discovers that his fiancée, Diane, has been unfaithful. He tells her that he would rather marry a 'girl of the streets' than her. Outraged, Diane enlists the services of a Spanish singer/dancer from a disreputable nightclub to pose as a sophisticated, convent-educated singer, and surreptitiously arranges for her to meet Karl.

Lady of the Pavements

1929

Two Arabian Knights poster
5.8

During World War I, two American soldiers fight to escape the Germans while squabbling over a beautiful harem girl. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with University of Nevada, Las Vegas Foundation in 2016.

Two Arabian Knights

1927

Series credits

Behind the camera