Paul Hurst

Acting

Paul Hurst

Born 1888-10-14 · Traver, California, USA

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)

Acting credits

Gone with the Wind poster
7.9

The spoiled daughter of a Georgia plantation owner conducts a tumultuous romance with a cynical profiteer during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era.

Gone with the Wind

1939

Island of Lost Souls poster
6.9

An obsessed scientist conducts profane experiments in evolution, eventually establishing himself as the self-styled demigod to a race of mutated, half-human abominations.

Island of Lost Souls

1932

The Ox-Bow Incident poster
7.7

A posse discovers a trio of men they suspect of murder and cow theft and are split between handing them over to the law or lynching them on the spot.

The Ox-Bow Incident

1943

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town poster
7.5

Longfellow Deeds lives in a small town, leading a small town kind of life. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow moves to the big city where he becomes an instant target for everyone. Deeds outwits them all until Babe Bennett comes along. When small-town boy meets big-city girl anything can, and does, happen.

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town

1936

The Hunchback of Notre Dame poster
6.5

In 15th century France, a gypsy girl is framed for murder by the infatuated Chief Justice, and only the deformed bellringer of Notre Dame Cathedral can save her.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

1923

Queen Christina poster
6.9

Popular monarch Queen Christina of Sweden must choose between love and loyalty to her nation when she unexpectedly falls for a Spanish envoy.

Queen Christina

1934

Angel and the Badman poster
6.4

Notorious shootist and womanizer Quirt Evans' horse collapses as he passes a Quaker family's home. Quirt has been wounded, and the kindly family takes him in to nurse him back to health against the advice of others. The handsome Evans quickly attracts the affections of their beautiful daughter, Penelope. He develops an affection for the family and their faith, but his troubled past follows him.

Angel and the Badman

1947

Terror Aboard poster
6.5

An ocean liner is found at sea with everyone on board dead. An investigation is begun to find out what happened.

Terror Aboard

1933

Maybe It's Love poster
7.0

Director William C. McGann's 1935 film stars Gloria Stuart and Ross Alexander as a young couple in love who face economic woes once they're wed.

Maybe It's Love

1935

Mississippi poster
6.8

A young pacifist, after refusing on principle to defend her sweetheart's honor and being banished in disgrace, joins a riverboat troupe as a singer, acquires a reputation as a crackshot after a saloon brawl in which the villain of the piece accidentally kills himself with his own gun, falls in love with his former fianceé's sister and finally bullies an apprehensive family into accepting him.

Mississippi

1935

They Drive by Night poster
6.9

Joe and Paul Fabrini are Wildcat, or independent, truck drivers who have their own small one-truck business. The Fabrini boys constantly battle distributors, rivals and loan collectors, while trying to make a success of their transport company.

They Drive by Night

1940

The Sky's the Limit poster
6.3

Flying Tiger Fred Atwell sneaks away from his famous squadron's personal appearance tour and goes incognito for several days of leave. He quickly falls for photographer Joan Manion, pursuing her in the guise of a carefree drifter.

The Sky's the Limit

1943

In Old Chicago poster
6.7

The O'Leary brothers -- honest Jack and roguish Dion -- become powerful figures, and eventually rivals, in Chicago on the eve of its Great Fire.

In Old Chicago

1938

Yellow Sky poster
7.0

In 1867, a gang robs a bank and flees into the desert. Out of water, the outlaws encounter a ghost town called Yellow Sky and its only residents, a hostile young woman and her grandfather.

Yellow Sky

1948

Prison Break poster
6.3

Story of a tuna fisherman who has been wrongfully convicted of a murder he did not commit. His exemplary behavior in prison ensures that he is up for early parole. He realizes, however, that his movements will be limited, and he will be unable to join and wed his beloved. The only solution is to escape and hunt down the real killer, himself.

Prison Break

1938

Roaring Road poster
8.0

A young racing driver combines the best features of two rival cars, thus producing an automobile which is the best entry in the race. He triumphs over the other contestants, incidentally winning the girl of his heart.

Roaring Road

1926

No artwork available
7.0

A Canadian Mountie tracks and captures the murderers of a fur trapper, but is later overpowered, tied to a tree, and left in the woods to die. The Mountie's brother finds him just before he dies, and sets out to recapture the killers.

Wilderness Mail

1935

The Virginian poster
6.2

Arriving at Medicine Bow, eastern schoolteacher Molly Woods meets two cowboys, irresponsible Steve and the "Virginian," who gets off on the wrong foot with her. To add to his troubles, the Virginian finds that his old pal Steve is mixed up with black-hatted Trampas and his rustlers...then finds himself at the head of a posse after said rustlers; and Molly hates the violent side of frontier life.

The Virginian

1946

Death Valley poster
5.7

A dance hall girl is murdered and her body robbed of a quantity of gold obtained illegally. The killer flees into Death Valley and encounters the rightful owner of the gold and her sweetheart.

Death Valley

1946

State's Attorney poster
6.9

Corrupt alcoholic attorney Tom Cardigan is one of the best lawyers around, commanding the courtroom like a stage and often winning his cases. Mobster Valentine Powers, who employs Cardigan and put him through school, asks him to represent a woman, June Perry, accused of prostitution. Cardigan agrees. But he never expected to fall for her, which is problematic since he's angling to become governor and will need the right kind of wife.

State's Attorney

1932

Sweepstakes poster
5.7

A popular jockey is disbarred from racing after he's accused of throwing a race.

Sweepstakes

1931

The Westerner poster
7.1

Drifter Cole Harden is accused of stealing a horse and faces hanging by self-appointed Judge Roy Bean, but Harden manages to talk his way out of it by claiming to be a friend of stage star Lillie Langtry, with whom the judge is obsessed, even though he has never met her. Tensions rise when Harden comes to the defense of a group of struggling homesteaders who Judge Bean is trying to drive away.

The Westerner

1940

Buttons poster
3.7

Working as a pageboy on an ocean liner, a street orphan and his friend Slugger end up on the wrong side of the ship's captain when they try to tell him that his wife is cheating on him with other members of the crew. The boys end up in deeper trouble, after they are thrown in the brig and the ship starts sinking...

Buttons

1927

The Sun Shines Bright poster
6.6

With the election approaching, a judge in a Southern town at the turn of the 20th century is involved variously in revealing the real identity of a young woman, reliving his Civil War memories, and preventing the lynching of an African youth.

The Sun Shines Bright

1953

Behind the camera

Roaring Road poster
8.0

A young racing driver combines the best features of two rival cars, thus producing an automobile which is the best entry in the race. He triumphs over the other contestants, incidentally winning the girl of his heart.

Roaring Road

1926

Rangeland poster
10.0

Depury sheriff Ned Williams is sent to capture a cattle thief in the area. The thief turns out to be a young woman, Betty Howard, who steals to keep her young siblings form starving to death and their hardscrabble homestead after the father has died. Buck Kelly, an enemy of Ned's, frames him and abducts Betty.

Rangeland

1922

Rangeland poster
10.0

Depury sheriff Ned Williams is sent to capture a cattle thief in the area. The thief turns out to be a young woman, Betty Howard, who steals to keep her young siblings form starving to death and their hardscrabble homestead after the father has died. Buck Kelly, an enemy of Ned's, frames him and abducts Betty.

Rangeland

1922

No artwork available
9.0

Sam Corwin, stage line owner and camp bully, makes unwelcome love to Polly, daughter of an old prospector. The old man drives him off the place at gunpoint and Sam conspires to have the old man sent to prison. He stages a fake hold-up, leaving the old man's hat on the scene. This is managed with the connivance of one of Sam's stage drivers.

Golden Silence

1923

Table Top Ranch poster
10.0

Cowhand John Marvin, in a cattlemen-vs-sheep-men range war, comes to the aid of a pretty and defenseless young sheepherder, Kate Bowers. This angers the other cattlemen, especially Palque Powell, who employs deceptive methods against Kate, while pretending to help her.

Table Top Ranch

1922

King Fisher's Roost poster
8.0

Barr Messenger escapes to Mexico after a frame-up. He is in love with Betty Brownlee, who disappears after $10,000 is stolen from the firm she works for. It is thought she took the money. In Mexico, In Mexico, Barr finds Betty working in a saloon for "Red" McGee, the chief henchman of "Bull" Keeler's (the Kingfish) Kingfisher gang.

King Fisher's Roost

1921

The Demon Rider poster
8.0

A ranch foreman captures a notorious gang of gold thieves. He ties them up and leaves them for a pursuing posse while he goes out to find the gold they stole. When the posse arrives, the gang's leader convinces them that the foreman is actually the gold thief, and the posse sets out in pursuit of him.

The Demon Rider

1925

Folly of Youth poster
9.0

After his sister falls ill from drinking some bad booze, Robert Cartwright sets out to investigate and expose those bootleggers but unexpectedly encounters an attractive woman who has been roped into the gang of criminals.

Folly of Youth

1925

No artwork available
7.0

A determined copy boy achieves his aspiration of becoming a journalist after unearthing the hideout of a criminal gang.

The Fighting Cub

1925

No artwork available
6.5

Falsely accused of murder by a gang that wants to obtain possession of his ranch (on which gold has been discovered) northwestern rancher Jack Hampton flees across the border into Canada pursued by the Northwest Mounted Police and an American sheriff. Chick Rawlins, the gang's leader, runs a place at a trading post, and the Canadian authorities have sent Jane Wilson into the camp to get evidence against him. Captured by the crooks, she has been imprisoned in the mountains. Her escape develops into a long chase by the crooks, Hampton, and his pursuers.

South of Northern Lights

1922

No artwork available
NR

Helen is a strong-minded, upright, two-handed gunwoman and the protector of a younger brother who has fallen under the evil influence of unscrupulous companions. The climax of the story comes when Helen learns that her brother is to take part in a stage hold-up. To save him she dons male attire and holds up the stage at a point several miles in advance of her brother's attempt.

Play Straight or Fight

1918

No artwork available
7.0

Northwest Mounted Policeman faces many obstacles in attempting to apprehend a murderer. He miraculously escapes ambush and learns of the dying murderer's name. After a thrilling fight he secures a confession from his man and saves the girl from disaster.

The Law of the Snow Country

1926

A Lass of the Lumberlands poster
NR

15-episode serial directed by Paul Hurst and J.P. McGowan.

A Lass of the Lumberlands

1916

Lightning Bryce poster
7.0

Two prospectors, one the father of Sky "Lightning" Bryce and the other the father of Kate Arnold, find a large gold deposit belonging to an Indian tribe. They head for home but each sends a note to their respective off-springs advising them of their good fortune. One of the fathers conceives a plan of taking a dagger and wrapping a piece of string around the blade, after which he prints on the string with a lead pencil, the exact location of their find. If something happens to them, the string goes to the son and the knife to the daughter. That night an Indian approaches their camp and blows some mysterious wolf powder which causes a man to see wolves in place of human beings. Lightning's father see his partner as a wolf and stabs him to death; later he is brought into town in a dying condition but before dying, hands the knife and the string over to the sheriff with instructions to deliver to Lightning and Kate.

Lightning Bryce

1919

The Hazards of Helen: Episode13, The Escape on the Fast Freight poster
5.8

Two tramps hold up small-town Ferndale's railway station night operator Helen, lock her in a closet, and escape. Later, standing on a bridge over the freight yards, Helen sees the two bandits aboard an outgoing freight and drops onto the roof of the car from above as it crosses underneath. A chase along the roofs of the speeding cars ensues.

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

1915

Branded a Bandit poster
6.3

A miner has struck it rich and gives some ore to cowhand Jess Dean to take to his granddaughter. But Horse Williams has the miner shot and uses the ore found on Jess to accuse him of the murder. Jess escapes from the mob of townspeople who later learn that the body of the supposedly dead miner has mysteriously disappeared.

Branded a Bandit

1924

The Red Signal poster
NR

Brent, the night operator has been knocked unconscious by a piece of lumber projecting from a passing freight, and has been rendered temporarily insane. Meantime, a furious storm arises, a track walker discovers a washout and wires a warning to Helen, who sets the danger signal for the Limited which is due in ten minutes.

The Red Signal

1915

No artwork available
NR

A jungle drama about a woman who befriends a tiger.

The Were-Tiger

1925

The Tiger's Trail poster
8.0

A cult of Hindu tiger worshippers and a gang of Western outlaws try to cheat a young woman out of rich mines that belong to her.

The Tiger's Trail

1919

The Woman in the Web poster
NR

15 chapter adventure serial: 1. Caught in the Web; 2. The Open Switch; 3. The Speeding Doom; 4. The Clutch of Terror; 5. The Hand of Mystery; 6. Full Speed Ahead; 7. The Crater of Death; 8. The Plunge of Horror; 9. The Fire Trap; 10. Out of the Dungeon; 11. In the Desert's Grip; 12. Hurled to Destruction; 13. The Hidden Menace; 14. The Crash of Fate; 15. Out of the Web.

The Woman in the Web

1918

The Heart of a Texan poster
8.0

King Calhoun comes to the aid of "Ma" Jackson, who is fighting to regain control of the family ranch after her husband's death. Her daughter, June, is desired by the ranch foreman, Pete Miller, who threatens revenge after his is fired.

The Heart of a Texan

1922

Battling Bunyan poster
7.0

A young man has a chance to become partners in an auto-repair business, but he doesn't have the money. In order to come up with some quick cash, he decides to temporarily become a professional boxer. The problem is that he isn't an athlete, knows nothing about boxing and stands a very good chance of getting the stuffing beaten out of him.

Battling Bunyan

1924

A Western Engagement poster
8.0

Dick Rawlins, a cowpoke on the Jackson ranch, is in love with Inez, the beautiful daughter of the ranchowner; planning to ask Inez to marry him, Dick goes to town to buy her an engagement ring, eventually going into hock to Bob for $500. When Dick returns to the ranch, he learns that he has been fired as the result of a mysterious stranger's testimony. Dick goes to the bunkhouse and sacks out; while asleep, he dreams that at Bob's request he has faked a suicide in order to avoid paying his debts.

A Western Engagement

1925

The Railroad Raiders poster
NR

A silent movie serial now lost. CHAPTER TITLES: 1. Circumstantial Evidence; 2. A Double Steal; 3. Inside Treachery; 4. A Race for a Fortune; 5. A Woman's Wit; 6. The Overland Disaster; 7. Mistaken Identity; 8. A Knotted Cord; 9. A Leap for Life; 10. A Watery Grave; 11. A Desperate Deed; 12. A Fight for a Franchise; 13. The Road Wrecker; 14. The Trap; 15. The Mystery of the Counterfeit Tickets.

The Railroad Raiders

1917