Paul Hurst
AKA: Paul Causey Hurst
Birthday: 1888-10-14
Died: 1953-02-27
Birthplace: 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)
Filmography
Character: Yankee Deserter
Character: Frederick Carson
Character: Checking Board Tabulator (uncredited)
Character: Nick Mizoski - the Gouger
Character: Bad Bill - a Desperado
Character: Steve Arnold (as Paul C. Hurst)
Character: Benton - a Foreman
Character: (Episode #1, 2, etc.)
Character: Archie Billings
Character: Florabelle's Father
Character: 'Arizona' Frank Bailey
Character: Emeralda's Torturer (uncredited)
Character: Detective Terrence Aloysius Hogan
Character: Charlie - the Bartender
Character: Murray Sinclair
Character: Captain Lanning - Osborn's Rival
Character: Detective Grump
Character: Mehaffy - Policeman
Character: World War I Ghost Soldier
Character: Howie - Stingaree's Partner
Character: Chief Dispatcher
Character: Benton, the Foreman
Character: Paul - the Brains of the I.D.B.
Character: Blatchley Turrentine
Character: Murray Sinclair
Character: Sergeant Casper Riordan
Character: Reynolds, a Drunk
Character: Sheriff Jug Mason
Character: Mexican Bandit
Character: Dennis Huggins
Character: Babe the Butcher
Character: Ed the bartender
Character: 'Slug', Baseball Player
Character: Arlington Bysshe 'Slice' Cavanaugh
Character: Herbert Trafagan, aka "The Devil", a wrestler
Character: Dock Foreman (uncredited)
Character: Defense Plant Foreman (uncredited)
Character: Captain Antrim
Character: Police Captain Morgan
Character: Sergeant Murphy
Character: A. Adolphus Heyman
Character: Powder Solvang
Character: Truck Driver (uncredited)
Character: Officer Brannigan
Character: Expressman (uncredited)
Character: Variety Club Bartender
Character: Empire State Building Guard
Character: Sheriff Hank Hartley
Character: Sailor (uncredited)
Character: Capt. W.F. 'Big Bill' Connors
Character: Railroad-Yard Superintendent
Character: Michael O'Connor
Character: Bart - Jardine's Servant
Character: 1st Deputy (uncredited)
Character: Captain Spotts
Character: Sergeant Dailey
Character: Foreman Butch Mehaffey
Character: Asst. Dist. Atty. Springer
Character: Sergeant Hasty Jones
Character: Stagecoach Driver
Character: Chuck Waggoner
Character: Swedish Soldier Betting on 6 (uncredited)
Character: Guard (uncredited)
Character: Pete Haig (uncredited)
Character: Skipper Horton
Character: Second Mate Mumford
Character: Detective Whip Fogarty
Character: Lucky John Hawkins
Character: Waldorf Worthington
Character: Doc Meadowlark
Character: American Detective
Character: Drunk (uncredited)
Character: Doc Maloney, Trainer
Character: Motorcycle Cop
Character: Mac, Amalgamated Lab Tech
Character: Skipper O'Neal
Character: Paul, Perez's Second Bodyguard
Character: Man Who Speaks Final Line of the Film
Character: Sheriff Slim Carson
Character: Inspector Killian
Character: Slugger McGlue
Character: Roger Oakley (as Paul C. Hurst)
Character: 'Beauty' Johnson
Character: Sgt. Westbrook
Character: Undetermined Role
Character: Detective Roscoe