Paul Hurst
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)
214 acting credits · 32 directing credits
Acting · 214
Gone with the Wind
1939
Angel and the Badman
1947
Island of Lost Souls
1932
Dakota
1945
Yellow Sky
1948
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
1936
The Ox-Bow Incident
1943
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
1923
Queen Christina
1934
Castle on the Hudson
1940
Slave Ship
1937
They Drive by Night
1940
The Westerner
1940
Big Jim McLain
1952
Edison, the Man
1940
The Virginian
1946
Alexander's Ragtime Band
1938
In Old Chicago
1938
Broadway Serenade
1939
December 7th
1943
Torrid Zone
1940
The Sun Shines Bright
1953
Secrets of a Nurse
1938
My Lucky Star
1938
The Gay Deception
1935
Mississippi
1935
The Sky's the Limit
1943
Each Dawn I Die
1939
You Can't Have Everything
1937
Ali Baba Goes to Town
1937
The Secret Six
1931
Super-Sleuth
1937
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
1938
Star Dust
1940
Summer Storm
1944
Riffraff
1936
Tide of Empire
1929
Josette
1938
The Vanishing Westerner
1950
Coney Island
1943
The Thirteenth Guest
1932
We Who Are About to Die
1937
The Phantom President
1932
The Daring Young Man
1935
Among the Missing
1934
Carnival
1935
Remember?
1939
Danger – Love at Work
1937
Saturday's Millions
1933
Toughest Man in Arizona
1952
Ranger of Cherokee Strip
1949
Robin Hood of El Dorado
1936
Prison Break
1938
Cafe Society
1939
Shadow of Doubt
1935
Tugboat Annie Sails Again
1940
Midnight Alibi
1934
This Woman Is Mine
1941
Bad Company
1931
Take the Stand
1934
The Women in His Life
1933
Officer O'Brien
1930
The Big Race
1934
The Secret Witness
1931
The Case of the Curious Bride
1935
Barbary Coast Gent
1944
South of Rio
1949
Public Hero Number 1
1935
This Is My Affair
1937
State's Attorney
1932
Spring Parade
1940
Hold Your Man
1933
The Legion of Missing Men
1937
Sundown Jim
1942
Paradise Island
1930
Girl Rush
1944
It Could Happen to You
1939
Lightning Bryce
1919
The Gay Desperado
1936
Quick Millions
1939
In Old Sacramento
1946
The Valley of the Giants
1927
The Sphinx
1933
Angel's Holiday
1937
The Old Frontier
1950
The Parson of Panamint
1941
Maker of Men
1931
Something for the Boys
1944
The Last Express
1938
Lilac Time
1928
Under Colorado Skies
1947
Murder in the Music Hall
1946
Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence
1939
Buttons
1927
Mountain Justice
1930
Caught in the Draft
1941
Shadow of the Law
1930
Grand Slam
1933
Trouble in Morocco
1937
The Public Defender
1931
To Mary - with Love
1936
Wake Up and Live
1937
Night in New Orleans
1942
Death Valley
1946
The Hazards of Helen: Episode13, The Escape on the Fast Freight
1915
A Very Honorable Guy
1934
The Missourians
1950
The Hazards of Helen
1917
On Your Toes
1939
Second Honeymoon
1937
Oh, Yeah!
1929
Tugboat Annie
1933
Wife, Doctor and Nurse
1937
The Runaway Bride
1930
The Great Mr. Nobody
1941
Bad Lands
1939
Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring
1941
Kick In
1931
The Big Stampede
1932
The Third Alarm
1930
Lucky Larkin
1930
My Pal, the King
1932
The Cossacks
1928
The Plainsman and the Lady
1946
California Firebrand
1948
Fifty Roads to Town
1937
The Big Show-Off
1945
The Cave Men's War
1913
Terror Aboard
1933
Midnight Manhunt
1945
No Time to Marry
1938
Sailor's Holiday
1929
Calaboose
1943
The Red Raiders
1927
The Ballad of Paducah Jail
1934
The Arizona Ranger
1948
Hold That Co-ed
1938
Topper Takes a Trip
1938
The Racketeer
1929
Calm Yourself
1935
Blackmailer
1936
Steppin' in Society
1945
San Antone Ambush
1949
Maybe It's Love
1935
She's No Lady
1937
Outlaw's Paradise
1927
Sequoia
1935
Pardon My Stripes
1942
Charlie Chan's Courage
1934
Madonna of the Desert
1948
The Lawless Legion
1929
Scared Stiff
1945
The Lady Fights Back
1937
Men Are Such Fools
1932
Hot Curves
1930
Outcasts of the Trail
1949
Prince of the Plains
1949
Who Killed Doc Robbin?
1948
Swellhead
1930
Virginia
1941
Tomorrow's Youth
1934
Wilderness Mail
1935
Tall, Dark and Handsome
1941
Panama Flo
1932
Law of the Golden West
1949
The Railroad Raiders
1917
Stingaree
1915
Petticoat Politics
1941
Dudes Are Pretty People
1942
Hold 'Em Jail
1932
I'd Give My Life
1936
North of Nome
1936
Smashing Through
1918
Rimrock Jones
1918
Goin' Fishin'
1940
Son of God’s Country
1948
Pioneer Marshal
1949
His First Command
1929
Day of Reckoning
1933
Heart of Virginia
1948
Judith of the Cumberlands
1916
Sweepstakes
1931
You Can't Beat Love
1937
Borrowed Wives
1930
The Quicksands
1914
The Ghost That Walks Alone
1944
The Line-Up
1934
The Single Sin
1931
Million Dollar Pursuit
1951
Island in the Sky
1938
Blue Streak O'Neil
1926
The Rainbow
1929
The Girl Detective
1915
The Man Who Would Not Die
1924
The Devil's Saddle
1927
Gun Smugglers
1948
The California Mail
1929
The Vivisectionist
1915
The Red Signal
1915
That's My Line
1931
Hi'ya, Chum
1943
The Fighting Ranger
1926
South to Karanga
1940
Whispering Smith
1916
The Further Adventures of Stingaree
1917
Roaring Road
1926
A Lass of the Lumberlands
1916
Glove Slingers
1939
The Manager of the B & A
1916
The Plot at the Railroad Cut
1914
The Driver Of The Deadwood Coach
1912
The Diamond Runners
1916
Medicine Bend
1916
The Chief of Police
1914
Directing · 32
Lightning Bryce
1919
The Demon Rider
1925
Outlaw's Paradise
1927
The Railroad Raiders
1917
The Law of the Snow Country
1926
Branded a Bandit
1924
Battling Bunyan
1924
The Tiger's Trail
1919
The Passing of Wolf MacLean
1924
The Woman in the Web
1918
Blue Streak O'Neil
1926
The Heart of a Texan
1922
Haunted Range
1926
The Man Who Would Not Die
1924
Shadows of the West
1921
The Midnight Message
1926
The Red Signal
1915
The Crow's Nest
1922
King Fisher's Roost
1921
The Fighting Ranger
1926
The Fighting Cub
1925
Table Top Ranch
1922
Play Straight or Fight
1918
The Further Adventures of Stingaree
1917
Folly of Youth
1925
A Lass of the Lumberlands
1916
Roaring Road
1926
South of Northern Lights
1922
Rangeland
1922
Golden Silence
1923
A Western Engagement
1925
The Were-Tiger
1925