Paul Hurst

DOB: 1888-10-14

DOD: 1953-02-27

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)

Starred In

1939
Movie

Gone with the Wind

1930
Movie

Paradise Island

1926
Movie

Roaring Road

1941
Movie

Petticoat Politics

1937
Movie

Trouble in Morocco

1931
Movie

The Secret Six

1945
Movie

Scared Stiff

1915
Movie

The Girl Detective

1943
Movie

Hi'ya, Chum

1940
Movie

The Westerner

1932
Movie

The Big Stampede

1944
Movie

Summer Storm

1933
Movie

The Sphinx

1935
Movie

The Gay Deception

1916
Movie

Whispering Smith

1937
Movie

Angel's Holiday

1914
Movie

The Quicksands

1931
Movie

Bad Company

1938
Movie

In Old Chicago

1929
Movie

The Racketeer

1943
Movie

December 7th

1918
Movie

Rimrock Jones

1915
Movie

Stingaree

1933
Movie

Terror Aboard

1915
Movie

The Red Signal

1935
Movie

Sequoia

1916
Movie

Medicine Bend

1939
Movie

Broadway Serenade

1930
Movie

Swellhead

1938
Movie

Island in the Sky

1930
Movie

Borrowed Wives

1931
Movie

That's My Line

1937
Movie

Second Honeymoon

1934
Movie

Midnight Alibi

1936
Movie

I'd Give My Life

1928
Movie

The Cossacks

1943
Movie

Calaboose

1931
Movie

Sweepstakes

1930
Movie

Hot Curves

1935
Movie

Shadow of Doubt

1938
Movie

Secrets of a Nurse

1945
Movie

The Big Show-Off

1939
Movie

Remember?

1939
Movie

Bad Lands

1937
Movie

Wake Up and Live

1944
Movie

Girl Rush

1941
Movie

Virginia

1938
Movie

Prison Break

1938
Movie

Hold That Co-ed

1930
Movie

The Runaway Bride

1938
Movie

My Lucky Star

1930
Movie

Officer O'Brien

1932
Movie

State's Attorney

1927
Movie

The Devil's Saddle

1931
Movie

The Single Sin

1932
Movie

Men Are Such Fools

1927
Movie

The Red Raiders

1929
Movie

The Lawless Legion

1930
Movie

Lucky Larkin

1930
Movie

Mountain Justice

1913
Movie

The Cave Men's War

1932
Movie

My Pal, the King

1937
Movie

She's No Lady

1929
Movie

Tide of Empire

1930
Movie

Shadow of the Law

1937
Movie

Slave Ship

1938
Movie

Josette

1919
Movie

Lightning Bryce

1929
Movie

Sailor's Holiday

1926
Movie

Blue Streak O'Neil

1939
Movie

Cafe Society

1928
Movie

Lilac Time

1931
Movie

The Secret Witness

1946
Movie

The Virginian

1934
Movie

Tomorrow's Youth

1939
Movie

On Your Toes

1935
Movie

Maybe It's Love

1939
Movie

Each Dawn I Die

1934
Movie

Take the Stand

1939
Movie

Glove Slingers

1949
Movie

Pioneer Marshal

1940
Movie

Spring Parade

1949
Movie

San Antone Ambush

1934
Movie

Among the Missing

1948
Movie

The Arizona Ranger

1933
Movie

Tugboat Annie

1929
Movie

Oh, Yeah!

1932
Movie

Hold 'Em Jail

1949
Movie

South of Rio

1915
Movie

The Vivisectionist

1945
Movie

Dakota

1940
Movie

Edison, the Man

1946
Movie

Death Valley

1943
Movie

Coney Island

1936
Movie

North of Nome

1931
Movie

Maker of Men

1938
Movie

No Time to Marry

1938
Movie

The Last Express

1948
Movie

Gun Smugglers

1937
Movie

This Is My Affair

1946
Movie

In Old Sacramento

1945
Movie

Midnight Manhunt

1918
Movie

Smashing Through

1933
Movie

Queen Christina

1940
Movie

Torrid Zone

1932
Movie

Panama Flo

1950
Movie

The Missourians

1950
Movie

The Old Frontier

1941
Movie

This Woman Is Mine

1942
Movie

Sundown Jim

1952
Movie

Big Jim McLain

1931
Movie

Kick In

1940
Movie

Goin' Fishin'

1935
Movie

Carnival

1936
Movie

The Gay Desperado

1948
Movie

Yellow Sky

1944
Movie

Barbary Coast Gent

1948
Movie

Heart of Virginia

1937
Movie

Super-Sleuth

1940
Movie

Star Dust

1933
Movie

Day of Reckoning

1934
Movie

The Big Race

1933
Movie

Grand Slam

1927
Movie

Outlaw's Paradise

1942
Movie

Pardon My Stripes

1936
Movie

Blackmailer

1940
Movie

South to Karanga

1927
Movie

Buttons

1930
Movie

The Third Alarm

1939
Movie

Quick Millions

1935
Movie

Mississippi

1929
Movie

His First Command

1936
Movie

Riffraff

1935
Movie

Calm Yourself

1933
Movie

Hold Your Man