Paul Hurst (actor)

Paul Causey Hurst
File:Paulhurst.gif
Born	(1888-10-15)October 15, 1888 Traver, California, U.S.
Died	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor/Director
Years active	1912–1953
Spouse(s)	Hedda Nova (1919-?)

Paul Causey Hurst (October 15, 1888 – February 27, 1953) was an American film actor and director.

Career

Born in Traver, California, and raised on a ranch, he appeared in hundreds of films during the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. However, he got his start painting scenery as part of the backstage crew during the silent movie era. By 1911, he was active in films as an actor, writer and director. He freelanced and worked for many of the movie studios, building a solid reputation for his work both on and off screen.

Hurst is best remembered for two roles: as the Yankee deserter who trespasses at Tara and is shot by Scarlett in Gone with the Wind (1939); and his memorable characterization of the drunken and sadistic vigilante Smith in The Ox Bow Incident (1943). However, he was most proud of his role as a crotchety, old rancher who refuses water to a Quaker family in the movie Angel and the Badman, until John Wayne's character convinces him to share the water. It was after this latter role that Republic Pictures signed him as the comic sidekick in Monte Hale's Western series.

His last film was John Ford's The Sun Shines Bright.

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Paul Hurst
Who's Who in the Film World, 1914

Death

Hurst was diagnosed with terminal cancer in late 1952, and committed suicide in February 1953. He is buried in Reedley Cemetery in Reedley, California.

Partial filmography

As actor

• The Hazards of Helen (1914 serial)
• The Tragedy on Bear Mountain (1915 short)
• Stingaree (1915)
• Rimrock Jones (1918)
• The Tiger's Trail (1919 serial)
• The Midnight Message (1926)
• The Valley of the Giants (1927)
• The Cossacks (1928)
• Lilac Time (1928) (uncredited)
• Tide of Empire (1929)
• Sailor's Holiday (1929)
• The Racketeer (1929)
• The Runaway Bride (1930)
• Borrowed Wives (1930)
• The Secret Six (1931)
• Kick In (1931)
• That's My Line (1931 short)
• The Public Defender (1931)
• Bad Company (1931)
• Maker of Men (1931)
• State's Attorney (1932)
• The Big Stampede (1932)
• Island of Lost Souls (1932)
• The Sphinx (1933)
• Hold Your Man (1933) (uncredited)
• Tugboat Annie (1933)
• Day of Reckoning (1933)
• The Women in His Life (1933)
• Queen Christina (1933)
• Midnight Alibi (1934)
• Tomorrow's Youth (1935)
• Mississippi (1935)
• The Robin Hood of El Dorado (1936)
• Slave Ship (1937)
• Ali Baba Goes to Town (1937)
• In Old Chicago (1937)
• Second Honeymoon (1937)
• Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938)
• Island in the Sky (1938)
• Alexander's Ragtime Band (1938)
• Josette (1938)
• Prison Break (1938)
• Topper Takes a Trip (1938)
• Broadway Serenade (1939)
• Each Dawn I Die (1939)
• Quick Millions (1939)
• Gone with the Wind (1939)
• Edison, the Man (1940)
• Torrid Zone (1940)
• They Drive By Night (1940) (uncredited)
• The Westerner (1940)
• Tugboat Annie Sails Again (1940)
• Goin' Fishin' (1940 short)
• Virginia (1941)
• Caught in the Draft (1941)
• This Woman is Mine (1941)
• The Ox Bow Incident (1943)
• Coney Island (1943)
• The Big Show-Off (1945)
• Scared Stiff (1945)
• Midnight Manhunt (1945)
• Dakota (1945)
• Angel and the Badman (1947)
• Under California Skies (1947)
• California Firebrand (1948)
• Son of God's Country (1948)
• Gun Smugglers (1948)
• Heart of Virginia (1948)
• Prince of the Plains (1948)
• Law of the Golden West (1948)
• Outcasts of the Trail (1949)
• South of Rio (1949)
• San Antone Ambush (1949)
• Ranger of the Cherokee Strip (1949)
• Pioneer Marshal (1949)
• The Vanishing Westerner (1950)
• The Old Frontier (1950)
• The Missourians (1950)
• Big Jim McLain (1952) (uncredited)
• The Sun Shines Bright (1953)

As director

• The Hazards of Helen (1914 serial) (uncredited)
• A Woman in the Web (1918 serial)
• Play Straight or Fight (1918)

References

• Rothel, David. 1984. Those Great Cowboy Sidekicks. Scarecrow Press, Metuchen, New Jersey. ISBN 0-8108-1707-1

External links

• Paul Hurst at the Internet Movie Database
• Paul Hurst at Find a Grave, with wardrobe still from Gone With the Wind