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)
Known for
Gone with the Wind
Yankee Deserter
The Virginian
Coney Island
Louie
Queen Christina
Swedish Soldier Betting on 6 (uncredited)
The Westerner
Chickenfoot
Summer Storm
Orloff
December 7th
World War I Ghost Soldier
Slave Ship
Drunk
Josette
A. Adolphus Heyman
Broadway Serenade
Reynolds, a Drunk
Second Honeymoon
Dennis Huggins
Carnival
Policeman
Calm Yourself
Detective Roscoe
The Racketeer
Mehaffy - Policeman
The Daring Young Man
Prison Guard
Yellow Sky
Drunk (uncredited)
Paradise Island
Beauty
Remember?
Policeman
Robin Hood of El Dorado
Wilson
The Great Mr. Nobody
Michael O'Connor
Island of Lost Souls
Capt. Donahue
Riffraff
Belcher
Star Dust
Mac, Amalgamated Lab Tech
Night in New Orleans
Sergeant Casper Riordan
Mississippi
Hefty
Death Valley
Sergeant Dailey
The Sphinx
Detective Terrence Aloysius Hogan
The Sky's the Limit
Dock Foreman (uncredited)
Buttons
Slugger McGlue
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
1st Deputy (uncredited)
Dakota
Captain Spotts
Gun Smugglers
Sergeant Hasty Jones
Hold Your Man
Aubrey C. Mitchell (uncredited)
Topper Takes a Trip
Charlie - the Bartender
The Ox-Bow Incident
Monty Smith
Sequoia
Bergman
Each Dawn I Die
Garsky
Glove Slingers
Chuck Brenner
Bad Company
Paul Hurst
The Public Defender
Doc
Terror Aboard
Boatswain
The Secret Six
Nick Mizoski - the Gouger
Blackmailer
Inspector Killian
Panama Flo
Al
The Phantom President
Sailor (uncredited)
Lilac Time
(uncredited)
Calaboose
Ed the bartender
This Is My Affair
Bowler
Super-Sleuth
Motorcycle Cop
Bad Lands
Curly Tom
Sweepstakes
Bartender
The Gay Desperado
American Detective
Alexander's Ragtime Band
Bill Mulligan
Public Hero Number 1
Rufe Parker
To Mary - with Love
Drunk
Men Are Such Fools
Stiles
The Sun Shines Bright
Jimmy Bagby
The Gay Deception
Bell Captain
Maybe It's Love
Expressman (uncredited)
On Your Toes
Variety Club Bartender
The Plainsman and the Lady
Al
You Can't Have Everything
Truck Driver (uncredited)
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Emeralda's Torturer (uncredited)
Edison, the Man
Sheriff
Million Dollar Pursuit
Ray Harvey
Whispering Smith
Murray Sinclair
Among the Missing
Capt. W.F. 'Big Bill' Connors
The Cossacks
Sitchi
The Case of the Curious Bride
Fibo Morgan (uncredited)
Scared Stiff
Sheriff
They Drive by Night
Pete Haig (uncredited)
This Woman Is Mine
Second Mate Mumford
In Old Chicago
Mitch
California Firebrand
Chuck Waggoner
Spring Parade
Headwaiter
The Lady Fights Back
Maloney
Rimrock Jones
Ike Bray
Something for the Boys
Defense Plant Foreman (uncredited)
Tide of Empire
Poppy
Danger – Love at Work
NYC policeman
Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring
Page
Tall, Dark and Handsome
Biff Sage
Ali Baba Goes to Town
Captain
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Florabelle's Father
Take the Stand
Denny O'Brien
The Thirteenth Guest
Detective Grump
Quick Millions
Sheriff
The Secret Witness
Officer Brannigan
Hold 'Em Jail
Butch
The Arizona Ranger
Ben Riddle
A Very Honorable Guy
Butler
Secrets of a Nurse
Arlington Bysshe 'Slice' Cavanaugh
Goin' Fishin'
The Big Show-Off
Herbert Trafagan, aka "The Devil", a wrestler
Murder in the Music Hall
Hobarth
Sailor's Holiday
Jimmylegs
The California Mail
Rowdy Ryan
Tugboat Annie Sails Again
Pete
Shadow of the Law
Pete Shore
Trouble in Morocco
Tiger Malone
The Ghost That Walks Alone
Sheriff Slim Carson
Caught in the Draft
Sgt. Burns
Hot Curves
'Slug', Baseball Player
Madonna of the Desert
Pete Connors
Mountain Justice
Lem Harland
Prison Break
Soapy
Shadow of Doubt
Lt. Sackville
The Single Sin
Slug
My Pal, the King
Red
Toughest Man in Arizona
The Missourians
John X. Finn
The Women in His Life
Paul, Perez's Second Bodyguard
Oh, Yeah!
Railroad-Yard Superintendent
Borrowed Wives
Bull Morgan
Heart of Virginia
Whit Galtry
The Runaway Bride
Sergeant Daly
Angel and the Badman
Frederick Carson
State's Attorney
Police Captain Morgan
Island in the Sky
Happy
The Vanishing Westerner
Waldorf Worthington
Stingaree
Howie - Stingaree's Partner
Tugboat Annie
Sam
The Lawless Legion
Ramirez
Day of Reckoning
Harry
South to Karanga
Slats
Prince of the Plains
Sheriff Hank Hartley
The Big Race
Skipper O'Neal
Pioneer Marshal
Huck Homer
Angel's Holiday
Sgt. Murphy
The Parson of Panamint
Jake Waldren
That's My Line
Mexican Bandit
Saturday's Millions
Doc Maloney, Trainer
Maker of Men
Gabby
The Railroad Raiders
Steve Arnold (as Paul C. Hurst)
Hold That Co-ed
Slapsy
Petticoat Politics
Slats O'Dell
Wake Up and Live
McCabe
Charlie Chan's Courage
Undetermined Role
You Can't Beat Love
Foreman Butch Mehaffey
Roaring Road
Checking Board Tabulator (uncredited)
Fifty Roads to Town
Tom
The Devil's Saddle
'Swig' Moran
Pardon My Stripes
Feets
Big Jim McLain
Mr. Lexiter
Smashing Through
Stevens
The Plot at the Railroad Cut
Benton, the Foreman
The Vivisectionist
Bart - Jardine's Servant
Swellhead
Mugsy
In Old Sacramento
Stagecoach Driver
I'd Give My Life
"Sport" Conly
Sundown Jim
Broderick
The Valley of the Giants
Randeau
The Big Stampede
'Arizona' Frank Bailey
Tomorrow's Youth
Detective
The Third Alarm
'Beauty' Johnson
The Girl Detective
Blair / Thompson / Michaels / Snake Henely / Mike Donegal / Bat Dorgan / Kelly / Dalton / Blake
Girl Rush
Muley
The Man Who Would Not Die
Medicine Bend
Murray Sinclair
Outcasts of the Trail
Doc Meadowlark
It Could Happen to You
Sandy
The Last Express
Asst. Dist. Atty. Springer
San Antone Ambush
Happy Daniels
Ranger of Cherokee Strip
Sheriff Jug Mason
North of Nome
Carlson
The Red Raiders
Sergeant Murphy
No Time to Marry
Sergeant
His First Command
Sgt. Westbrook
Law of the Golden West
Otis Ellis
The Legion of Missing Men
Muggsy
Outlaw's Paradise
McDonald
Kick In
Detective Whip Fogarty
The Quicksands
Captain Lanning - Osborn's Rival
Judith of the Cumberlands
Blatchley Turrentine
The Ballad of Paducah Jail
Escaped Felon
The Red Signal
Chief Dispatcher
Hi'ya, Chum
Archie Billings
Steppin' in Society
Cookie
The Hazards of Helen
Benton - a Foreman
The Old Frontier
Skipper Horton
Dudes Are Pretty People
Two-Gun
Midnight Manhunt
Murphy
The Hazards of Helen: Episode13, The Escape on the Fast Freight
A Trainman
The Diamond Runners
Paul - the Brains of the I.D.B.
The Driver Of The Deadwood Coach
Bad Bill - a Desperado
The Chief of Police
Daniels
The Cave Men's War
Red Axe
Son of God’s Country
Eli Walker
Wife, Doctor and Nurse
Bill
The Manager of the B & A
Roger Oakley (as Paul C. Hurst)
A Lass of the Lumberlands
She's No Lady
Cop
Cafe Society
Bartender
My Lucky Star
Louie
Castle on the Hudson
Guard (uncredited)
Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence
Empire State Building Guard
Barbary Coast Gent
Jake Compton
Under Colorado Skies
Lucky John Hawkins
Officer O'Brien
Captain Antrim
Virginia
Thomas
South of Rio
Andy Weems
Who Killed Doc Robbin?
Jailer
Torrid Zone
Daniels
Grand Slam
Man Who Speaks Final Line of the Film
We Who Are About to Die
Tip Fuller
Lucky Larkin
Pete Brierson
The Further Adventures of Stingaree
Howie
Midnight Alibi
Babe the Butcher
Blue Streak O'Neil
Lightning Bryce
Powder Solvang