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