Paul Hurst
Actor
Born October 14, 1888 in Traver, California, USA
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.
Filmography
The Sun Shines Bright
Jimmy Bagby
Toughest Man in Arizona
Big Jim McLain
Mr. Lexiter
Million Dollar Pursuit
Ray Harvey
The Missourians
John X. Finn
The Old Frontier
Skipper Horton
The Vanishing Westerner
Waldorf Worthington
Pioneer Marshal
Huck Homer
Ranger of Cherokee Strip
Sheriff Jug Mason
San Antone Ambush
Happy Daniels
South of Rio
Andy Weems
Outcasts of the Trail
Doc Meadowlark
Law of the Golden West
Otis Ellis
Prince of the Plains
Sheriff Hank Hartley
Gun Smugglers
Sergeant Hasty Jones
Yellow Sky
Drunk (uncredited)
Son of God’s Country
Eli Walker
The Arizona Ranger
Ben Riddle
Heart of Virginia
Whit Galtry
Who Killed Doc Robbin?
Jailer
California Firebrand
Chuck Waggoner
Madonna of the Desert
Pete Connors
Under Colorado Skies
Lucky John Hawkins
Angel and the Badman
Frederick Carson
The Plainsman and the Lady
Al
Death Valley
Sergeant Dailey
In Old Sacramento
Stagecoach Driver
The Virginian
Murder in the Music Hall
Hobarth
Dakota
Captain Spotts
Midnight Manhunt
Murphy
Steppin' in Society
Cookie
Scared Stiff
Sheriff
The Big Show-Off
Herbert Trafagan, aka "The Devil", a wrestler
Something for the Boys
Defense Plant Foreman (uncredited)
Girl Rush
Muley
Barbary Coast Gent
Jake Compton
Summer Storm
Orloff
The Ghost That Walks Alone
Sheriff Slim Carson
The Sky's the Limit
Dock Foreman (uncredited)
Coney Island
Louie
The Ox-Bow Incident
Monty Smith
December 7th
World War I Ghost Soldier
Hi'ya, Chum
Archie Billings
Calaboose
Ed the bartender
Night in New Orleans
Sergeant Casper Riordan
Sundown Jim
Broderick
Dudes Are Pretty People
Two-Gun
Pardon My Stripes
Feets
Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring
Page
This Woman Is Mine
Second Mate Mumford
The Parson of Panamint
Jake Waldren
Caught in the Draft
Sgt. Burns
The Great Mr. Nobody
Michael O'Connor
Petticoat Politics
Slats O'Dell
Virginia
Thomas
Tall, Dark and Handsome
Biff Sage
Tugboat Annie Sails Again
Pete
Goin' Fishin'
Spring Parade
Headwaiter
The Westerner
Chickenfoot
South to Karanga
Slats
They Drive by Night
Pete Haig (uncredited)
Torrid Zone
Daniels
Edison, the Man
Sheriff
Star Dust
Mac, Amalgamated Lab Tech
Castle on the Hudson
Guard (uncredited)
Remember?
Policeman
Gone with the Wind
Yankee Deserter
Glove Slingers
Chuck Brenner
Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence
Empire State Building Guard
On Your Toes
Variety Club Bartender
Bad Lands
Curly Tom
Quick Millions
Sheriff
Each Dawn I Die
Garsky
Broadway Serenade
Reynolds, a Drunk
Cafe Society
Bartender
Topper Takes a Trip
Charlie - the Bartender
Secrets of a Nurse
Arlington Bysshe 'Slice' Cavanaugh
The Last Express
Asst. Dist. Atty. Springer
Hold That Co-ed
Slapsy
My Lucky Star
Louie
Prison Break
Soapy
Josette
A. Adolphus Heyman
Alexander's Ragtime Band
Bill Mulligan
In Old Chicago
Mitch
Island in the Sky
Happy
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Mug
No Time to Marry
Sergeant
Second Honeymoon
Dennis Huggins
Ali Baba Goes to Town
Captain
Danger – Love at Work
NYC policeman
Wife, Doctor and Nurse
Bill
Wake Up and Live
McCabe
She's No Lady
Cop
You Can't Have Everything
Truck Driver (uncredited)
The Legion of Missing Men
Muggsy
Super-Sleuth
Motorcycle Cop
You Can't Beat Love
Foreman Butch Mehaffey
Slave Ship
Drunk
Angel's Holiday
Sgt. Murphy
Fifty Roads to Town
Tom
This Is My Affair
Bowler
Trouble in Morocco
Tiger Malone
We Who Are About to Die
Tip Fuller
North of Nome
Carlson
The Gay Desperado
American Detective
To Mary - with Love
Drunk
Blackmailer
Inspector Killian
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
1st Deputy (uncredited)
Robin Hood of El Dorado
Wilson
Riffraff
Belcher
The Gay Deception
Bell Captain
The Daring Young Man
Prison Guard
Calm Yourself
Detective Roscoe
Public Hero Number 1
Rufe Parker
The Case of the Curious Bride
Fibo Morgan (uncredited)
Mississippi
Hefty
Shadow of Doubt
Lt. Sackville
Carnival
Policeman
Sequoia
Bergman
Maybe It's Love
Expressman (uncredited)
The Ballad of Paducah Jail
Escaped Felon
Tomorrow's Youth
Detective
Among the Missing
Capt. W.F. 'Big Bill' Connors
Take the Stand
Denny O'Brien
Midnight Alibi
Babe the Butcher
Charlie Chan's Courage
Undetermined Role
A Very Honorable Guy
Butler
The Line-Up
Detective Sgt. Doyle
The Big Race
Skipper O'Neal
Queen Christina
Swedish Soldier Betting on 6 (uncredited)
The Women in His Life
Paul, Perez's Second Bodyguard
Day of Reckoning
Harry
Saturday's Millions
Doc Maloney, Trainer
Tugboat Annie
Sam
Hold Your Man
Aubrey C. Mitchell (uncredited)
The Sphinx
Detective Terrence Aloysius Hogan
Terror Aboard
Boatswain
Grand Slam
Man Who Speaks Final Line of the Film
Island of Lost Souls
Capt. Donahue
Men Are Such Fools
Stiles
The Big Stampede
'Arizona' Frank Bailey
The Phantom President
Sailor (uncredited)
Hold 'Em Jail
Butch
The Thirteenth Guest
Detective Grump
State's Attorney
Police Captain Morgan
My Pal, the King
Red
Panama Flo
Al
The Secret Witness
Officer Brannigan
Bad Company
Paul Hurst
Maker of Men
Gabby
The Public Defender
Doc
That's My Line
Mexican Bandit
Sweepstakes
Bartender
Kick In
Detective Whip Fogarty
The Secret Six
Nick Mizoski - the Gouger
The Single Sin
Slug
The Third Alarm
'Beauty' Johnson
Borrowed Wives
Bull Morgan
Paradise Island
Beauty
Hot Curves
'Slug', Baseball Player
Shadow of the Law
Pete Shore
The Runaway Bride
Sergeant Daly
Mountain Justice
Lem Harland
Swellhead
Mugsy
Officer O'Brien
Captain Antrim
Lucky Larkin
Pete Brierson
His First Command
Sgt. Westbrook
The Racketeer
Mehaffy - Policeman
Oh, Yeah!
Railroad-Yard Superintendent
Sailor's Holiday
Jimmylegs
The California Mail
Rowdy Ryan
Tide of Empire
Poppy
The Lawless Legion
Ramirez
The Rainbow
Pat
Lilac Time
(uncredited)
The Cossacks
Sitchi
Buttons
Slugger McGlue
The Valley of the Giants
Randeau
The Red Raiders
Sergeant Murphy
The Devil's Saddle
'Swig' Moran
Blue Streak O'Neil
The Midnight Message
Roaring Road
Checking Board Tabulator (uncredited)
Haunted Range
The Demon Rider
A Western Engagement
Folly of Youth
Branded a Bandit
The Passing of Wolf MacLean
Battling Bunyan
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Emeralda's Torturer (uncredited)
The Crow's Nest
Table Top Ranch
The Heart of a Texan
Rangeland
King Fisher's Roost
Shadows of the West
Lightning Bryce
Powder Solvang
The Tiger's Trail
Smashing Through
Stevens
The Woman in the Web
Rimrock Jones
Ike Bray
The Further Adventures of Stingaree
Howie
The Railroad Raiders
Steve Arnold (as Paul C. Hurst)
The Hazards of Helen
Benton - a Foreman
The Manager of the B & A
Roger Oakley (as Paul C. Hurst)
Judith of the Cumberlands
Blatchley Turrentine
Medicine Bend
Murray Sinclair
Whispering Smith
Murray Sinclair
A Lass of the Lumberlands
Stingaree
Howie - Stingaree's Partner
The Vivisectionist
Bart - Jardine's Servant
The Red Signal
Chief Dispatcher
The Hazards of Helen: Episode13, The Escape on the Fast Freight
A Trainman
The Girl Detective
Blair / Thompson / Michaels / Snake Henely / Mike Donegal / Bat Dorgan / Kelly / Dalton / Blake
The Plot at the Railroad Cut
Benton, the Foreman
The Cave Men's War
Red Axe
The Driver Of The Deadwood Coach
Bad Bill - a Desperado