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)
214 movies
The Sun Shines Bright
1953·6.5
Toughest Man in Arizona
1952·7.0
Big Jim McLain
1952·5.0
Million Dollar Pursuit
1951·6.5
The Missourians
1950·8.0
The Old Frontier
1950·10.0
The Vanishing Westerner
1950·5.5
Pioneer Marshal
1949·10.0
Ranger of Cherokee Strip
1949·10.0
San Antone Ambush
1949·7.0
South of Rio
1949·7.0
Outcasts of the Trail
1949·9.0
Law of the Golden West
1949·7.5
Prince of the Plains
1949·8.0
Gun Smugglers
1948·6.7
Yellow Sky
1948·7.0
Son of God’s Country
1948·9.0
The Arizona Ranger
1948·6.7
Heart of Virginia
1948·7.0
Who Killed Doc Robbin?
1948·4.2
California Firebrand
1948·5.5
Madonna of the Desert
1948·8.0
Under Colorado Skies
1947·7.0
Angel and the Badman
1947·6.4
The Plainsman and the Lady
1946·6.0
Death Valley
1946·5.7
In Old Sacramento
1946·6.8
The Virginian
1946·6.2
Murder in the Music Hall
1946·5.3
Dakota
1945·5.2
Midnight Manhunt
1945·4.6
Steppin' in Society
1945·6.0
Scared Stiff
1945·4.7
The Big Show-Off
1945·5.3
Something for the Boys
1944·6.5
Girl Rush
1944·6.0
Barbary Coast Gent
1944·5.5
Summer Storm
1944·5.7
The Ghost That Walks Alone
1944·4.8
The Sky's the Limit
1943·6.3
Coney Island
1943·6.3
The Ox-Bow Incident
1943·7.7
December 7th
1943·5.8
Hi'ya, Chum
1943·6.5
Calaboose
1943·7.0
Night in New Orleans
1942·4.2
Sundown Jim
1942·10.0
Dudes Are Pretty People
1942·8.0
Pardon My Stripes
1942·6.5
Ellery Queen and the Murder Ring
1941·5.6
This Woman Is Mine
1941·4.5
The Parson of Panamint
1941·5.8
Caught in the Draft
1941·5.9
The Great Mr. Nobody
1941·6.0
Petticoat Politics
1941·9.0
Virginia
1941·9.0
Tall, Dark and Handsome
1941·6.1
Tugboat Annie Sails Again
1940·6.0
Goin' Fishin'
1940·6.3
Spring Parade
1940·6.9
The Westerner
1940·7.1
South to Karanga
1940·7.0
They Drive by Night
1940·6.9
Torrid Zone
1940·7.0
Edison, the Man
1940·6.8
Star Dust
1940·5.7
Castle on the Hudson
1940·7.0
Remember?
1939·6.0
Gone with the Wind
1939·7.9
Glove Slingers
1939·5.7
Heaven with a Barbed Wire Fence
1939·6.6
On Your Toes
1939·4.5
Bad Lands
1939·5.3
Quick Millions
1939·7.3
Each Dawn I Die
1939·6.8
It Could Happen to You
1939·4.8
Broadway Serenade
1939·6.6
Cafe Society
1939·7.5
Topper Takes a Trip
1938·6.6
Secrets of a Nurse
1938·5.5
The Last Express
1938·4.0
Hold That Co-ed
1938·6.7
My Lucky Star
1938·5.9
Prison Break
1938·6.1
Josette
1938·7.2
Alexander's Ragtime Band
1938·6.8
In Old Chicago
1938·6.7
Island in the Sky
1938·7.0
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
1938·6.9
No Time to Marry
1938·7.0
Second Honeymoon
1937·6.4
Ali Baba Goes to Town
1937·6.0
The Lady Fights Back
1937·7.0
Danger – Love at Work
1937·7.0
Wife, Doctor and Nurse
1937·7.0
Wake Up and Live
1937·6.2
She's No Lady
1937·8.0
You Can't Have Everything
1937·6.5
The Legion of Missing Men
1937·6.7
Super-Sleuth
1937·5.6
You Can't Beat Love
1937·6.7
Slave Ship
1937·5.1
Angel's Holiday
1937·6.0
Fifty Roads to Town
1937·10.0
This Is My Affair
1937·7.3
Trouble in Morocco
1937·6.5
We Who Are About to Die
1937·7.0
North of Nome
1936·8.0
The Gay Desperado
1936·3.7
I'd Give My Life
1936·7.5
To Mary - with Love
1936·5.7
Blackmailer
1936·6.5
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
1936·7.5
Robin Hood of El Dorado
1936·5.2
Riffraff
1936·5.4
The Gay Deception
1935·6.3
Wilderness Mail
1935·7.0
The Daring Young Man
1935·10.0
Calm Yourself
1935·6.0
Public Hero Number 1
1935·6.3
The Case of the Curious Bride
1935·6.0
Mississippi
1935·6.8
Shadow of Doubt
1935·6.6
Carnival
1935·8.0
Sequoia
1935·6.5
Maybe It's Love
1935·7.0
The Ballad of Paducah Jail
1934·9.0
Tomorrow's Youth
1934·10.0
Among the Missing
1934·6.5
Take the Stand
1934·5.5
Midnight Alibi
1934·6.7
Charlie Chan's Courage
1934·8.7
A Very Honorable Guy
1934·6.0
The Line-Up
1934·3.5
The Big Race
1934·9.0
Queen Christina
1934·6.9
The Women in His Life
1933·4.3
Day of Reckoning
1933·5.1
Saturday's Millions
1933·7.0
Tugboat Annie
1933·7.3
Hold Your Man
1933·6.3
The Sphinx
1933·5.1
Terror Aboard
1933·6.5
Grand Slam
1933·4.6
Island of Lost Souls
1932·6.9
Men Are Such Fools
1932·7.0
The Big Stampede
1932·5.1
The Phantom President
1932·6.5
Hold 'Em Jail
1932·6.8
The Thirteenth Guest
1932·5.2
State's Attorney
1932·6.9
My Pal, the King
1932·8.0
Panama Flo
1932·7.8
The Secret Witness
1931·4.3
Bad Company
1931·5.0
Maker of Men
1931·7.0
The Public Defender
1931·6.4
That's My Line
1931·10.0
Sweepstakes
1931·5.7
Kick In
1931·7.5
The Secret Six
1931·5.6
The Single Sin
1931·7.0
The Third Alarm
1930·10.0
Borrowed Wives
1930·5.3
Paradise Island
1930·3.8
Hot Curves
1930·6.8
Shadow of the Law
1930·6.7
The Runaway Bride
1930·6.2
Mountain Justice
1930·7.5
Swellhead
1930·9.0
Officer O'Brien
1930·5.3
Lucky Larkin
1930·10.0
His First Command
1929·8.5
The Racketeer
1929·5.1
Oh, Yeah!
1929·5.0
Sailor's Holiday
1929·6.1
The California Mail
1929·9.0
Tide of Empire
1929·6.3
The Lawless Legion
1929·9.0
The Rainbow
1929·9.0
Lilac Time
1928·6.8
The Cossacks
1928·7.4
Buttons
1927·3.7
The Valley of the Giants
1927·7.0
The Red Raiders
1927·8.0
The Devil's Saddle
1927·8.0
Outlaw's Paradise
1927·8.0
Blue Streak O'Neil
1926·8.0
The Fighting Ranger
1926·7.0
Roaring Road
1926·8.0
The Man Who Would Not Die
1924·0.0
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
1923·6.6
Lightning Bryce
1919·7.0
Smashing Through
1918·0.0
Rimrock Jones
1918·0.0
The Further Adventures of Stingaree
1917·0.0
The Railroad Raiders
1917·0.0
The Hazards of Helen
1917·0.0
The Manager of the B & A
1916·0.0
The Diamond Runners
1916·10.0
Judith of the Cumberlands
1916·0.0
Medicine Bend
1916·0.0
Whispering Smith
1916·0.0
A Lass of the Lumberlands
1916·0.0
Stingaree
1915·0.0
The Vivisectionist
1915·0.0
The Red Signal
1915·0.0
The Hazards of Helen: Episode13, The Escape on the Fast Freight
1915·5.8
The Girl Detective
1915·5.8
The Plot at the Railroad Cut
1914·0.0
The Chief of Police
1914·9.0
The Quicksands
1914·10.0
The Cave Men's War
1913·7.0
The Driver Of The Deadwood Coach
1912·0.0