Paul Hurst
Actor · 1888 – 1953 · 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. Date of Death: 27 February 1953, Hollywood, California (suicide)
Movies24
Movie7.9DramaWarThe spoiled daughter of a Georgia plantation owner conducts a tumultuous romance with a cynical profiteer during the American Civil War and Reconstruction Era.
Gone with the Wind
1939 · 4.5K votes
MovieWesternWhispering Smith is a virile, fearless type of the true American whoso theory of life is to give every man a chance to show what is in him. There is nothing of the bully or braggart about him. He is only a man who knows instinctively what is right and never falters in his steps to see that justice is given where it is deserved and crime punished on the same basis. Originally shot as a serial to be called "Whispering Smith", distributor Mutual Films decided to release it as two separate films - this film, which was released first, and Medicine Bend (1916).
Whispering Smith
1916
Movie7.5ComedyDramaLongfellow Deeds lives in a small town, leading a small town kind of life. When a relative dies and leaves Deeds a fortune, Longfellow moves to the big city where he becomes an instant target for everyone. Deeds outwits them all until Babe Bennett comes along. When small-town boy meets big-city girl anything can, and does, happen.
Mr. Deeds Goes to Town
1936 · 416 votes
- Movie7.0
A Canadian Mountie tracks and captures the murderers of a fur trapper, but is later overpowered, tied to a tree, and left in the woods to die. The Mountie's brother finds him just before he dies, and sets out to recapture the killers.
Wilderness Mail
1935 · 1 votes
Movie6.7DramaHistoryThe O'Leary brothers -- honest Jack and roguish Dion -- become powerful figures, and eventually rivals, in Chicago on the eve of its Great Fire.
In Old Chicago
1938 · 50 votes
Movie7.7WesternA posse discovers a trio of men they suspect of murder and cow theft and are split between handing them over to the law or lynching them on the spot.
The Ox-Bow Incident
1943 · 439 votes
Movie7.1WesternDrifter Cole Harden is accused of stealing a horse and faces hanging by self-appointed Judge Roy Bean, but Harden manages to talk his way out of it by claiming to be a friend of stage star Lillie Langtry, with whom the judge is obsessed, even though he has never met her. Tensions rise when Harden comes to the defense of a group of struggling homesteaders who Judge Bean is trying to drive away.
The Westerner
1940 · 138 votes
Movie6.4WesternRomanceNotorious shootist and womanizer Quirt Evans' horse collapses as he passes a Quaker family's home. Quirt has been wounded, and the kindly family takes him in to nurse him back to health against the advice of others. The handsome Evans quickly attracts the affections of their beautiful daughter, Penelope. He develops an affection for the family and their faith, but his troubled past follows him.
Angel and the Badman
1947 · 131 votes
Movie6.5RomanceDramaIn 15th century France, a gypsy girl is framed for murder by the infatuated Chief Justice, and only the deformed bellringer of Notre Dame Cathedral can save her.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
1923 · 143 votes
MovieHorrorWhen a neighbor complains about strange noises, an officer goes undercover to investigate Dr. Jardine. After her cover is blown, she infiltrates his lab and stops him from performing an illegal surgery on an escaped convict.
Movie7.0WesternIn 1867, a gang robs a bank and flees into the desert. Out of water, the outlaws encounter a ghost town called Yellow Sky and its only residents, a hostile young woman and her grandfather.
Yellow Sky
1948 · 130 votes
Movie5.0ActionAdventureHouse Un-American Activities Committee investigators Jim McLain and Mal Baxter come to post war Hawaii to track Communist Party activities even though belonging to the party was legal at the time. They are interested in everything from insurance fraud to the sabotage of a U.S. naval vessel.
Big Jim McLain
1952 · 30 votes
Movie9.0ComedyPa Higgins has decided to retire but winds up being forced to run for mayor. Ladd is both boyfriend to the Higgins girl and the son of Pa's opponent.
Petticoat Politics
1941 · 1 votes
MovieThrillerWhispering Smith, a railroad detective, is sent to Medicine Bend to suppress the looting of cars.
Medicine Bend
1916
Movie8.0ThrillerA young racing driver combines the best features of two rival cars, thus producing an automobile which is the best entry in the race. He triumphs over the other contestants, incidentally winning the girl of his heart.
Roaring Road
1926 · 1 votes
Movie7.0ComedyRomanceA love-smitten cowpoke accidentally causes a horse stampede.
Calaboose
1943 · 2 votes
Movie6.9RomanceHistoryPopular monarch Queen Christina of Sweden must choose between love and loyalty to her nation when she unexpectedly falls for a Spanish envoy.
Queen Christina
1934 · 145 votes
Movie3.7DramaWorking as a pageboy on an ocean liner, a street orphan and his friend Slugger end up on the wrong side of the ship's captain when they try to tell him that his wife is cheating on him with other members of the crew. The boys end up in deeper trouble, after they are thrown in the brig and the ship starts sinking...
Buttons
1927 · 3 votes
Movie10.0WesternMonte Hale is cast as Ted Post, a Texas marshal who's on the trail of embezzler Larry Forester (Myron Healey). His search takes him to a remote frontier town that serves as an outlaw hideaway. All previous lawmen have been disposed of by town boss Bruce Burnett (Damian O'Flynn), who demands a hefty price for his services.
Pioneer Marshal
1949 · 1 votes
Movie6.2WesternArriving at Medicine Bow, eastern schoolteacher Molly Woods meets two cowboys, irresponsible Steve and the "Virginian," who gets off on the wrong foot with her. To add to his troubles, the Virginian finds that his old pal Steve is mixed up with black-hatted Trampas and his rustlers...then finds himself at the head of a posse after said rustlers; and Molly hates the violent side of frontier life.
The Virginian
1946 · 24 votes
Movie6.9DramaCrimeJoe and Paul Fabrini are Wildcat, or independent, truck drivers who have their own small one-truck business. The Fabrini boys constantly battle distributors, rivals and loan collectors, while trying to make a success of their transport company.
They Drive by Night
1940 · 139 votes
MovieDramaWesternRimrock Jones is the toughest and most likeable prospector in a thriving Arizona copper camp. Having already been cheated out of several valuable copper strikes, Rimrock nonetheless forges ahead optimistically, hoping to strike it rich just once more. Unfortunately, he can't find anyone to finance his latest expedition -- except for a pretty public stenographer who uses her life savings to grubstake our hero. When Rimrock finally hits pay dirt, he tries to repay the girl for her generosity, only to find that she wants to be a full partner in his copper mine. While he mulls this over, Rimrock's rivals try to bamboozle him out of his mine with the help of a sexy "vamp".
Rimrock Jones
1918
Movie6.6ComedyDramaWith the election approaching, a judge in a Southern town at the turn of the 20th century is involved variously in revealing the real identity of a young woman, reliving his Civil War memories, and preventing the lynching of an African youth.
The Sun Shines Bright
1953 · 53 votes
Movie5.7DramaA popular jockey is disbarred from racing after he's accused of throwing a race.
Sweepstakes
1931 · 3 votes