
William Boyd
Biography
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
William Lawrence Boyd (June 5, 1895 – September 12, 1972) was an American film actor who is best known for portraying the cowboy hero Hopalong Cassidy. Boyd was born in Hendrysburg, Ohio, and reared in Cambridge, Ohio and Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was the son of a day laborer, Charles William Boyd, and his wife, the former Lida Wilkens (aka Lyda). Following his father's death, he moved to California and worked as an orange picker, surveyor, tool dresser and auto salesman.
In Hollywood, he found work as an extra in Why Change Your Wife? and other films. During World War I, he enlisted in the army but was exempt from military service because of a "weak heart". More prominent film roles followed, including his breakout role as Jack Moreland in Cecil B. DeMille's The Road to Yesterday (1925) which starred also Joseph Schildkraut, Jetta Goudal, and Vera Reynolds. Boyd's performance in the film was praised by critics, while movie-goers were equally impressed by his easy charm, charisma, and intense good-looks. Due to Boyd's growing popularity, DeMille soon cast him as the leading man in the highly acclaimed silent drama film, The Volga Boatman. Boyd's role as Feodor blew critics away, and with Boyd now firmly established as a matinee idol and romantic leading man, he began earning an annual salary of $100,000. He acted in DeMille's extravaganza The King of Kings (in which he played Simon of Cyrene, helping Jesus carry the cross) and DeMille's Skyscraper (1928). He then appeared in D.W. Griffith's Lady of the Pavements (1929).
Radio Pictures ended Boyd's contract in 1931 when his picture was mistakenly run in a newspaper story about the arrest of another actor, William "Stage" Boyd, on gambling and liquor charges. Although the newspaper apologized, explaining the mistake in the following day's newspaper, Boyd said, "The damage was already done." William "Stage" Boyd died in 1935, the same year William L. Boyd became Hopalong Cassidy, the role that led to his enduring fame. But at the time in 1931, Boyd was virtually broke and without a job, and for a few years he was credited in films as "Bill Boyd" to prevent being mistaken for the other William Boyd.
Acting (136 movies)

The Movie Orgy
1968

Golden Saddles, Silver Spurs
2000

Bobbed Hair
1922

The Temple of Venus
1923

Hollywood
1923

After the Show
1921

The Big Gamble
1931

The Volga Boatman
1926

Forty Winks
1925

Screen Snapshots Series 10, No. 5
1930

Lucky Devils
1933

Border Patrol
1943

Doomed Caravan
1941

Fool's Gold
1946

The Devil's Playground
1946

Forty Thieves
1944

Sinister Journey
1948

False Colors
1943

Riders of the Timberline
1941

Leather Burners
1943

Stagecoach War
1940

Borrowed Trouble
1948

In Old Colorado
1941

Hidden Gold
1940

Pirates on Horseback
1941

Dangerous Venture
1947

The Showdown
1940

False Paradise
1948

Riders of the Deadline
1943

Unexpected Guest
1947

Three Men from Texas
1940

Secret of the Wastelands
1941

Colt Comrades
1943

Undercover Man
1942

Stick to Your Guns
1941

Silent Conflict
1948

Hoppy's Holiday
1947

Texas Masquerade
1944

Twilight on the Trail
1941

Hoppy Serves a Writ
1943

Mystery Man
1944

Strange Gamble
1948

Border Vigilantes
1941

Wide Open Town
1941

The Dead Don't Dream
1948

The Marauders
1947

Lost Canyon
1942

Outlaws of the Desert
1941

Bar 20
1943

Range War
1939

The Eagle's Brood
1935

Bar 20 Justice
1938

Renegade Trail
1939

Pride of the West
1938

Law of the Pampas
1939

Santa Fe Marshal
1940

Lumberjack
1944

The Frontiersmen
1938

In Old Mexico
1938

Sunset Trail
1939

Silver on the Sage
1939

Hopalong Cassidy Returns
1936

Partners of the Plains
1938

Hopalong Rides Again
1937

North of the Rio Grande
1937

Three on the Trail
1936

Heart of the West
1936

Texas Trail
1937

Call of the Prairie
1936

Rustlers' Valley
1937

Hop-a-long Cassidy
1935

Cassidy of Bar 20
1938

Borderland
1937

Bar 20 Rides Again
1935

Heart of Arizona
1938

Trail Dust
1936

Hills of Old Wyoming
1937

New Lives for Old
1925

A Wise Fool
1921

Manslaughter
1922

Emergency Call
1933

The Midshipman
1925

The Yankee Clipper
1927

High Voltage
1929

The Cop
1928

The Road to Yesterday
1925

Brewster's Millions
1921

Carnival Boat
1932

Port of Lost Dreams
1934

The Flying Fool
1929

Suicide Fleet
1931

Go-Get-'Em, Haines
1936

The Six Best Cellars
1920

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
1976

Cheaters
1934

Men Of America
1932

Going Hollywood: The '30s
1984

The Affairs of Anatol
1921

Officer O'Brien
1930

Beyond Victory
1931
Directing (1 movie)
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