William Boyd

Acting · 1.0 popularity

Age

131

Movies

143

Born: June 4, 1895 – September 12, 1972
From: Hendrysburg, Ohio, USA

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.

Works

143 films

Television: The First Fifty Years

1999

The Greatest Show on Earth

19526.4

The Movie Orgy

19686.7

It's Showtime

19767.5

The King of Kings

19276.4

Power

19288.0

Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star

19917.5

Hoppy Serves a Writ

19436.0

The Cop

19286.7

Dress Parade

19277.2

Federal Agent

19368.0

Going Hollywood: The '30s

19849.0

The Midshipman

19257.0

Golden Saddles, Silver Spurs

200010.0

Heart of the West

19365.3

Hop-a-long Cassidy

19356.5

Forbidden Fruit

19216.6

Moran of the Lady Letty

19226.7

The Jucklins

19218.0

Men Of America

19326.0

Land of Liberty

19399.0

Mystery Man

19445.3

North of the Rio Grande

19376.7

Heart of Arizona

19385.5

Moonlight and Honeysuckle

19217.0

The Marauders

19477.0

The Big Gamble

19316.1

The Flying Fool

19296.0

Cheaters

193410.0

Michael O'Halloran

192310.0

Fool's Gold

19466.5

The Night Flyer

19286.5

Law of the Pampas

19395.0

Hollywood

19239.0

Bar 20

19434.9

The Affairs of Anatol

19215.9

Doomed Caravan

19415.3

The Eagle's Brood

19355.8

Flaming Gold

19326.2

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

19768.5

Old Wives for New

19186.4

Emergency Call

19336.3

Border Patrol

19436.2

Silver on the Sage

19396.5

The Painted Desert

19315.2

Wide Open Town

19416.5

Stick to Your Guns

19415.7

Colt Comrades

19435.9

Three on the Trail

19366.0

Manslaughter

19225.5

Officer O'Brien

19305.3

The Volga Boatman

19266.5

Partners of the Plains

19385.0

Lucky Devils

19336.4

Saturday Night

19225.9

Lost Canyon

19426.3

In Old Colorado

19416.4

Brewster's Millions

19216.5

The Devil's Playground

19466.3

The City of Masks

192010.0

Secret of the Wastelands

19415.5

Little Smokey

19537.0

The Leatherneck

19295.7

Range War

19396.5

Stagecoach War

19406.0

Pirates on Horseback

19416.0

Two Arabian Knights

19275.8

False Colors

19434.7

Bar 20 Rides Again

19356.7

Twilight on the Trail

19415.0

Racing Luck

19358.0

Exit the Vamp

192110.0

Outlaws of the Desert

19416.0

Hopalong Cassidy Returns

19366.8

Sinister Journey

19486.0

Go-Get-'Em, Haines

19364.9

Hidden Gold

19405.8

Rustlers' Valley

19375.8

The Frontiersmen

19385.8

The Road to Yesterday

19256.8

Lady of the Pavements

19295.2

High Voltage

19295.2

Riders of the Timberline

19414.5

Leather Burners

19436.1

Renegade Trail

19395.0

The Showdown

19406.0

The Dead Don't Dream

19486.0

Hopalong Rides Again

19376.3

Beyond Victory

19319.0

Hills of Old Wyoming

19375.0

Riders of the Deadline

19435.3

Bar 20 Justice

19385.4

Texas Trail

19376.3

Undercover Man

19425.7

Texas Masquerade

19446.5

Cassidy of Bar 20

19386.0

Burning Gold

19366.5

Border Vigilantes

19416.3

Santa Fe Marshal

19406.3

Three Men from Texas

19406.6

Dangerous Venture

19476.3

Suicide Fleet

19315.0

The Yankee Clipper

19276.7

Unexpected Guest

19476.0

Strange Gamble

19486.5

Borrowed Trouble

19486.7

Pride of the West

19386.5

Was He Guilty?

19199.0

Carnival Boat

19325.5

Tarnish

19248.0

The Temple of Venus

19238.0

Feet of Clay

19247.0

Call of the Prairie

19365.8

Skyscraper

19285.8

Borderland

19377.5

Trail Dust

19365.3

False Paradise

19486.3

Sunset Trail

19396.3

New Lives for Old

19259.0

Hoppy's Holiday

19476.0

A Wise Fool

19219.0

The Young Rajah

19227.7

His First Command

19298.5

Port of Lost Dreams

19347.3

Lumberjack

19445.8

The Last Frontier

19269.0

The Six Best Cellars

19209.0

Nice People

19228.0

Silent Conflict

19486.0

Forty Winks

19258.0

On the High Seas

19228.0

Jim the Conqueror

19268.0

Forty Thieves

19445.0

After the Show

19218.0

In Old Mexico

19386.7

Her Man o' War

19267.0

Bobbed Hair

192210.0

Enemies of Children

19239.0

A City Sparrow

19209.0

Something to Think About

19206.8

Changing Husbands

19247.0

Screen Snapshots Series 10, No. 5

1930

Eve's Leaves

19267.0