William Boyd

Acting · 0.9 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

The Greatest Show on Earth

19526.4

The Movie Orgy

19686.7

Television: The First Fifty Years

1999

The Cop

19286.7

The King of Kings

19276.4

It's Showtime

19767.5

Federal Agent

19368.0

Dress Parade

19277.2

Hoppy Serves a Writ

19436.0

Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star

19917.5

Golden Saddles, Silver Spurs

200010.0

The Jucklins

19218.0

Power

19288.0

Forbidden Fruit

19216.6

Land of Liberty

19399.0

Cheaters

193410.0

The Flying Fool

19296.0

The Midshipman

19257.0

Going Hollywood: The '30s

19849.0

Beyond Victory

19319.0

Little Smokey

19537.0

Men Of America

19326.0

Hop-a-long Cassidy

19356.5

The Affairs of Anatol

19215.9

Colt Comrades

19435.9

The Marauders

19477.0

Border Vigilantes

19416.3

Leather Burners

19436.1

The Road to Yesterday

19256.8

Heart of Arizona

19385.5

Heart of the West

19365.3

The Painted Desert

19315.2

Flaming Gold

19326.2

Wide Open Town

19416.5

Stick to Your Guns

19415.7

Two Arabian Knights

19275.8

Pirates on Horseback

19416.0

Manslaughter

19225.5

Bar 20

19434.9

Santa Fe Marshal

19406.3

The Night Flyer

19286.5

Secret of the Wastelands

19415.5

Exit the Vamp

192110.0

Emergency Call

19336.3

In Old Colorado

19416.4

The City of Masks

192010.0

Riders of the Deadline

19435.3

Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch

19768.5

Hollywood

19239.0

The Frontiersmen

19385.8

North of the Rio Grande

19376.7

Lady of the Pavements

19295.2

The Big Gamble

19316.1

Hills of Old Wyoming

19375.0

Stagecoach War

19406.0

Michael O'Halloran

192310.0

The Dead Don't Dream

19486.0

Twilight on the Trail

19415.0

Old Wives for New

19186.4

High Voltage

19295.2

Moonlight and Honeysuckle

19217.0

False Paradise

19486.3

The Yankee Clipper

19276.7

Officer O'Brien

19305.3

Brewster's Millions

19216.5

Riders of the Timberline

19414.5

Mystery Man

19445.3

Fool's Gold

19466.5

Border Patrol

19436.2

The Devil's Playground

19466.3

Moran of the Lady Letty

19226.7

The Eagle's Brood

19355.8

Lucky Devils

19336.4

False Colors

19434.7

Hopalong Rides Again

19376.3

Silver on the Sage

19396.5

Law of the Pampas

19395.0

Suicide Fleet

19315.0

Port of Lost Dreams

19347.3

Bar 20 Rides Again

19356.7

Partners of the Plains

19385.0

After the Show

19218.0

Hidden Gold

19405.8

Rustlers' Valley

19375.8

A Wise Fool

19219.0

Undercover Man

19425.7

Skyscraper

19285.8

Outlaws of the Desert

19416.0

Racing Luck

19358.0

Lost Canyon

19426.3

Three Men from Texas

19406.6

Strange Gamble

19486.5

Three on the Trail

19366.0

The Volga Boatman

19266.5

Borderland

19377.5

Sunset Trail

19396.3

Burning Gold

19366.5

Doomed Caravan

19415.3

Renegade Trail

19395.0

In Old Mexico

19386.7

Go-Get-'Em, Haines

19364.9

The Leatherneck

19295.7

Pride of the West

19386.5

Saturday Night

19225.9

Was He Guilty?

19199.0

Bar 20 Justice

19385.4

Trail Dust

19365.3

Hopalong Cassidy Returns

19366.8

The Showdown

19406.0

The Six Best Cellars

19209.0

The Young Rajah

19227.7

Forty Thieves

19445.0

His First Command

19298.5

Range War

19396.5

The Last Frontier

19269.0

Cassidy of Bar 20

19386.0

Unexpected Guest

19476.0

Borrowed Trouble

19486.7

Forty Winks

19258.0

Texas Trail

19376.3

Sinister Journey

19486.0

Feet of Clay

19247.0

Lumberjack

19445.8

Dangerous Venture

19476.3

Jim the Conqueror

19268.0

Tarnish

19248.0

A City Sparrow

19209.0

Something to Think About

19206.8

Call of the Prairie

19365.8

Texas Masquerade

19446.5

Nice People

19228.0

Her Man o' War

19267.0

The Temple of Venus

19238.0

New Lives for Old

19259.0

On the High Seas

19228.0

Bobbed Hair

192210.0

Carnival Boat

19325.5

Changing Husbands

19247.0

Hoppy's Holiday

19476.0

Screen Snapshots Series 10, No. 5

1930

Eve's Leaves

19267.0

Silent Conflict

19486.0

Enemies of Children

19239.0