William Lawrence Boyd

This famous actor’s last movie was the 1952 The Greatest Show on Earth. William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy made a quest appearance in this Cecil B. DeMille epic. Thirty-four years pervious, the famous movie director spotted this Hollywood extra and started his movie career.

At the age of ten, his father moved his young family to the oil fields of Oklahoma. It was not long that Boyd’s father died in an oil field accident. The tragedy forced him to leave school. He worked at jobs such as grocery clerk, miner, auto salesman, lumberjack and truck driver before ending up in Akron, Ohio, working in a rubber factory.

The United States enters World War I. The twenty-two year old Boyd tried to enlist in the Army rejects him because of a heart ailment.

The Paramount Studio’s famous producer-director Cecil B. DeMille discovers the young actor and gives him a bit part in the 1918, Why Change Your Wife. DeMille cast the young actor in roles that are more important: The Volga Boatman and King of Kings.

Early in his Hollywood career, he meet actress Ruth Miller. They married in 1921. The marriage lasted three years when they were divorced.

In 1926, The Volga Boatman established him among the leading screen actors. That same year, he married his leading lady, Elinor Fair. Again, the marriage lasted three years.

By this time, he starred in many first class movies. He earned a great deal of money and spent it as fast as he earned it. He became one of Hollywood’s high rollers. . When silent pictures ended, his deep voice adapted to sound movies without hardships.

He starred in His First Command in 1929. His leading lady was Dorothy Sebastian. They remained married until 1936

He starred in the 1931 The Painted Desert. This non-Cassidy Western also had old cowboy star William Farnum in the cast. However, it is the movie, which launched the career of the movie’s villain, Clark Gable.

In 1933, Bill suddenly found himself involved in a major Hollywood scandal. Police arrested William Boyd during a crazy party and booked on possession of illegal whiskey and gambling equipment. Up to this time, Hollywood actors used the same names. William “Stage” Boyd was a lesser-known Hollywood actor. It became common to note the two names with the other Boyd known as “Stage.” Several newspaper accounts hinted the police broke up a sex orgy. By error, newspapers printed Bill Boyd’s photo instead of “Stages.” The mistake cost Bill dearly. He lost his money and became a heavy drinker. His studio RKO fired him. He made a few inconsequential poverty row pictures.

Paramount Picture’s Producer Harry “Pop” Sherman decided to begin a new series of Westerns based on the stories of Clarence E. Mulford. “Pop” Sherman wanted James Gleason to play the part of “Hopalong” Cassidy. He thought Boyd would make a great villian.

Somehow, Boyd convinced Sherman to give him the lead. To get the job, Boyd agreed to clean up his life. He gave up his playboy lifestyle.

Hop-a-long Cassidy aka Hopalong Cassidy Enters became a huge hit. Boyd’s characterization of Hopalong Cassidy differed from Mulford’s novels. Boyd’s Hoppy became a clean living and moral character. The movies depended on Hoppy and his two sidekicks. In the first movie James Ellison and George “Gabby” Hayes played the two pard’s.

In the beginning, Boyd did not like horseback riding. A stunt double did his riding in the long shots. However, as time went on, Boyd learned to ride and became a good rider.

Again, Boyd became an important film figure. In 1936, he made top ten Westerns list. He remained in that lofty position for ten consecutive years. Only Gene Autry and Roy Rogers did better.

On June 5, 1937, William Boyd married actress Grace Bradly. They would remain married for the next thirty-five years.

“Pop” Sherman produced the series until 1945. He felt the series ran its course. Boyd took over the reins of the producer for the next three years. By this time, Boyd was fifty-three years old. When he took over the production control of Hoppy, he hocked everything to purchase the rights to his character. He even bought the rights to all the films produced. Some movie experts believed he saw the future of television and that was the reason for this action.

Importantly, the action allowed Boyd from going from an affluent Hollywood actor to becoming a rich Hollywood actor-producer. After World War 2, television became increasingly popular. During this period after the war, television lacked content. The old Westerns became an early television staple. Because he owned the rights, Boyd profited.

In 1948, he ended production of the Hopalong Cassidy series. Over the past thirteen years, he made sixty-six Cassidy features. However, television was not finished with Hopalong Cassidy. In 1949, he decided to begin production of a Hopalong Cassidy television series. Over the next one and a half years, he made forty black and white half hour television shows. NBC first broadcast the series on NBC from June 24, 1949. The series lasted until December 23, 1951.

Boyd emerged as a national idol and he reaped a fortune from TV. Fifty enthusiastic manufacturers paid him to use the “Hopalong Cassidy” name on their products. Boyd introduced a cowboy hero who could think as well as fight. He was mature and gentlemanly. He resorted to violence only when all else failed. His pictures never lacked action. Movie historians described Boyd’s Cassidy as a black knight on the white charger.

After his retirement, Bill and Grace Boyd lived during the summer in Dana Point, California and wintered in Palm Desert, California. Bill contracted Parkinson’s disease. He did not want his fans to see him in this condition and he decided to live in seclusion. A few years later, he had a cancerous tumor removed from his lymph gland. From this time on, he refused to be photographed.