William Boyd
Acting
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.
Golden Saddles, Silver Spurs
(archive footage)
Television: The First Fifty Years
Hopalong Cassidy (archive footage)
Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star
Self (archive footage)
Going Hollywood: The '30s
(archive footage)
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
(archive footage)
It's Showtime
Self (archive footage)
The Movie Orgy
Hopalong Cassidy (archive footage)
Little Smokey
Hopalong Cassidy
The Greatest Show on Earth
Hopalong Cassidy (uncredited)
Strange Gamble
Hopalong Cassidy
False Paradise
William "Hopalong" Cassidy
Borrowed Trouble
Hopalong Cassidy
Sinister Journey
Hopalong Cassidy
The Dead Don't Dream
Hopalong Cassidy
Silent Conflict
Hopalong Cassidy
Hoppy's Holiday
Hopalong Cassidy
The Marauders
Hopalong Cassidy
Dangerous Venture
Hopalong Cassidy
Unexpected Guest
Hopalong Cassidy
The Devil's Playground
Hopalong Cassidy
Fool's Gold
Hopalong Cassidy
Forty Thieves
Hopalong Cassidy
Mystery Man
Hopalong Cassidy
Lumberjack
Hopalong Cassidy
Texas Masquerade
Hopalong Cassidy
Riders of the Deadline
Ranger William "Hopalong" Cassidy
False Colors
Hopalong Cassidy
Bar 20
Hopalong Cassidy
Colt Comrades
Hopalong Cassidy
Leather Burners
Hopalong Cassidy
Border Patrol
Hopalong Cassidy
Hoppy Serves a Writ
Hopalong Cassidy
Lost Canyon
Hopalong Cassidy
Undercover Man
Hopalong Cassidy
Secret of the Wastelands
Hopalong Cassidy
Outlaws of the Desert
Hopalong Cassidy
Twilight on the Trail
Hopalong Cassidy
Stick to Your Guns
Hopalong Cassidy
Riders of the Timberline
Hopalong Cassidy
Wide Open Town
Hopalong Cassidy
Pirates on Horseback
Hopalong Cassidy
Border Vigilantes
Hopalong Cassidy
In Old Colorado
Hopalong Cassidy
Doomed Caravan
Hopalong Cassidy
Three Men from Texas
Hopalong Cassidy
Stagecoach War
Hopalong Cassidy
Hidden Gold
Hopalong Cassidy
The Showdown
Hopalong Cassidy
Santa Fe Marshal
Hopalong Cassidy
Law of the Pampas
Hopalong Cassidy
Range War
Hopalong Cassidy
Renegade Trail
Hopalong Cassidy
Land of Liberty
(archive footage)
Silver on the Sage
Hopalong Cassidy
Sunset Trail
Hopalong Cassidy
The Frontiersmen
Hopalong Cassidy
In Old Mexico
Hopalong Cassidy
Pride of the West
Hopalong Cassidy
Bar 20 Justice
Hopalong Cassidy
Heart of Arizona
Hopalong Cassidy
Cassidy of Bar 20
Hopalong Cassidy
Partners of the Plains
Hopalong Cassidy
Texas Trail
Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalong Rides Again
Hopalong Cassidy
Rustlers' Valley
Hopalong Cassidy
North of the Rio Grande
Hopalong Cassidy
Hills of Old Wyoming
Hopalong Cassidy
Borderland
Hopalong Cassidy
Trail Dust
Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalong Cassidy Returns
Hopalong Cassidy
Go-Get-'Em, Haines
Steve Haines
Burning Gold
Jim Thornton
Three on the Trail
Hopalong Cassidy
Federal Agent
Bob Woods
Call of the Prairie
Hopalong Cassidy
Heart of the West
Hopalong Cassidy
Bar 20 Rides Again
Hopalong Cassidy
Racing Luck
Dan Morgan
The Eagle's Brood
Hopalong Cassidy
Hop-a-long Cassidy
Hopalong Cassidy
Port of Lost Dreams
Lars Christensen
Cheaters
Steve Morris
Emergency Call
Joe Bradley
Lucky Devils
Skipper Clark
Men Of America
Jim Parker
Flaming Gold
Dan Manton
Carnival Boat
Buck Gannon
Suicide Fleet
Baltimore
The Big Gamble
Alan Beckwith
Beyond Victory
Bill Thatcher
The Painted Desert
Bill Holbrook
Screen Snapshots Series 10, No. 5
William Boyd
Officer O'Brien
Bill O'Brien
His First Command
Terry Culver
The Flying Fool
Bill Taylor
High Voltage
Bill
The Leatherneck
William Calhoun
Lady of the Pavements
Karl Von Arnim
Power
Husky
The Cop
Pete Smith
Skyscraper
Blondy
The Night Flyer
Jimmy Bradley
Dress Parade
Vic Donovan
Two Arabian Knights
Daingerfield Phelps
The Yankee Clipper
Hal Winslow
The King of Kings
Simon Of Cyrene
Jim the Conqueror
Jim Burgess
Her Man o' War
Jim Sanderson
The Last Frontier
Tom Kirby
The Volga Boatman
Feodor
Eve's Leaves
Bill Stanley
The Road to Yesterday
Jack Moreland
The Midshipman
Spud
New Lives for Old
Soldier (uncredited)
Forty Winks
Lt. Gerald Hugh Butterworth
Feet of Clay
Young Society Man (uncredited)
Tarnish
Bill
Changing Husbands
Conrad Bardshaw
Enemies of Children
Sidney Godfrey
The Temple of Venus
Stanley Dale
Hollywood
William Boyd
Michael O'Halloran
Douglas Bruce
The Young Rajah
Stephen Van Kovert
Manslaughter
(uncredited)
On the High Seas
Dick Deveraux
Nice People
Oliver Comstock
Moran of the Lady Letty
Ramon's Friend at Homecoming
Saturday Night
Party Guest
Bobbed Hair
Dick Barton
Exit the Vamp
Robert Pitts
After the Show
(uncredited)
The Affairs of Anatol
Guest
Moonlight and Honeysuckle
Robert V. Courtney
A Wise Fool
Gerard Fynes
Brewster's Millions
Harrison
The Jucklins
Dan Stuart
Forbidden Fruit
Billiards Player
A City Sparrow
Hughie Ray
Something to Think About
(uncredited)
The City of Masks
Carpenter
The Six Best Cellars
Holsappel (uncredited)
Was He Guilty?
Old Wives for New
(uncredited)