William Boyd
Known for: 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.
Filmography
Television: The First Fifty Years
Hopalong Cassidy (archive footage)
1999
Series
Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalong Cassidy
1952
Series
Western von gestern
Bill Holbrook (archive footage)
1978
Film
The Greatest Show on Earth
Hopalong Cassidy (uncredited)
1952
Film
The Movie Orgy
Hopalong Cassidy (archive footage)
1968
Film
It's Showtime
Self (archive footage)
1976
Film
The King of Kings
Simon Of Cyrene
1927
Film
Power
Husky
1928
Film
Robert Mitchum: The Reluctant Star
Self (archive footage)
1991
Film
Hoppy Serves a Writ
Hopalong Cassidy
1943
Film
The Cop
Pete Smith
1928
Film
Dress Parade
Vic Donovan
1927
Film
Federal Agent
Bob Woods
1936
Film
Going Hollywood: The '30s
(archive footage)
1984
Film
The Midshipman
Spud
1925
Film
Golden Saddles, Silver Spurs
(archive footage)
2000
Film
Heart of the West
Hopalong Cassidy
1936
Film
Hop-a-long Cassidy
Hopalong Cassidy
1935
Film
Forbidden Fruit
Billiards Player
1921
Film
Moran of the Lady Letty
Ramon's Friend at Homecoming
1922
Film
The Jucklins
Dan Stuart
1921
Film
Men Of America
Jim Parker
1932
Film
Land of Liberty
(archive footage)
1939
Film
Mystery Man
Hopalong Cassidy
1944
Film
North of the Rio Grande
Hopalong Cassidy
1937
Film
Heart of Arizona
Hopalong Cassidy
1938
Film
Moonlight and Honeysuckle
Robert V. Courtney
1921
Film
The Marauders
Hopalong Cassidy
1947
Film
The Big Gamble
Alan Beckwith
1931
Film
The Flying Fool
Bill Taylor
1929
Film
Cheaters
Steve Morris
1934
Film
Michael O'Halloran
Douglas Bruce
1923
Film
Fool's Gold
Hopalong Cassidy
1946
Film
The Night Flyer
Jimmy Bradley
1928
Film
Law of the Pampas
Hopalong Cassidy
1939
Film
Hollywood
William Boyd
1923
Film
Bar 20
Hopalong Cassidy
1943
Film
The Affairs of Anatol
Guest
1921
Film
Doomed Caravan
Hopalong Cassidy
1941
Film
The Eagle's Brood
Hopalong Cassidy
1935
Film
Flaming Gold
Dan Manton
1932
Film
Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch
(archive footage)
1976
Film
Old Wives for New
(uncredited)
1918
Film
Emergency Call
Joe Bradley
1933
Film
Border Patrol
Hopalong Cassidy
1943
Film
Silver on the Sage
Hopalong Cassidy
1939
Film
The Painted Desert
Bill Holbrook
1931
Film
Wide Open Town
Hopalong Cassidy
1941
Film
Stick to Your Guns
Hopalong Cassidy
1941
Film
Colt Comrades
Hopalong Cassidy
1943
Film
Three on the Trail
Hopalong Cassidy
1936
Film
Manslaughter
(uncredited)
1922
Film
Officer O'Brien
Bill O'Brien
1930
Film
The Volga Boatman
Feodor
1926
Film
Partners of the Plains
Hopalong Cassidy
1938
Film
Lucky Devils
Skipper Clark
1933
Film
Saturday Night
Party Guest
1922
Film
Lost Canyon
Hopalong Cassidy
1942
Film
In Old Colorado
Hopalong Cassidy
1941
Film
Brewster's Millions
Harrison
1921
Film
The Devil's Playground
Hopalong Cassidy
1946
Film
The City of Masks
Carpenter
1920
Film
Secret of the Wastelands
Hopalong Cassidy
1941
Little Smokey
Hopalong Cassidy
1953
Film
The Leatherneck
William Calhoun
1929
Film
Range War
Hopalong Cassidy
1939
Film
Stagecoach War
Hopalong Cassidy
1940
Film
Pirates on Horseback
Hopalong Cassidy
1941
Film
Two Arabian Knights
Daingerfield Phelps
1927
Film
False Colors
Hopalong Cassidy
1943
Film
Bar 20 Rides Again
Hopalong Cassidy
1935
Film
Twilight on the Trail
Hopalong Cassidy
1941
Film
Racing Luck
Dan Morgan
1935
Film
Exit the Vamp
Robert Pitts
1921
Film
Outlaws of the Desert
Hopalong Cassidy
1941
Film
Hopalong Cassidy Returns
Hopalong Cassidy
1936
Film
Sinister Journey
Hopalong Cassidy
1948
Film
Go-Get-'Em, Haines
Steve Haines
1936
Film
Hidden Gold
Hopalong Cassidy
1940
Film
Rustlers' Valley
Hopalong Cassidy
1937
Film
The Frontiersmen
Hopalong Cassidy
1938
Film
The Road to Yesterday
Jack Moreland
1925
Film
Lady of the Pavements
Karl Von Arnim
1929
Film
High Voltage
Bill
1929
Film
Riders of the Timberline
Hopalong Cassidy
1941
Film
Leather Burners
Hopalong Cassidy
1943
Film
Renegade Trail
Hopalong Cassidy
1939
Film
The Showdown
Hopalong Cassidy
1940
Film
The Dead Don't Dream
Hopalong Cassidy
1948
Film
Hopalong Rides Again
Hopalong Cassidy
1937
Film
Beyond Victory
Bill Thatcher
1931
Film
Hills of Old Wyoming
Hopalong Cassidy
1937
Film
Riders of the Deadline
Ranger William "Hopalong" Cassidy
1943
Film
Bar 20 Justice
Hopalong Cassidy
1938
Film
Texas Trail
Hopalong Cassidy
1937
Film
Undercover Man
Hopalong Cassidy
1942
Film
Texas Masquerade
Hopalong Cassidy
1944
Film
Cassidy of Bar 20
Hopalong Cassidy
1938
Film
Burning Gold
Jim Thornton
1936
Film
Border Vigilantes
Hopalong Cassidy
1941
Film
Santa Fe Marshal
Hopalong Cassidy
1940
Film
Three Men from Texas
Hopalong Cassidy
1940
Film
Dangerous Venture
Hopalong Cassidy
1947
Film
Suicide Fleet
Baltimore
1931
Film
The Yankee Clipper
Hal Winslow
1927
Film
Unexpected Guest
Hopalong Cassidy
1947
Film
Strange Gamble
Hopalong Cassidy
1948
Film
Borrowed Trouble
Hopalong Cassidy
1948
Film
Pride of the West
Hopalong Cassidy
1938
Was He Guilty?
1919
Film
Carnival Boat
Buck Gannon
1932
Film
Tarnish
Bill
1924
Film
The Temple of Venus
Stanley Dale
1923
Film
Feet of Clay
Young Society Man (uncredited)
1924
Film
Call of the Prairie
Hopalong Cassidy
1936
Film
Skyscraper
Blondy
1928
Film
Borderland
Hopalong Cassidy
1937
Film
Trail Dust
Hopalong Cassidy
1936
Film
False Paradise
William "Hopalong" Cassidy
1948
Film
Sunset Trail
Hopalong Cassidy
1939
Film
New Lives for Old
Soldier (uncredited)
1925
Film
Hoppy's Holiday
Hopalong Cassidy
1947
Film
A Wise Fool
Gerard Fynes
1921
Film
The Young Rajah
Stephen Van Kovert
1922
Film
His First Command
Terry Culver
1929
Film
Port of Lost Dreams
Lars Christensen
1934
Film
Lumberjack
Hopalong Cassidy
1944
Film
The Last Frontier
Tom Kirby
1926
Film
The Six Best Cellars
Holsappel (uncredited)
1920
Film
Nice People
Oliver Comstock
1922
Film
Silent Conflict
Hopalong Cassidy
1948
Film
Forty Winks
Lt. Gerald Hugh Butterworth
1925
Film
On the High Seas
Dick Deveraux
1922
Film
Jim the Conqueror
Jim Burgess
1926
Film
Forty Thieves
Hopalong Cassidy
1944
Film
After the Show
(uncredited)
1921
Film
In Old Mexico
Hopalong Cassidy
1938
Film
Her Man o' War
Jim Sanderson
1926
Film
Bobbed Hair
Dick Barton
1922
Film
Enemies of Children
Sidney Godfrey
1923
Film
A City Sparrow
Hughie Ray
1920
Film
Something to Think About
(uncredited)
1920
Film
Changing Husbands
Conrad Bardshaw
1924
Film
Screen Snapshots Series 10, No. 5
William Boyd
1930
Film
Eve's Leaves
Bill Stanley
1926