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William Boyd
William Boyd
	Boyd c. 1925
Born	June 5, 1895; Hendrysburg, Ohio, U.S.
Died	September 12, 1972 (aged 77); Laguna Beach, California, U.S.
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery
Other names	Hoppy, Hopalong Cassidy
Occupation(s)	Actor, movie producer, director
Years active	1918–1954
Height	6 ft (183 cm)
Spouses	; Laura Maynard (m. 1917; div. 1921) ; Ruth Miller (m. 1921; div. 1924) ; Elinor Fair (m. 1926; div. 1929) ; Dorothy Sebastian (m. 1930; div. 1936) ; Grace Bradley (m. 1937⁠–⁠1972)
Children	1

William Lawrence Boyd (June 5, 1895 – September 12, 1972) was an American film actor who is known for portraying the cowboy hero Hopalong Cassidy.

Biography

Boyd in Chicago promoting a TV show (1950)

Boyd was born in Hendrysburg, Ohio and reared in Cambridge, Ohio and Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he lived from 1909 to 1913.^[1] He was the son of day laborer Charles William Boyd and his wife Lida (née Wilkens). Following his father's death, Boyd moved to California and worked as an orange picker, surveyor, tool dresser and auto salesman.^[2]

In Hollywood, Boyd 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 heart condition. More prominent film roles followed, including his breakout role as Jack Moreland in Cecil B. DeMille's The Road to Yesterday (1925), which earned critical praise. DeMille soon cast him as the leading man in the highly acclaimed silent drama film The Volga Boatman. another critical success, 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 The King of Kings (1927) and Skyscraper (1928), as well as D.W. Griffith's Lady of the Pavements (1929).^[3]

Radio Pictures ended Boyd's contract in 1931 when his photo 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." Boyd was virtually destitute and without a job,^[4]^[5] and for several years, he was credited in films as Bill Boyd to prevent being mistaken for the other William Boyd.

Hopalong Cassidy

In 1935, Boyd was offered the supporting role of Red Connors in the movie Hop-Along Cassidy, but he asked to be considered for the title role and won it.^[6] The original character of Hopalong Cassidy, written by Clarence E. Mulford for pulp magazines, was changed from a hard-drinking, rough-living, redheaded wrangler to a cowboy hero who did not smoke, swear or drink alcohol (he drank sarsaparilla) and who would allow the villain to start fights. Although Boyd "never branded a cow or mended a fence, cannot bulldog a steer" and disliked Western music, he became indelibly associated with the Hopalong character and, as with the cowboy stars Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, gained lasting fame in the Western film genre.^[4]^[3]

The films were typically more polished and impressive than were the usual low-budget programmed Westerns, with superior outdoor photography and recognizable supporting players familiar from major Hollywood films. Big-city theaters, many of which usually would not normally rent Westerns, noticed the high quality of the productions and permitted the series more exposure than they did for other Westerns. Paramount Pictures released the films through 1941 and United Artists produced them from 1943.

Producer Harry "Pop" Sherman wanted to create more ambitious epics and abandoned the Hopalong Cassidy franchise. Boyd, determined to keep the series alive, produced the last 12 Cassidy features himself on noticeably lower budgets. By this time, interest in the character had waned, and with far fewer theaters still showing the films, the series ended in 1948.

Boyd insisted on purchasing the rights to all of the Hopalong Cassidy films. Sherman no longer cared about the property, as he believed that Boyd's appeal, as well as that of his films, had waned. Boyd sold or mortgaged almost all of his possessions to meet Sherman's price of $350,000 for the rights and the film catalog.^[7]

Hoppy rides again

In 1948 Boyd, now regarded as a cowboy star of the past with his fortunes at their lowest, brought a print of one of his older films to the local NBC television station and offered it at a nominal rental, hoping for new exposure. The film was received so well that NBC asked for more, and within months Boyd released the entire library. The films became very popular and began the long-running genre of Westerns on television. Boyd's desperate gamble made him one of the first national television stars and restored his fortune. As did Rogers and Autry, Boyd licensed merchandise, including products such as Hopalong Cassidy watches, trash cans, cups, dishes, Topps trading cards, a comic strip, comic books, cowboy outfits, home-movie digests of his Paramount releases via Castle Films and a new Hopalong Cassidy radio show that ran from 1948 to 1952.^[8]

Boyd identified with his character, often dressing as a cowboy in public. He was concerned about children and refused to license his name for products that he considered unsuitable or dangerous, and he declined personal appearances at which children would be charged admission.^[4]^[9]

Boyd appeared as Hopalong Cassidy on the cover of numerous national magazines, including Look (August 29, 1950) ^[10] and Time (November 27, 1950).^[4] For Thanksgiving in 1950, he led the Carolinas' Carrousel Parade in Charlotte, North Carolina, with attracted an estimated crowd of 500,000, the largest in the parade's history.^[11]^{[better source needed]}

Boyd had a cameo role as himself in Cecil B. DeMille's 1952 circus epic The Greatest Show on Earth. DeMille reportedly asked Boyd to take the role of Moses in his remake of The Ten Commandments, but Boyd felt that his identification with the Cassidy character would make it impossible for audiences to accept him as Moses.^[3]

Personal life

Boyd was married five times, first to wealthy Massachusetts heiress Laura Maynes, then to the actresses Ruth Miller, Elinor Fair, Dorothy Sebastian and Grace Bradley. His only son, William Wallace Boyd, whose mother was Miller, died of pertussis at the age of nine months. After his retirement from the screen, Boyd invested time and money in real estate and moved to Palm Desert, California. He refused interviews and photographs in later years in order to not taint his memory as a screen idol.^{[citation needed]}

Boyd was a lifelong Republican and supported the campaign of Dwight Eisenhower during the 1952 presidential election.^[12]

For his contributions to the film industry, Boyd has a motion-picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1734 Vine Street.^[13] In 1995, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.^[14]

In 1972, Boyd died from complications related to Parkinson's disease and congestive heart failure.^[1] He was survived by his fifth wife, Grace Bradley Boyd, who died in 2010. He is buried at the Sanctuary of Guiding Love alcove in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale).^[15]

Selected filmography

Old Wives for New (1918) – Minor Role (uncredited)
Was He Guilty? (1919) – (uncredited)
The Six Best Cellars (1920) – Holsappel (uncredited)
Why Change Your Wife? (1920) – Naval Officer at Hotel (uncredited)
The City of Masks (1920) – Carpenter
Something to Think About (1920) – (uncredited)
A City Sparrow (1920) – Hughie Ray
The Life of the Party (1920) – One of Leary's Office Staff (uncredited)
The Jucklins (1921) – Dan Stuart
Paying the Piper (1921) – (uncredited)
Forbidden Fruit (1921) – Billiards Player (uncredited)
Brewster's Millions (1921) – Harrison
A Wise Fool (1921) – Gerard Fynes
Moonlight and Honeysuckle (1921) – Robert V. Courtney
The Affairs of Anatol (1921) – Guest (uncredited)
After the Show (1921) – (uncredited)
Exit the Vamp (1921) – Robert Pitts
Fool's Paradise (1921) – (uncredited)
Saturday Night (1922) – Party Guest (uncredited)
Moran of the Lady Letty (1922) – Ramon's Friend at Homecoming (uncredited)
Bobbed Hair (1922) – Dick Barton
Nice People (1922) – Oliver Comstock
On the High Seas (1922) – Dick Deveraux
Manslaughter (1922) – (uncredited)
The Young Rajah (1922) – Stephen Van Kovert
Michael O'Halloran (1923) – Douglas Bruce
Hollywood (1923) – Himself
Adam's Rib (1923) – Party Guest (uncredited)
The Temple of Venus (1923) – Stanley Dale
Enemies of Children (1923)
Triumph (1924) – Minor Role (uncredited)
Changing Husbands (1924) – Conrad Bradshaw
Tarnish (1924) – Bill
Feet of Clay (1924) – Young Society Man (uncredited)
Forty Winks (1925) – Lt. Gerald Hugh Butterworth
The Midshipman (1925) – Spud
The Road to Yesterday (1925) – Jack Moreland
Steel Preferred (1925) – Wally Gay
The Volga Boatman (1926) – Feodor
Eve's Leaves (1926) – Bill Stanley
The Last Frontier (1926) – Tom Kirby
Her Man o' War (1926) – Jim Sanderson
Jim, the Conqueror (1926) – Jim Burgess
Wolves of the Air (1927) – Jerry Tanner
The Yankee Clipper (1927) – Captain Hal Winslow
The King of Kings (1927) – Simon of Cyrene
Two Arabian Knights (1927) – W. Daingerfield Phelps III
Dress Parade (1927) – Vic Donovan
The Night Flyer (1928) – Jim Bradley
Skyscraper (1928) – Blondy
The Cop (1928) – Pete Smith
Power (1928) – Husky
Lady of the Pavements (1929) – Count Karl Von Arnim
The Leatherneck (1929) – William Calhoun
The Flying Fool (1929) – Bill Taylor
High Voltage (1929) – Bill
His First Command (1929) – Terry Culver
Officer O'Brien (1930) – Bill O'Brien
The Painted Desert (1931) – Bill Holbrook
Beyond Victory (1931) – Sergeant Bill Thatcher
The Big Gamble (1931) – Alan Beckwith
Suicide Fleet (1932) – Baltimore Clark
Carnival Boat (1932) – Buck Gannon
Men of America (1932) – Jim Parker
Flaming Gold (1933) – Dan Manton
Lucky Devils (1933) – Skipper Clark
Emergency Call (1933) – Joe Bradley
Cheaters (1934) – Steve Morris
Port of Lost Dreams (1934) – Lars Christensen
Hop–Along Cassidy (1935) – Bill Hopalong Cassidy
The Eagle's Brood (1935) – Bill Hopalong Cassidy
Racing Luck (1935) – Dan Morgan
Bar 20 Rides Again (1935) – Hopalong Cassidy
Heart of the West (1936) – Hopalong Cassidy
Call of the Prairie (1936) – Hopalong Cassidy
Three on the Trail (1936) – Hopalong Cassidy
Federal Agent (1936) – Bob Woods
Burning Gold (1936) – Jim Thornton
Go–Get–'Em–Haines (1936) – Steve Haines
Hopalong Cassidy Returns (1936) – Hopalong Cassidy
Trail Dust (1936) – Hopalong Cassidy
Borderland (1937) – Hopalong Cassidy
Hills of Old Wyoming (1937) – Hopalong Cassidy
North of the Rio Grande (1937) – Hopalong Cassidy
Rustlers' Valley (1937) – Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalong Rides Again (1937) – Hopalong Cassidy
Texas Trail (1937) – Hopalong Cassidy
Partners of the Plains (1938) – Hopalong Cassidy
Cassidy of Bar 20 (1938) – Hopalong Cassidy
Heart of Arizona (1938) – Hopalong Cassidy
Bar 20 Justice (1938) – Hopalong Cassidy
Pride of the West (1938) – Hopalong Cassidy
Sunset Trail (1938) – Hopalong Cassidy
In Old Mexico (1938) – Hopalong Cassidy
The Frontiersmen (1938) – Hopalong Cassidy
Silver on the Sage (1939) – Hopalong Cassidy
Renegade Trail (1939) – Hopalong Cassidy
Range War (1939) – Hopalong Cassidy
Law of the Pampas (1939) – Hopalong Cassidy
Santa Fe Marshal (1940) – Hopalong Cassidy
The Showdown (1940) – Hopalong Cassidy
Hidden Gold (1940) – Hopalong Cassidy
Stagecoach War (1940) – Hopalong Cassidy
Three Men from Texas (1940) – Hopalong Cassidy
Doomed Caravan (1941) – Hopalong Cassidy
In Old Colorado (1941) – Hopalong Cassidy
Border Vigilantes (1941) – Hopalong Cassidy
Pirates on Horseback (1941) – Hopalong Cassidy
Wide Open Town (1941) – Hopalong Cassidy
Stick to Your Guns (1941) – Hopalong Cassidy
Riders of the Timberline (1941) – Hopalong Cassidy
Twilight on the Trail (1941) – Hopalong Cassidy
Outlaws of the Desert (1941) – Hopalong Cassidy
Secrets of the Wasteland (1941) – Hopalong Cassidy
Undercover Man (1942) – Hopalong Cassidy
Lost Canyon (1942) – Hopalong Cassidy
Hoppy Serves a Writ (1943) – Hopalong Cassidy
Border Patrol (1943) – Hopalong Cassidy
Leather Burners (1943) – Hopalong Cassidy
Colt Comrades (1943) – Hopalong Cassidy
Bar 20 (1943) – Hopalong Cassidy
False Colors (1943) – Hopalong Cassidy
Riders of the Deadline (1943) – Hopalong Cassidy
Lumberjack (1944) – Hopalong Cassidy
Mystery Man (1944) – Hopalong Cassidy
Texas Masquerade (1944) - Hopalong Cassidy
Forty Thieves (1944) – Hopalong Cassidy
The Devil's Playground (1946) – Hopalong Cassidy
Fool's Gold (1946) – Hopalong Cassidy
Unexpected Guest (1947) – Hopalong Cassidy
Dangerous Venture (1947) – Hopalong Cassidy
The Marauders (1947) – Hopalong Cassidy
Hoppy's Holiday (1947) – Hopalong Cassidy
Silent Conflict (1948) – Hopalong Cassidy
The Dead Don't Dream (1948) – Hopalong Cassidy
Sinister Journey (1948) – Hopalong Cassidy
Borrowed Trouble (1948) – Hopalong Cassidy
False Paradise (1948) – Hopalong Cassidy
Strange Gamble (1948) – Hopalong Cassidy
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952) – Hopalong Cassidy (uncredited)
Little Smokey: The True Story of America's Forest Fire Preventin' Bear (1953, Short) – Hopalong Cassidy (narrator)
Hopalong Cassidy (1949–1954, TV Series) – Hopalong Cassidy

References

^ ^a ^b "Onetime Tulsan William Boyd, Famed As 'Hoppy,' Dies At 77 :: Tulsa and Oklahoma History Collection". cdm15020.contentdm.oclc.org. Retrieved February 5, 2019.^{[permanent dead link‍]}
^ Hall, Joan H. (1996). Through the Doors of the Mission Inn. Riverside, California: Highgrove Press. pp. 113–116. ISBN 0-9631618-2-2. He found a part-time job at the Mission Inn and enjoyed showing the guests some of the scenic sights in Riverside.
^ ^a ^b ^c "clanboyd.info". www.clanboyd.info. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Kiddies in the Old Corral". Time. November 27, 1950.
^ "William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy". www.b-westerns.com. Retrieved August 27, 2019.
^ Obituary. Variety, September 20, 1972.
^ "Tele Topics" (PDF). Radio Daily. June 13, 1950. p. 7. Retrieved February 8, 2015.
^ Dunning, John (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Revised ed.). New York, NY: Oxford University Press. pp. 328–330. ISBN 978-0-19-507678-3. Retrieved September 28, 2019.
^ Reed, Robert (2008)."Bubble Gum Cards Brought Big Fun in Their Day". Antique Trader, July 16, 2008.
^ americanmusicpreservation.com
^ Carolinas' Carrousel Parade History. Accessed 2014-03-29.
^ Motion Picture and Television Magazine, November 1952, p. 34, Ideal Publishers
^ "Hollywood Walk of Fame - William Boyd". walkoffame.com. Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. Retrieved November 29, 2017.
^ "William (Hopalong Cassidy) Boyd - Great Western Performers". National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum. Retrieved June 16, 2024.
^ Wilson, Scott. Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.: 2. McFarland & Company (2016) ISBN 0786479922