William Boyd
Acting
🎂 1895-06-04
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.
Cast credits(140)
Baltimore
1931
Hopalong Cassidy
1952
Hopalong Cassidy
1948
Holsappel (uncredited)
1920
William "Hopalong" Cassidy
1948
Hopalong Cassidy
1941
Bill O'Brien
1930
Hopalong Cassidy
1941
Hopalong Cassidy
1948
Bill Holbrook (archive footage)
1978
Blondy
1928
Hopalong Cassidy
1953
Hal Winslow
1927
Hopalong Cassidy
1936
Hopalong Cassidy
1943
Oliver Comstock
1922
Hughie Ray
1920
Bill Taylor
1929
Hopalong Cassidy
1941
Hopalong Cassidy
1947
Hopalong Cassidy
1943
Hopalong Cassidy
1939
(archive footage)
2000
Stanley Dale
1923
Self (archive footage)
1976
Pete Smith
1928
Hopalong Cassidy
1947
Hopalong Cassidy
1939
Hopalong Cassidy
1944
Hopalong Cassidy
1941
Hopalong Cassidy
1941
Hopalong Cassidy
1936
Guest
1921
Hopalong Cassidy
1947
Robert V. Courtney
1921
Jim Thornton
1936
William Boyd
1923
Hopalong Cassidy
1939
Hopalong Cassidy
1943
Hopalong Cassidy
1936
Hopalong Cassidy
1940
Hopalong Cassidy
1942
Hopalong Cassidy
1937
Hopalong Cassidy
1942
Hopalong Cassidy
1937
Hopalong Cassidy
1948
Self (archive footage)
1991
1919
Hopalong Cassidy
1941
Lars Christensen
1934
Hopalong Cassidy
1943
Hopalong Cassidy
1940
Hopalong Cassidy
1948
Hopalong Cassidy
1938
Ranger William "Hopalong" Cassidy
1943
Hopalong Cassidy
1940
Hopalong Cassidy
1938
Hopalong Cassidy
1939
Hopalong Cassidy
1938
Hopalong Cassidy
1938
Hopalong Cassidy (uncredited)
1952
Simon Of Cyrene
1927
Hopalong Cassidy
1940
Bill Holbrook
1931
Hopalong Cassidy
1943
Hopalong Cassidy
1940
Hopalong Cassidy
1941
Husky
1928
Hopalong Cassidy
1936
Dan Morgan
1935
Hopalong Cassidy
1944
Hopalong Cassidy
1946
Hopalong Cassidy
1935
Dan Manton
1932
Hopalong Cassidy
1938
Hopalong Cassidy
1947
(archive footage)
1976
Hopalong Cassidy
1938
Hopalong Cassidy
1937
Hopalong Cassidy
1944
Hopalong Cassidy
1941
Hopalong Cassidy
1937
Skipper Clark
1933
Hopalong Cassidy
1943
Hopalong Cassidy
1936
Conrad Bardshaw
1924
William Boyd
1930
Terry Culver
1929
Hopalong Cassidy (archive footage)
1968
Hopalong Cassidy
1941
Hopalong Cassidy
1941
Jack Moreland
1925
Hopalong Cassidy
1937
Hopalong Cassidy
1948
Jim Parker
1932
Hopalong Cassidy
1938
William Calhoun
1929
(archive footage)
1984
Hopalong Cassidy
1944
Alan Beckwith
1931
Vic Donovan
1927
Hopalong Cassidy
1935
Hopalong Cassidy
1939
Jim Sanderson
1926
Soldier (uncredited)
1925
Buck Gannon
1932
Bill Stanley
1926
Hopalong Cassidy
1946
(uncredited)
1921
Party Guest
1922
Bill Thatcher
1931
Bill
1929
Steve Morris
1934
Joe Bradley
1933
Steve Haines
1936
Jimmy Bradley
1928
Karl Von Arnim
1929
(archive footage)
1939
Hopalong Cassidy
1937
Feodor
1926
Young Society Man (uncredited)
1924
Dick Barton
1922
Harrison
1921
Hopalong Cassidy
1935
Billiards Player
1921
Daingerfield Phelps
1927
Bill
1924
Hopalong Cassidy (archive footage)
1999
Dick Deveraux
1922
Stephen Van Kovert
1922
Spud
1925
Bob Woods
1936
Douglas Bruce
1923
Lt. Gerald Hugh Butterworth
1925
(uncredited)
1918
(uncredited)
1920
Sidney Godfrey
1923
Ramon's Friend at Homecoming
1922
(uncredited)
1922
Gerard Fynes
1921