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William Boyd (actor)

William Boyd
Hoppy2 small.jpg
Boyd in Chicago, circa 1950
Born (1895-06-05)June 5, 1895
Belmont County, Ohio. U.S.
Died September 12, 1972(1972-09-12) (aged 77)
Laguna Beach, California, U.S.
Cause of death Complications from Parkinson's disease and heart failure
Resting place Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery
Other names Bill Boyd, Hoppy, Hopalong Cassidy
Occupation Actor, movie producer, director
Years active 1918–1954
Home town Tulsa, Oklahoma
Height 6'
Weight 180 lb (82 kg)
Spouse(s) Laura Maynard
(m. 1917–1921; divorced)
Ruth Miller
(m. 1921–1924; divorced)
Elinor Fair
(m. 1926–1929; divorced)
Dorothy Sebastian
(m. 1930–1936; divorced)
Grace Bradley
(m. 1937–1972, until his death)
Parent(s)

Charles William Boyd

Lida (aka Lyda) Wilkens Boyd

Charles William Boyd

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

Boyd was born in Hendrysburg, Ohio, and reared in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He was the son of a day laborer, Charles William Boyd, and his wife, the former Lida Wilkens. 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, and he became famous as a leading man in silent film romances, earning an annual salary of $100,000. He was the lead actor in Cecil B. DeMille's The Volga Boatman (1926) and 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." Ironically, 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.


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