William Boyd (actor)
William Lawrence Boyd ( born June 5, 1895 in Hendrysburg, Ohio; † September 12, 1972 in Laguna Beach, California ) was an American Western actor whose notoriety in the 1930s and 1940s reached its peak.
Life
Boyd was known primarily as a performer of cowboy Hopalong Cassidy in the eponymous film series and as the lead in the Western hostility with which Clark Gable began his talkie career. 1919 Boyd met in Hollywood and quickly became a sought-after star of the silent film era and matinee idol. At the beginning of the 1930s, his career got a kink, as scandals to a William Boyd were attributed to him. However, It was acting a colleague of the same name, but the role offers the end of the silent era were sparse. In 1935, he signed a contract with Paramount Pictures on a Western series, whose character of Hopalong Cassidy accompanied him from now on in his future career. After moving to United Artists in 1944, the series was discontinued. Two years later, Boyd continued her but by now produced the films themselves. After 70 movies he recognized early on the possibilities of television and switched on the screen where from 1952 came 52/2 hour episodes. In addition, he marketed the figure in the circus, vaudeville and on promotional tours.
In the issue of 27 November 1950, he brought it to the cover of Time Magazine and got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1995, he was immortalized in the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. There is also a Hopalong Cassidy Museum in Cambridge, Ohio.
Private
Boyd was married five times:
- Grace Bradley (June 5, 1937 - September 12, 1972 ) - his death
- Dorothy Sebastian ( December 19, 1930 - May 30, 1936) - Single
- Elinor Fair (January 13, 1926 - November 16, 1929 ) - Single
- Ruth Miller (1921-1924) - Divorced
- Laura Maynard (1917-1921) - Divorced
He has a child from his third marriage.