William Boyd
(06/05/1895 - 09/12/1972)
William Lawrence Boyd (June 5, 1895 – September 12, 1972) was an American film actor best known for portraying Hopalong Cassidy.
In Hollywood, he found work in Why Change Your Wife? and other films. During World War I, he enlisted in the army but was exempt 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 DeMille's extravaganza, The King of Kings, helping Christ carry the cross as Simon of Cyrene and also in DeMille's Skyscraper. 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. Having been reckless with his money, Boyd was broke and without a job, and for a few years he was credited in several films as "Bill Boyd" to prevent being mistaken for his actor namesake.
In 1935, he was offered the supporting role of Red Connors in the movie Hop-
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