WILLIAM BOYD

William Boyd was one of the most popular cowboy actors from 1921 through 1953. Interestingly, he was about as far from an "overnight success" as could be! He was born in 1895 in Oklahoma, and was very poor. At the age of 24, after having had many odd jobs, he moved to Hollywood, and he had many minor roles in movies (he was already prematurely grey!) but it was not until the mid-1920s that he achieved success in some Cecil B. DeMille movies. But when sound movies began, his career went downhill (he was already in his 30s), and to make matters worse, the other actor with his name (William 'Stage' Boyd) got involved in a scandal, and that hurt his career as well. But then, in 1935 he starred in Hop-a-long Cassidy (changed to "Hopalong Cassidy" after the first movie) and he made approximately 70 Hopalong Cassidy movies in the remainder of his career, and never played another role! He passed away in 1972 at the age of 77.