William Lawrence Boyd

 William Lawrence Boyd (June 5, 1895 – September 12, 1972)

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). In 1935, Boyd was offered the supporting role of Red Connors in the movie Hop-Along Cassidy, but he asked to be considered for the title role and won it. The original character of Hopalong Cassidy character, written by Clarence E. Mulford for pulp magazines, was changed from a hard-drinking, rough-living red-headed wrangler to a cowboy hero who did not smoke, swear, or drink alcohol (his drink of choice being sarsaparilla) and who always let the bad guy start the fight. Although Boyd "never branded a cow or mended a fence, cannot bulldog a steer" and disliked Western music, he became indelibly associated with the Hopalong character and, like the cowboy stars Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, gained lasting fame in the Western film genre. In 1950, The Hopalong Cassidy films which were owned by Paramount, became a TV network broadcast over NBC. For four seasons 1950 to 1954, there were 104 half-hour Hoppy adventures. The end result of all this air time was that Boyd and the Hoppy character became more popular than ever. In addition to TV, Boyd did circuses, rodeos, parades, personal appearance tours and he brought the Hoppy series to radio. He opened up his own Hoppyland theme park and a merchandising company which sold Hoppy hats, gunbelts, lunch buckets and clothing. Boyd died on September 12, 1972 at age 77, and is interred at Forest Lawn-Glendale.