William S. Hart (1864–1946) was an American silent film actor, screenwriter, director and producer. He is remembered as a foremost Western star of the silent era who "imbued all of his characters with honor and integrity." During the late 1910s and early 1920s, he was one of the most consistently popular movie stars, frequently ranking high among male actors in popularity contests held by movie fan magazines.
Hart was born in New York and began his acting career in 1888. He had success as a Shakespearean actor on Broadway, and appeared in the original stage production of Ben-Hur (1899). He entered films in 1914, and after playing supporting roles in two short films, he achieved stardom the same year as the lead in the feature The Bargain. Hart was particularly interested in making realistic Western films. His films are noted for their authentic costumes and props, as well as Hart's acting ability, honed on Shakespearean theater stages in the United States and England. Beginning in 1915, Hart starred in his own series of two-reel Western short subjects for producer Thomas Ince, which were so popular that they were supplanted by a series of feature films. In 1915 and 1916, exhibitors voted him the biggest money making star in the United States. In 1917, Hart accepted a lucrative offer from Adolph Zukor to join Famous Players–Lasky, which merged into Paramount Pictures.
By the early 1920s, Hart's brand of gritty, rugged Westerns with drab costumes and moralistic themes gradually fell out of fashion. The public became attracted by a new kind of movie cowboy, epitomized by Tom Mix, who wore flashier costumes and was involved in more action scenes. Paramount dropped Hart, who then made one last bid for his kind of Western. He produced Tumbleweeds (1925) with his own money, arranging to release it independently through United Artists. After Tumbleweeds, Hart retired to his to home in Newhall, California.
For his contribution to the motion picture industry, William S. Hart has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6363 Hollywood Blvd. In 1975, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. As of , two of the films Hart starred in—The Bargain and Hell's Hinges—along with Show People, in which he has a cameo, have been added to the National Film Registry.
Filmography
Bibliography
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1864 births
1946 deaths
19th-century American male actors
American male stage actors
20th-century American male actors
American male film actors
American male silent film actors
American male screenwriters
Film producers from California
Male Western (genre) film actors
Western (genre) film directors
American people of English descent
American people of Irish descent
Burials at Green-Wood Cemetery
People from Newburgh, New York
People from Aurora, Illinois
Male actors from Santa Clarita, California
Film directors from California
Film directors from New York (state) People from Newhall, Santa Clarita, California Screenwriters from New York (state) Screenwriters from California Screenwriters from Illinois 20th-century American male writers Film directors from Illinois Film producers from New York (state) Film producers from Illinois 20th-century American screenwriters Members of The Lambs Club Houses in California