Story of William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy. His Life, Career and Death

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William Boyd. 1895-1972.

William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy. A good guy who wore black.

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Blog Created: 2-28-2025

Last Updated: 3-1-2025

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Hopalong Cassidy is a fictional cowboy hero created in 1904 by the author Clarence E. Mulford, who wrote a series of short stories and novels based on the character. Mulford portrayed the character as rude, dangerous, and rough-talking. He was shot in the leg during a gun fight, causing him to walk with a little "hop", hence the nickname.

From the 1930s to the 1950s, the character became indelibly associated with actor William Boyd, who portrayed Cassidy first in a series of sixty-six films from 1935 to 1948, then in children-oriented radio and TV series, both of which lasted until 1952. Boyd's portrayal of Cassidy had little in common with the literary character, being instead a clean-cut, sarsaparilla-drinking hero who never shot first. The plots of the film, radio and TV series were generally not taken from Mulford's writings.

At the peak of the character's popularity in the early 1950s, he spawned enormous amounts of merchandise, as well as a comic strip, additional novels by Louis L'Amour (writing as Tex Burns), and even a short-lived amusement park, "Hoppyland", in Venice, Los Angeles.

In literature ~

Clarence E. Mulford wrote the first Hopalong Cassidy short story in 1904 while living in Fryeburg, Maine. He wrote the first novel, Bar-20 (named after Cassidy's ranch) in 1906. He wrote 28 Hopalong Cassidy novels in all, with the last one, Hopalong Cassidy Serves a Writ, being published in 1941. Not all of these novels focused on the Cassidy character; some focused on other characters in and around Bar-20.

Clarence E. Mulford. Author of the Hopalong Cassidy novels.

In 1950, while the character was undergoing a surge in popularity, then-aspiring author Louis L'Amour was commissioned to write four additional Hopalong Cassidy novels, this time with a characterization matching William Boyd's portrayal, rather than Mulford's writings. L'Amour wrote the novels under the pseudonym Tex Burns. Although they were his first published novels, he was unhappy with the assignment, since he preferred the original character, and publicly denied authorship of the novels for the rest of his life.

In 2005, author Susie Coffman published Follow Your Stars, new stories starring the character. In three of these stories, Coffman wrote the wife of actor William Boyd into the stories.

Boyd and his 5th wife, Grace Bradley Boyd.

Film history ~

As portrayed on the screen, white-haired Bill "Hopalong" Cassidy was usually clad strikingly in black (including his hat, an exception to the Western film stereotype that only villains wore black hats). He was reserved and well spoken, with a sense of fair play. He was often called upon to intercede when dishonest characters took advantage of honest citizens. "Hoppy" and his white horse, Topper, usually traveled through the West with two companions: one young and trouble-prone with a weakness for damsels in distress, the other older, comically awkward and outspoken.

One of Cassidy's teams, Andy Clyde, Cassidy and Rand Brooks.

The juvenile lead was successively played by James Ellison, Russell Hayden, George Reeves, Rand Brooks, and Jimmy Rogers. George Hayes (later to become known as "Gabby" Hayes) originally played Cassidy's grizzled sidekick, Windy Halliday. After Hayes left the series because of a salary dispute with producer Harry Sherman, he was replaced by the comedian Britt Wood as Speedy McGinnis and finally by the veteran movie comedian Andy Clyde as California Carlson. Clyde, the most durable of the sidekicks, remained with the series until it ended. A few actors of future prominence appeared in Cassidy films, notably Robert Mitchum, who appeared in seven films at the beginning of his career.

Robert Mitchum. Hopalong as the good guy, Robert Mitchum as the bad guy.

The 66 Hopalong Cassidy pictures were filmed by independent producers who released the films through the studios. The first "Hoppies", as the films were known, were distributed by Paramount Pictures to favorable returns, and United Artists was the distributor after Paramount. They were noted for fast action and outdoor photography (usually by Russell Harlan). Harry Sherman wanted to make more ambitious films and tried to cancel the Cassidy series, but popular demand forced Sherman back into production, this time for United Artists. Sherman gave up the series in 1944, but Boyd wanted to keep it going, and ended up co-producing 12 more films himself, from 1946 to 1948, now with lower budgets. The film series finally ended as "B" westerns were being phased out.

In the first film, Hopalong Cassidy (then spelled "Hop-along") got his name after being shot in the leg. Hopalong's "drink of choice" was the nonalcoholic sarsaparilla.

Television ~

Boyd thought Hopalong Cassidy might have a future in television, so he sold or mortgaged most of what he owned to buy the character rights from Mulford and the backlog of movies from Sherman, spending $350,000 to obtain the rights to his old films. He then approached the fledgling NBC network to air the films. The initial broadcasts were so successful that NBC could not wait for a television series to be produced and edited the feature films to broadcast length. On June 24, 1949, Hopalong Cassidy became the first network Western television series.

The series and character were so popular that Hopalong Cassidy was featured on the cover of national magazines such as Look, Life, and Time. Boyd earned millions as Hopalong ($800,000 in 1950 alone), mostly from merchandise licensing and endorsement deals. In 1950, Hopalong Cassidy was featured on the first lunchbox to bear an image, causing sales of Aladdin Industries lunch boxes to jump from 50,000 units to 600,000 units per year. In 1950, more than 100 companies manufactured $70 million of Hopalong Cassidy products, including children's dinnerware, pillows, roller skates, soap, wristwatches (made by Timex), and jackknives.

Original Hopalong Cassidy merchandise.

There was a new demand for Hopalong Cassidy features in movie theaters, and Boyd licensed reissue distributor Film Classics to make new film prints and advertising accessories. Another 1950 enterprise saw the home-movie company Castle Films manufacturing condensed versions of the Paramount films for 16 mm and 8 mm film projectors; they were sold through 1966.

Thanks to the earlier series which showed edited versions of his films, Boyd began work on a separate series of half-hour westerns made especially for television; Edgar Buchanan was his new sidekick, Red Connors (a character from the original stories and a few of the early films). The theme music for the television show was written by Nacio Herb Brown (music) and L. Wolfe Gilbert (lyrics). The show ranked number 7 in the 1949 Nielsen ratings, number 9 in the 1950–1951 season and number 28 in 1951–1952. The success of the show and tie-ins inspired juvenile television westerns such as The Range Rider, Tales of the Texas Rangers, Annie Oakley, The Gene Autry Show, and The Roy Rogers Show.

Radio ~

The success of the television series made Boyd a star. The Mutual Broadcasting System began broadcasting a radio version, with Andy Clyde as the sidekick (except for episodes 28 to 53 of the 105 episode series, when, for reasons unknown, he was replaced by several different radio actors). The show was syndicated from 1948 to 1950, then began broadcast on Mutual on January 1, 1950. At the end of September, the show moved to CBS Radio, where it ran until 1952.

In other media

Comic books/comic strips ~

Fawcett Comics published a Hopalong Cassidy comic book one-shot in 1943, followed by an ongoing series from 1946 to 1953 (numbered #1 through 85), when the company ceased publishing. DC Comics took over the title in 1954 with issue #86, publishing it until issue #135, in 1959.

Hopalon Cassidy comic books.

Mirror Enterprises Syndicate distributed a Hopalong Cassidy comic strip starting in 1949; it was bought out by King Features in 1951, running until 1955. The strip was drawn by Dan Spiegle, with scripts by Royal King Cole.

Record readers ~

Beginning in 1950, Capitol Records released a series of Hopalong Cassidy "record readers" featuring William Boyd and music by Billy May, produced by Alan W. Livingston.

Hoppyland ~

On May 26, 1951, an amusement park named Hoppyland opened in the Venice section of Los Angeles. This was an expansion and retheming of Venice Lake Park (opened the previous year) as Boyd became an investor. Standing on 80 acres (320,000 m2) it included a roller coaster, miniature railroads, pony rides, boat ride, Ferris wheel, carousel, and other thrill rides along with picnic grounds and recreational facilities. Despite Boyd's regular appearances as Hoppy at the park, it was not a success and shut down in 1954.

Museums ~

There have been museum displays of Hopalong Cassidy. The major display is at the Autry National Center at Griffith Park in Los Angeles, California. Fifteen miles east of Wichita, Kansas, at the Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper was the Hopalong Cassidy Museum. The museum and its contents were auctioned on August 24, 2007, owing to the failure of its parent company, Wild West World.

A "Hoppy Museum" consisting of a collection of products endorsed by William Boyd is located at Scott's 10th Street Antique Mall in Cambridge, Ohio.

Hopalong Cassidy Museum. Cambridge, Ohio. It burnt down on September 1, 2016.

Topper's saddle is on display at Twin Cities South Trailers, a horse trailer dealership in Pilot Point Texas.

William Boyd's collection, including Hopalong's TV production materials, is archived at the American Heritage Center at the University of Wyoming.

Cultural references ~

In the closing chapter of F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel The Great Gatsby, the title character's father, Henry C. Gatz, explaining his son's early character, is described "...pull[ing] from his pocket a ragged old copy of a book called Hopalong Cassidy. 'Look here, this is a book he had when he was a boy. It just shows you.'"

The 1951 song "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas" includes a reference to "Hopalong boots" as a holiday gift desired by children. Hopalong Cassidy is also referenced in Buddy Alan and Don Rich's 1970 top-twenty hit, "Cowboy Convention". In 1973, fellow film cowboy Roy Rogers released a nostalgic ballad called "Hoppy, Gene and Me".

The 1951 comedy film Callaway Went Thataway is a spoof of the then-ongoing Hopalong Cassidy craze.

Heisman Trophy winner and NFL halfback Howard Cassady was known as Hopalong Cassady throughout his career.

Howard Cassady.

In the 1985 film Fletch, the eponymous character, played by Chevy Chase, jokes that he was close to buying a house until he learned that Hopalong Cassidy had killed himself there.

In 2009, the United States Postal Service featured Cassidy as part of a series of stamps depicting early TV characters.

Hopalong Cassidy U.S. Postage Stamp.

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William Lawrence Boyd (June 5, 1895 – September 12, 1972) was an American film actor who is known for portraying the cowboy hero Hopalong Cassidy.

Biography ~

Boyd was born in Hendrysburg, Ohio and reared in Cambridge, Ohio and Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he lived from 1909 to 1913. He was the son of day laborer Charles William Boyd and his wife Lida (née Wilkens). Following his father's death, Boyd moved to California and worked as an orange picker, surveyor, tool dresser and auto salesman.

In Hollywood, Boyd found work as an extra in Why Change Your Wife? and other films. During World War I, he enlisted in the army but was exempt from military service because of a heart condition. More prominent film roles followed, including his breakout role as Jack Moreland in Cecil B. DeMille's The Road to Yesterday (1925), which earned critical praise. DeMille soon cast him as the leading man in the highly acclaimed silent drama film The Volga Boatman. another critical success, and with Boyd now firmly established as a matinee idol and romantic leading man, he began earning an annual salary of $100,000. He acted in DeMille's The King of Kings (1927) and Skyscraper (1928), as well as D.W. Griffith's Lady of the Pavements (1929).

Radio Pictures ended Boyd's contract in 1931 when his photo was mistakenly run in a newspaper story about the arrest of another actor, William "Stage" Boyd, on gambling and liquor charges. Although the newspaper apologized, explaining the mistake in the following day's newspaper, Boyd said, "The damage was already done." Boyd was virtually destitute and without a job, and for several years, he was credited in films as Bill Boyd to prevent being mistaken for the "other" William Boyd.

Hopalong Cassidy ~

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, written by Clarence E. Mulford for pulp magazines, was changed from a hard-drinking, rough-living, redheaded wrangler to a cowboy hero who did not smoke, swear or drink alcohol (he drank sarsaparilla) and who would allow the villain to start fights. 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, as with the cowboy stars Roy Rogers and Gene Autry, gained lasting fame in the Western film genre.

The films were typically more polished and impressive than were the usual low-budget programmed Westerns, with superior outdoor photography and recognizable supporting players familiar from major Hollywood films. Big-city theaters, many of which usually would not normally rent Westerns, noticed the high quality of the productions and permitted the series more exposure than they did for other Westerns. Paramount Pictures released the films through 1941 and United Artists produced them from 1943.

Producer Harry "Pop" Sherman wanted to create more ambitious epics and abandoned the Hopalong Cassidy franchise. Boyd, determined to keep the series alive, produced the last 12 Cassidy features himself on noticeably lower budgets. By this time, interest in the character had waned, and with far fewer theaters still showing the films, the series ended in 1948.

Boyd insisted on purchasing the rights to all of the Hopalong Cassidy films. Sherman no longer cared about the property, as he believed that Boyd's appeal, as well as that of his films, had waned. Boyd sold or mortgaged almost all of his possessions to meet Sherman's price of $350,000 for the rights and the film catalog.

Hoppy rides again ~

In 1948 Boyd, now regarded as a cowboy star of the past with his fortunes at their lowest, brought a print of one of his older films to the local NBC television station and offered it at a nominal rental, hoping for new exposure. The film was received so well that NBC asked for more, and within months Boyd released the entire library. The films became very popular and began the long-running genre of Westerns on television. Boyd's desperate gamble made him one of the first national television stars and restored his fortune. As did Rogers and Autry, Boyd licensed merchandise, including products such as Hopalong Cassidy watches, trash cans, cups, dishes, Topps trading cards, a comic strip, comic books, cowboy outfits, home-movie digests of his Paramount releases via Castle Films and a new Hopalong Cassidy radio show that ran from 1948 to 1952.

Boyd identified with his character, often dressing as a cowboy in public. He was concerned about children and refused to license his name for products that he considered unsuitable or dangerous, and he declined personal appearances at which children would be charged admission.

Boyd appeared as Hopalong Cassidy on the cover of numerous national magazines, including Look (August 29, 1950) and Time (November 27, 1950). For Thanksgiving in 1950, he led the Carolinas' Carrousel Parade in Charlotte, North Carolina, which attracted an estimated crowd of 500,000, the largest in the parade's history.

Boyd had a cameo role as himself in Cecil B. DeMille's 1952 circus epic The Greatest Show on Earth. DeMille reportedly asked Boyd to take the role of Moses in his remake of The Ten Commandments, but Boyd felt that his identification with the Cassidy character would make it impossible for audiences to accept him as Moses.

Personal life ~

Boyd was married five times, first to wealthy Massachusetts heiress Laura Maynes, then to the actresses Ruth Miller, Elinor Fair, Dorothy Sebastian and Grace Bradley. His only son, William Wallace Boyd, whose mother was Miller, died of pertussis at the age of nine months. After his retirement from the screen, Boyd invested time and money in real estate and moved to Palm Desert, California. He refused interviews and photographs in later years in order to not taint his memory as a screen idol.

Boyd and Dorothy Sebastian in the film His First Command (1929).

Boyd was a lifelong Republican and supported the campaign of Dwight Eisenhower during the 1952 presidential election.

For his contributions to the film industry, Boyd has a motion-picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1734 Vine Street. In 1995, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City.

In 1972, Boyd died from complications related to Parkinson's disease and congestive heart failure. He was survived by his fifth wife, Grace Bradley Boyd, who died in 2010. He is buried at the Sanctuary of Guiding Love alcove in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale).

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Boyd and Miss Josephine' in 1931.

Yes! Boyd washed his own cars.

Ruth Yeager Miller. Boyd's 2nd wife.

Ruth is seated to the left on the floor.

Elinor Fair. Boyd's 3rd wife.

William Boyd and Elinor Fair at home.

Boyd and Dorothy Sebastian in the film His First Command (1929).

Dorothy Sebastian. Boyd's 4th wife.

William Boyd and Dorothy Sebastian.

Grace Bradley Boyd. William Boyd's 5th and last wife.

Actor William Boyd and his wife Grace, in Australia promoting Hopalong Cassidy, 1954.

Bill and Grace relaxing at home.

Boyd and wife Grace attend the funeral of Cecil B. Demille.

Grace in her later years.

A boy feeds a carrot cake to Hopalong Cassidy’s horse Topper, undated. William Boyd papers, American Heritage Center.

Boyd in Chicago promoting a TV show (1950).

Boyd with actor Duncan Renaldo (Cisco Kid) with flag.

Tom Mix was another cowboy star of the times.

Clarence E. Mulford. Author of the Hopalong Cassidy novels.

The original idea for Hopalong Cassidy came from Clarence E. Mulford.

Edgar Buchanan. He played one of Cassidy's sidekicks and went on to many other roles including that of Uncle Joe Bradley on Petticoat Junction.

Popular western actor, George 'Gabby' Hayes played another of Cassidy's sidekicks.

Ignacio Herbert Brown.

James Ellison.

L. Wolfe Gilbert.

Louis L'amour, 1970.

Russell Hayden.

Boyd with co-star Andy Clyde.

Cassidy advertised milk as the drink of choice.

At the end of each episode, Boyd always had a message for young viewers.

Hopalong Cassidy confronts Robert Mitchum.

Cassidy with his horse, Topper.

One of Boyd's public appearances as Hopalong Cassidy.

A close-up of one of Cassidy's six-shooters.

1949 Hopalong Cassidy Bar 20 Ranch Motion Lamp. eBay - $325.00.

Record player and radio.

Toy cap guns set.

BB gun.

Bicycles. The top one was motorized.

Good Luck coins.

Toy TV set and cookie jar.

Hopalong Cassidy Museum. Cambridge, Ohio. The building burned to the ground on September 1, 2016.

A few items were saved but the bulk of the collection was sadly lost in the fire.

Before wife Grace was interred.

After Grace's death.

Charles William Boyd4; Tulsa World, Wed., April 30, 1913, Page-5.

Charles William Boyd5; The Tulsa Tribune, Monday, April 28, 1913, Page-1.

Lida Alberta. The Los Angeles Times, Monday, December 18, 1922, Page-16.

Tulsa World, Saturday, Oct. 19, 1968, p. 3.

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