A work in constant progress (and occasional regress).
Alias:
Two-Gun Bill
W.S. Hart
William Surrey Hart
Wm. S Hart
Wm. S. Hart
Birthplace:
Newburgh, New York, USA
Born:
December 6, 1864
Died:
June 23, 1946
The first Western superstar, the taciturn Hart actually was a successful Shakespearean actor who played Messala in “Ben-Hur” on Broadway in 1899 before riding the range in movies. A longtime fan of the Old West, Hart was friends with Wyatt Earp and Bat Masterson. His film career began in 1914. After two supporting roles he gained fame as the lead in the feature-length western “The Bargain” shot on location at the Grand Canyon. Hart strove to make his westerns realistic with detailed attention played to costumes and props. Though Hart could be cast as a villain, he imbued all of his characters with honor and integrity. After making western shorts for producer Thomas Ince, he went to Famous Players-Lasky, which merged with Paramount Pictures in 1917. At Paramount he made such gritty feature westerns as “Square Deal Sanderson” and “The Toll Gate.” His star began to fade in the early 1920s when audiences grew tired of his moralistic Western tales. Not helping his career was his 1923 divorce from his wife, Winifred, who accused him of having two children by another woman. He made one last film, 1925’s “Tumbleweeds, which he financed himself. In 1939, the film was reissued this time with a prologue featuring a 75-year-old Hart shot on location at his ranch in Newhall talking about the West and his days in films. He died in 1946 at age 81. His home and ranch were turned into William S. Hart Park in Newhall.
Director:
1914 In the Sage Brush Country
1914 Two-Gun Hicks
1915 Bad Buck of Santa Ynez
1915 Cash Parrish's Pal
1915 Grit
1915 Keno Bates, Liar
1915 Knight of the Trail
1915 Mr. 'Silent' Haskins
1915 Pinto Ben
1915 The Conversion of Frosty Blake
1915 The Darkening Trail
1915 The Disciple
1915 The Grudge
1915 The Man from Nowhere
1915 The Roughneck
1915 The Ruse
1915 The Scourge of the Desert
1915 The Sheriff's Streak of Yellow
1915 The Taking of Luke McVane
1915 Tools of Providence
1916 Between Men
1916 The Apostle of Vengeance
1916 The Aryan
1916 The Dawn Maker
1916 The Devil's Double
1916 The Patriot
1916 The Primal Lure
1916 The Return of Draw Egan
1917 The Cold Deck
1917 The Desert Man
1917 The Gun Fighter
1917 The Narrow Trail
1917 The Silent Man
1917 The Square Deal Man
1917 Truthful Tulliver
1917 Wolf Lowry
1918 'Blue Blazes' Rawden
1918 Branding Broadway
1918 Riddle Gawne
1918 Selfish Yates
1918 Shark Monroe
1918 The Border Wireless
1918 The Tiger Man
1918 Wolves of the Rail
1919 Square Deal Sanderson
1919 The Money Corral
1919 The Poppy Girl's Husband
1920 The Cradle of Courage
1925 Tumbleweeds
Producer:
1914 In the Sage Brush Country
1914 Two-Gun Hicks
1915 Bad Buck of Santa Ynez
1915 Cash Parrish's Pal
1915 Grit
1915 Keno Bates, Liar
1915 Knight of the Trail
1915 Mr. 'Silent' Haskins
1915 Pinto Ben
1915 The Conversion of Frosty Blake
1915 The Darkening Trail
1915 The Disciple
1915 The Grudge
1915 The Man from Nowhere
1915 The Roughneck
1915 The Ruse
1915 The Scourge of the Desert
1915 The Sheriff's Streak of Yellow
1915 The Taking of Luke McVane
1915 Tools of Providence
1916 Between Men
1916 The Apostle of Vengeance
1916 The Aryan
1916 The Dawn Maker
1916 The Devil's Double
1916 The Patriot
1916 The Primal Lure
1916 The Return of Draw Egan
1917 The Cold Deck
1917 The Desert Man
1917 The Gun Fighter
1917 The Narrow Trail
1917 The Silent Man
1917 The Square Deal Man
1917 Truthful Tulliver
1917 Wolf Lowry
1918 'Blue Blazes' Rawden
1918 Branding Broadway
1918 Riddle Gawne
1918 Selfish Yates
1918 Shark Monroe
1918 The Border Wireless
1918 The Tiger Man
1918 Wolves of the Rail
1919 Square Deal Sanderson
1919 The Money Corral
1919 The Poppy Girl's Husband
1919 Wagon Tracks
1920 Sand
1920 The Cradle of Courage
1921 Three Word Brand
1923 Wild Bill Hickok
1925 Tumbleweeds
Screenplay:
1914 In the Sage Brush Country
1914 Two-Gun Hicks
1915 Bad Buck of Santa Ynez
1915 Cash Parrish's Pal
1915 Grit
1915 Keno Bates, Liar
1915 Knight of the Trail
1915 Mr. 'Silent' Haskins
1915 Pinto Ben
1915 The Conversion of Frosty Blake
1915 The Darkening Trail
1915 The Disciple
1915 The Grudge
1915 The Man from Nowhere
1915 The Roughneck
1915 The Ruse
1915 The Scourge of the Desert
1915 The Sheriff's Streak of Yellow
1915 The Taking of Luke McVane
1915 Tools of Providence
1916 Between Men
1916 The Apostle of Vengeance
1916 The Aryan
1916 The Dawn Maker
1916 The Devil's Double
1916 The Patriot
1916 The Primal Lure
1916 The Return of Draw Egan
1917 The Cold Deck
1917 The Desert Man
1917 The Gun Fighter
1917 The Narrow Trail
1917 The Silent Man
1917 The Square Deal Man
1917 Truthful Tulliver
1917 Wolf Lowry
1918 'Blue Blazes' Rawden
1918 Branding Broadway
1918 Riddle Gawne
1918 Selfish Yates
1918 Shark Monroe
1918 The Border Wireless
1918 The Tiger Man
1918 Wolves of the Rail
1919 Square Deal Sanderson
1919 The Money Corral
1919 The Poppy Girl's Husband
1919 Wagon Tracks
1920 Sand
1920 The Cradle of Courage
1920 The Testing Block
1921 Three Word Brand
1923 Wild Bill Hickok
1925 Tumbleweeds
Story:
1914 In the Sage Brush Country
1914 Two-Gun Hicks
1915 Bad Buck of Santa Ynez
1915 Cash Parrish's Pal
1915 Grit
1915 Keno Bates, Liar
1915 Knight of the Trail
1915 Mr. 'Silent' Haskins
1915 Pinto Ben
1915 The Conversion of Frosty Blake
1915 The Darkening Trail
1915 The Disciple
1915 The Grudge
1915 The Man from Nowhere
1915 The Roughneck
1915 The Ruse
1915 The Scourge of the Desert
1915 The Sheriff's Streak of Yellow
1915 The Taking of Luke McVane
1915 Tools of Providence
1916 Between Men
1916 The Apostle of Vengeance
1916 The Aryan
1916 The Dawn Maker
1916 The Devil's Double
1916 The Patriot
1916 The Primal Lure
1916 The Return of Draw Egan
1917 The Cold Deck
1917 The Desert Man
1917 The Gun Fighter
1917 The Narrow Trail
1917 The Silent Man
1917 The Square Deal Man
1917 Truthful Tulliver
1917 Wolf Lowry
1918 'Blue Blazes' Rawden
1918 Branding Broadway
1918 Riddle Gawne
1918 Selfish Yates
1918 Shark Monroe
1918 The Border Wireless
1918 The Tiger Man
1918 Wolves of the Rail
1919 Square Deal Sanderson
1919 The Money Corral
1919 The Poppy Girl's Husband
1919 Wagon Tracks
1920 Sand
1920 The Cradle of Courage
1920 The Testing Block
1920 The Toll Gate
1921 O'Malley of the Mounted
1921 Three Word Brand
1921 White Oak
1922 Travelin' On
1923 Wild Bill Hickok
1924 Singer Jim Mckee
1925 Tumbleweeds
Writer:
1914 In the Sage Brush Country
1914 Two-Gun Hicks
1915 Bad Buck of Santa Ynez
1915 Cash Parrish's Pal
1915 Grit
1915 Keno Bates, Liar
1915 Knight of the Trail
1915 Mr. 'Silent' Haskins
1915 Pinto Ben
1915 The Conversion of Frosty Blake
1915 The Darkening Trail
1915 The Disciple
1915 The Grudge
1915 The Man from Nowhere
1915 The Roughneck
1915 The Ruse
1915 The Scourge of the Desert
1915 The Sheriff's Streak of Yellow
1915 The Taking of Luke McVane
1915 Tools of Providence
1916 Between Men
1916 The Apostle of Vengeance
1916 The Aryan
1916 The Dawn Maker
1916 The Devil's Double
1916 The Patriot
1916 The Primal Lure
1916 The Return of Draw Egan
1917 The Cold Deck
1917 The Desert Man
1917 The Gun Fighter
1917 The Narrow Trail
1917 The Silent Man
1917 The Square Deal Man
1917 Truthful Tulliver
1917 Wolf Lowry
1918 'Blue Blazes' Rawden
1918 Branding Broadway
1918 Riddle Gawne
1918 Selfish Yates
1918 Shark Monroe
1918 The Border Wireless
1918 The Tiger Man
1918 Wolves of the Rail
1919 Square Deal Sanderson
1919 The Money Corral
1919 The Poppy Girl's Husband
1919 Wagon Tracks
1920 Sand
1920 The Cradle of Courage
1920 The Testing Block
1920 The Toll Gate
1921 O'Malley of the Mounted
1921 Three Word Brand
1921 White Oak
1922 Travelin' On
1923 Wild Bill Hickok
1924 Singer Jim Mckee
1925 Tumbleweeds
1936 O'Malley of the Mounted
Most data and links to images for the Movies section come from TheMovieDB (TMDB).
Additional data for Film Titles come from The Open Movie Database (OMDb).
At least one plug-in comes from IMDb.
Data are -- hey, it's a plural -- subject to the limitations of their sources. (For example, TMDB search results currently max out at 20.) I am limiting myself to free data sources for now. (No, a "free trial" is not free.)
While much of the above data are retrieved directly from outside APIs and other such sources, data from American Film Institute (AFI) and British Film Institute (BFI) were manually entered the old fashioned way into a MySQL database. Re BFI I took the following liberties:
Regarding profile removals and data corrections:
Filtering is applied here to film projects flagged as "adult" by TheMovieDB. Pending "popular demand" I am contemplating a login and profile system with preferences (such as whether to allow adult images to appear) and permissions (such as data entry).
Whereas the overall purpose of this website is to serve as a personal demo/portfolio/workshop of web and data skills, this Movies section is not meant to compete with or substitute for far more definitive movie websites.
Whether or not he still clings to an award which he won in 1986 as a film critic for his college's newspaper, Jeffrey Hartmann is not responsible for the texts of overviews and biographies supplied by external data sources.