William Boyd and Topper.

Dressed in black with silver grey hair, on a white horse called Topper, Hopalong Cassidy as played by William Boyd (1895-1972) was the greatest western law enforcer of the screen for two decades. With his drink of choice sarsaparilla, he would fight for justice, run villains out of town, in a calm soft-spoken way, well over 100 times in 66 films, a hit TV series, and on the radio. Boyd never planned to be a cowboy star. Ohio born, raised in Tulsa, and relocating to California, Boyd was an orange picker and salesman among other odd jobs before picking up work as an extra at Paramount. He was spotted by DeMille who would become something of a mentor for him. Not a major star in the silent era he would graduate to top-billed handsome leading man with his prematurely grey hair. His most notable roles were "The Volga Boatman", "King of Kings", "Skyscraper", "Two Arabian Knights", "The Leatherneck" and "Lady of the Pavement." Moving to Pathe/RKO and sound proved no problem with his only well-remembered film a small western "The Painted Desert" due to Gable making an early appearance. It was when another actor with the same name who was involved in a drunken scandal was confused mistakenly as Boyd that he was fired by RKO. Despite an apology, the damage was done. Down and out and already up to marriage No. 4 he was hired to play Hopalong Cassidy's sidekick Windy Halliday in a small Paramount western. He lobbied hard to play "Hoppy" the main part and as he was more of a "name" he was cast. 65 films later, across 3 studios, a 5th wife and his greatest supporter for the rest of his life, Grace Bradley - he was now a Top 10 Western box-office star from 36-44,46-49. Shrewdly mortgaging everything and buying his films back as well as the license to the character (his portrayal of Clarence E. Mulford's hero was very different), editing his films down for early TV proved to be a sensation. This led to a hit series "Hopalong Cassidy" (52-54), a failed theme park, but by the early '50s, Boyd was a national institution. His last film was an unbilled cameo for DeMille in "The Greatest Show on Earth." A film legend, a merchandising bonanza, a national treasure. Thank you, Mr. DeMille.