The Pittsburgh Press (June 24, 1946)
Greatest of film cowboys, William S. Hart, dies at 75
Ex-Shakespearean actor ill three years
HOLLYWOOD (UP) – William S. Hart, 75, Broadway “Hamlet” who switched his style to become the greatest gun-totin’ cowboy ever to ride the movieland range, died last night from what his doctor described as “old age.”
Mr. Hart sank into a coma at California Lutheran Hospital after a critical three-week illness. He has been ill for several years.
“His ailment was nothing you could give a name to,” hospital officials said. “It was just the result of growing old.”
Dr. H. D. Van Fleet said Hart died in his sleep. His son, William S. Hart Jr., was at the bedside.
Mr. Hart, who warned a fabulous $10,000 a week in the silent flicker days fighting bad men and Indians, died three days after a judge awarded custody of his well-being to his son, William S. Hart Jr., and his old-time pal, G. H. Frost.
The decision came after a 10-day court battle in which young Mr. Hart asked to be named custodian of his father’s health and fortune. The judge granted Mr. Frost sole control of the estate.
Mr. Hart retired from the screen 20 years ago – just before the talkies came in. But his name has remained a legend to a generation of movie-goers.
Cowboys, when “Old Bill” was riding to fame and fortune across the western plains, didn’t wear jewel-studded chaps and $100 shirts. They didn’t sit around campfires, either, yodeling like coyotes or romancing their ladies.
In Bill Hart’s day cowpokes spent their time fighting Indians and roping steers. There wasn’t much romancing in his pictures – and no singing over the radio as a sideline.
“I had to teach the picture people what the west was,” he said once. “Nobody in Hollywood knew how cowboys acted. Why, my bosses even thought my two-gun scenes would be laughed off the screen.”
Instead, Mr. Hart’s portrayal of the grim cowhand who risked death to defend a fair maiden’s honor – while the old, silent camera ground away – raised him to fame along with Mary Pickford, Charlie Chaplin and the late Douglas Fairbanks as “the big four” of the film industry’s early days.
Retired in 1926
In 1926, after 12 years in the movies, Mr. Hart and Fritz, the pinto who helped him ride down many a villain in the old Western thrillers – retired on Mr. Hart’s $300,000 ranch at Newhall, California, 20 miles north of Hollywood.
There, on his 300-acre estate, “Hill of the Winds,” Mr. Hart lived the leisurely life of a country gentleman. When Fritz died in 1938, he was buried under Mr. Hart’s favorite oak tree.
Mr. Hart’s success brought him more than fame and fortune. In 1918 it brought him disgrace when a woman named Elizabeth McCaulley came from Boston with a baby boy she claimed Mr. Hart had fathered.
Vindicated in 1923
Mr. Hart protested his innocence, but settled out of court fearing a public hearing would ruin him. He put $7,063 in trust for the child’s support. Soon afterward, his wife and former leading lady, Winifred Westover, divorced him, declaring he was Miss McCaulley’s lover.
In 1923, Miss McCaulley admitted her child was adopted, but it wasn’t until 1939 that a Los Angeles court returned the trust fund, then grown to $13,265.
“I was vindicated completely,” Mr. Hart said afterwards. “But it came too late.”
The pioneer cowboy actor was born in Newburgh, New York, December 6, 1870. When he was six months old the family moved to the Dakotas where young Bill grew up among the Sioux Indians, learning to rope and ride.
When he was 16, he returned to New York to continue his education and three years later made his stage debut with Daniel B. Bandmann, German comedian.
Played Romeo
From minor stock roles Mr. Hart worked up to Shakespearean parts, winning fame for his portrayals of “Hamlet” and “Romeo.” At the turn of the century, he introduced western characters to Broadway fans, triumphing in the “Squaw Man,” “The Virginian,” and “Trail of the Lonesome Pine.”
In 1914, his old friend, Tom Ince, persuaded him to come to California and star in the first feature length Western produced, “The Bargain,” which was filmed in the Grand Canyon.
He made such a hit with the fans that before long his salary was kicked up to $8,400 weekly. In 1919 he formed the William S. Hart Co. and rescued the heroine for his own profits, which never fell below $10,000 a week.
His best-known films included “The Pass of Two-Gun Hicks,” “The Disciple,” “The Patriot,” “O’Malley of the Mounted” and “Travelin’ On.”
Between movies he wrote three books – “My Life East and West,” an autobiography; “Hoof Beats,” a Western thriller, and a short novel in which his horse, Fritz, tells the story.