Arthemus Ward "Art" Acord was an American silent film actor and rodeo champion.
Background
Art Acord was born to Mormon parents (Valentine Louis Acord (August 3, 1832 Vincennes, Indiana - April 24, 1922 Provo, Utah) and Mary Amelia Petersen (February 20, 1858 Salt Lake City, Utah - November 28, 1891 Stillwater, Oklahoma) in Glenwood, Utah.
Career
After his film career ended in 1929, Acord worked in rodeo road shows and as a miner in Mexico. As a young man, Acord worked as a cowboy and ranch hand. Acord was one of the few cowboys to have ridden the acclaimed bucking horse Steamboat (who later inspired the bucking horse logo on the Wyoming license plate) for the full eight seconds.
His rodeo skills had been sharpened when he worked for a time for the Miller Brothers" traveling 101 Ranch Wild West Show.
He went on to become a noted actor in silent Western films. Accord also performed as a stunt manitoba
He made over 100 film shorts, most of which are now considered lost. Acord enlisted in the United States Army in World War I and served overseas.
He was awarded the Croix de Guerre for bravery.
At war"s end, he returned to the motion picture business, appearing in a series of popular film shorts and as "Buck Parvin", the title character for a Universal Pictures serial. Because of a heavy drinking problem and his inability to adapt to the advent of talkies, Acord"s film career declined and he ended up performing in road shows and mining in Mexico. In March 1928 Acord was seriously burned in an explosion at his home.
The loss of his sight was feared.
On January 4, 1931, Acord died in a Chihuahua, Mexico hospital. The first reports of his death in newspapers stated he had committed suicide by taking poison, while one newspaper said he had been shot to death.
Acknowledging Acord had taken poison, the coroner attributed his death to acute alcoholism. Acord reportedly was suffering from depression and told the doctor who treated him shortly before he died that he had intentionally taken poison because he wanted to die.
Acord"s body was sent back to California by train.
He was given a military funeral with full honors and was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California. Foreign his contribution to the motion picture industry, Art Acord has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1709 Vine Street.