Background
William S. Hart was born on 6 December 1870 in Newburgh, New York, United States.
William S. Hart was born on 6 December 1870 in Newburgh, New York, United States.
Hart is one of those Americans who stepped from the actual West into the cinematic version of it. As a young man—in the late 1880s—he had worked on a cattle drive, and he subsequently opened a riding school. But from 1890 to 1910 he was a stage actor, achieving a notable success in the Broadway production of Ben Hue.
He would never have turned to movies but for a friendship with Thomas luce. From a series of two-reel films, Hart became the first cowboy hero. He was already middle-aged, with an austere, horselike countenance and a fixed moral preoccupation. It is interesting that he often played an outlaw, reformed by the love of a good woman. From its beginnings, the Western was concerned to tranquilize the energies of the frontiersman. And, like Gary Cooper in later years, Hart was able to convey the burden of youthful wildness that lay on the shoulders of a pillar of society. He was also archaically chivalrous to women, and his solemn good manners did not always escape the impression of being downright elderly.
Hart is especially interesting because he wrote and directed many of his own films. Even with luce and Triangle he had considerable independence, though The Aryan (16, Reginald Barker) and Hell's Hinges (16, luce) were not credited to him. For the next two years, he directed most of his own films: The Silent Man (17); The Narrow Trail (17); Blue Blazes Rawden (18); The Border Wireless (18); Wolves of the Rail (18); and Shark Monroe (18). But from 1919, luce’s director, Lambert Hillyer, handled the Hart output: Breed of Men (19); The Monetу Corral (19); Square Deal Sanderson (19); Wagon Tracks (19); Sand! (19); The Cradle of Courage (20); The Toll Gate (20); O'Malley of the Mounted (21); Three Word Brand (21); The Whistle (21); White Oak (21); and Travelin' On (22). In 1923, Hart went to Famous Players for Wild Bill Hiekok (Clifford S. Smith) and Singer Jim McKee (24, Smith). He retired in 1925 after Tumbleweeds, which he codirected with King Baggot.