William Surrey Hart Bio/Wiki, Net Worth, Married 2018
A storybook hero, the original screen cowboy, ever forthright and honest, even when (as was often the case) he played a villain, William S. Hart lived for a while in the Dakota Territory, then worked as a postal clerk in New York City. In 1888 he began to study acting. In 1899 he created the role of Messala in "Ben-Hur", and received excellent ...
[on charges of extreme cruelty during his pending divorce from Winifred Westover] I'll stand on the summit of Mount Hollywood and defy the whole world to prove that I have ever done wrong to man or woman.
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Fact
1
Owner of William S. Hart Productions (1920-25; aka The William S. Hart Co.), a film production company.
2
While living in semi-retirement in Newhall, he was disturbed by a plane which kept flying over his house. The plane was being piloted by Amelia Earhart, and they ended up becoming good friends after he invited her to dinner in order to complain about the noise her plane was making.
3
His mansion in Newhall, California, is now a museum and has been preserved with its original fixtures and furnishings intact.
4
Was a friend of legendary wild west lawman Wyatt Earp, and along with fellow silent movie cowboy star Tom Mix, was a pallbearer at Earp's funeral in 1929.
5
In March of 1923 Hart, already being sued for divorce by wife Winifred Westover, was accused by her of fathering a child by another woman. This hurt his already declining career and from 1924 to 1925 he would release only two films, before retiring.
6
An interesting footnote, the famous prohibition lawman (also once a bodyguard for the President Of The United States) "Two Gun Hart" changed his name to that of this famous actor and in some ways patterned his life after him. The real-life lawman Two Gun Hart seldom revealed his birth name, which was James Vincenzo Capone. He was the older brother of infamous gangster Al Capone (see "Capone: The Man And The Era" by Laurence Bergreen).
7
Hart High School in Newhall, CA, is named after him--in fact, the entire school district is named after him.
8
Inducted into the Hall of Great Western Performers of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in 1975.
9
Donated his estate to the City of Los Angeles, on the condition they install a fountain and use the park for the arts. Today, the internationally renowned Actors Studio has its West Coast branch at the William S. Hart Park, in West Hollywood, in Hart's old estate.
$14 Million
