Born in Ohio in 1895 and raised in the Tulsa, Oklahoma area, William Boyd arrived in Hollywood around 1918. He became a full-fledged leading man during the silent era, and his best work from that period included many films for Cecil B. deMille. But roles had been tough to find during the early to mid 1930s. Stories and rumors generally mention: that Boyd looked too old due to his prematurely grey hair; and that Boyd was a womanizer and liked parties and alcohol. Then there was the confusion between this William Boyd, and another Tinseltown performer who had the same name. That 'other' William Boyd had been involved in a scandal in the early 1930s, and our William 'Hoppy' Boyd was incorrectly identified in the press and news as the guilty party. The accusations nearly wrecked our William Boyd's career. (The William Boyd that was the subject of the scandal wound up with the moniker of William 'Stage' Boyd. Remember him --- he was the evil 'Zolak' in the awful serial, THE LOST CITY (Krellberg, 1935), which featured Kane Richmond as the hero.) In the mid 1930s, several forces came together. These were Paramount Pictures, a producer named Harry 'Pop' Sherman and Boyd. 'Pop' Sherman was an independent producer, but by the mid 1930s, the states rights distribution channels for low budget, independently produced sagebrush yarns were disappearing. Sherman got lucky and convinced Paramount to release a series of westerns based on the Hopalong Cassidy novels and short stories authored by Clarence E. Mulford. Hollywood history or myth is that character actor James Gleason was a serious contender for the role of Hopalong Cassidy. But when the dust cleared and filming began, forty year old William Boyd had the job. The first in the new series, HOP-A-LONG CASSIDY (Paramount, 1935) had Boyd being helped by James Ellison, a handsome fellah and pretty good actor who portrayed Hoppy's saddle pal 'Johnny Nelson'. (Note that this would later be re-named HOPALONG CASSIDY ENTERS, and become the generally accepted title for that movie.) 1935 was also the year that Republic Pictures was formed, and a singing cowboy named Gene Autry began his starring series at the new studio. The third Cassidy yarn, BAR 20 RIDES AGAIN (1935) included George Hayes as 'Windy' and is one of my favorite westerns. In film #5, THREE ON THE TRAIL (Paramount, 1936), Hayes became 'Windy Halliday' and a full-fledged member of the Hopalong Cassidy trio. Paramount may have been surprised with the enthusiastic fan response to the new series. And it rolled along quite well for the next season or two. But Ellison was being groomed for better things, and Russell Hayden replaced him beginning with HILLS OF OLD WYOMING (Paramount, 1937). Hayden had not been an actor, but was a member of the Hoppy production crew. Hayes was around through RENEGADE TRAIL (Paramount, 1939), and then left because of a salary dispute or some disagreement with Pop Sherman. Hayes immediately signed on with Republic Pictures as the sidekick to Roy Rogers and Bill Elliott ... and that's when he took on the nickname of 'Gabby'. The brief comedic replacement was Britt Wood, the downhome comic with the big hat, who really wasn't too bad as the third member of the trio. Ultimately Wood was let go, and veteran screen comedian Andy Clyde arrived, and his first appearance was in the very good THREE MEN FROM TEXAS (Paramount, 1940). Clyde continued as Hoppy's sidekick through the end of the film series in 1948. Les Adams found an interesting tidbit --- on Monday, May 20, 1940, Film Daily reported that William Boyd had broken his leg while on location filming for DOOMED CARAVAN, but production would continue with Boyd's leg in a plaster cast. Continuing the musical chairs, Hayden exited after completing the 1940-41 releases and went over to Columbia Pictures to help western hero Charles Starrett. Soon after, he was given his own oater series at Columbia. With Hayden gone, Hoppy's new assistant was Brad King, who was OK, but definitely not an Ellison or Hayden.