Arthur Hoyt (March 19, 1874 – January 4, 1953)[1] was an American film
character actor who appeared in more than 275 films in his 34-year film career, about a third of them
silent films.[citation needed]
Hoyt made the
silent comedy short The Scrub Lady in 1914, but his film acting career did not begin in earnest until 1916 when he appeared in another short, The Heart of a Show Girl. From that time until 1944, each year a film was released in which Hoyt had acted – and frequently up to a dozen or so. Hoyt had large roles in such silent films as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), Souls for Sale (1923), and The Lost World (1925). He also directed two silent features, Station Content starring
Gloria Swanson and High Stakes, and was the casting director for another, Her American Husband, all in 1918.[citation needed]
Arthur Hoyt
Hoyt's final silent film, his 80th, was The Rush Hour (1928), which starred
Marie Provost.[citation needed] Unlike her, Hoyt survived the transition to
talkies, although he generally played lesser roles such as "a henpecked husband or downtrodden office worker".[6] – and he frequently did not receive screen credit for his performances. His first sound film was 1928's My Man, a
musical starring
Fanny Brice,[citation needed] and the pace of his work did not slack off in the sound era. He may be best remembered as the motor-court manager who hassles
Clark Gable and
Claudette Colbert in
Frank Capra's It Happened One Night (1934).[6]
In the 1940s, when he was nearing the end of his career, Hoyt was part of
Preston Sturges' unofficial
"stock company" of character actors, appearing in all the films written and directed by Sturges from 1940 to 1947.[7]
At the age of 70, Hoyt, who was sometimes billed as "Mr. Arthur Hoyt",[8] retired from acting. The last film in which he appeared, The Sin of Harold Diddlebock was filmed in late 1944 and early 1945, although it wasn't released until 1947.[9]
Arthur Hoyt (March 19, 1874 – January 4, 1953)[1] was an American film
character actor who appeared in more than 275 films in his 34-year film career, about a third of them
silent films.[citation needed]
Hoyt made the
silent comedy short The Scrub Lady in 1914, but his film acting career did not begin in earnest until 1916 when he appeared in another short, The Heart of a Show Girl. From that time until 1944, each year a film was released in which Hoyt had acted – and frequently up to a dozen or so. Hoyt had large roles in such silent films as The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), Souls for Sale (1923), and The Lost World (1925). He also directed two silent features, Station Content starring
Gloria Swanson and High Stakes, and was the casting director for another, Her American Husband, all in 1918.[citation needed]
Arthur Hoyt
Hoyt's final silent film, his 80th, was The Rush Hour (1928), which starred
Marie Provost.[citation needed] Unlike her, Hoyt survived the transition to
talkies, although he generally played lesser roles such as "a henpecked husband or downtrodden office worker".[6] – and he frequently did not receive screen credit for his performances. His first sound film was 1928's My Man, a
musical starring
Fanny Brice,[citation needed] and the pace of his work did not slack off in the sound era. He may be best remembered as the motor-court manager who hassles
Clark Gable and
Claudette Colbert in
Frank Capra's It Happened One Night (1934).[6]
In the 1940s, when he was nearing the end of his career, Hoyt was part of
Preston Sturges' unofficial
"stock company" of character actors, appearing in all the films written and directed by Sturges from 1940 to 1947.[7]
At the age of 70, Hoyt, who was sometimes billed as "Mr. Arthur Hoyt",[8] retired from acting. The last film in which he appeared, The Sin of Harold Diddlebock was filmed in late 1944 and early 1945, although it wasn't released until 1947.[9]