(Courtesy of Minard Coons) Above is William Boyd and his hoss Topper.  The story is that Boyd's wife, Grace Bradley Boyd, selected the horse's name because she liked the TOPPER books (or films) that were authored by Thorne Smith.

(Courtesy of Dale Crawford and Jim Sorensen) Above is the marker for Hoppy's horse Topper, who is buried at the Los Angeles Pet Memorial Park in Calabasas, California. The park is called S.O.P.H.I.E. (Save Our Pets' History in Eternity).

(Courtesy of Minard Coons)

Left is a publicity shot of Boyd during his Hoppy TV series days, circa 1949.

As a wrap-up, the basic Hopalong Cassidy statistics and trivia are:

• 66 feature films from 1935-1948 (67 films if you count the Boyd/Hoppy guest appearance in Cecil B. deMille's circus extravaganza, THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH).  In subsequent pages, you'll find a complete Hopalong Cassidy filmography listing the sidekicks, etc.
• 52 half-hour television shows --- 12 half-hour programs were created (condensed) from the later United Artists films with Andy Clyde and Rand Brooks; and 40 new half-hour shows were filmed featuring Edgar Buchanan as 'Red Connors'.
• 104 radio shows, initially with Joe DuVal and later, with Andy Clyde as Hoppy's sidekick; 105 shows if you include the early 'audition' show, and there's more details about the Hoppy radio program on subsequent webpages.
• A long running Fawcett comic book series, and more details are provided in later pages.
• Boyd's portrayal of Hoppy in 66/67 films is among the longest of an actor portraying a movie character (this wasn't the longest run as Gene Autry played himself in more films, and Al St. John did his 'Fuzzy Q. Jones' in 80+ movies).
• Boyd never was the #1 rated cowboy in the polls, but he generally was ranked in the range of number 2 through 5.  Poll results comparing Boyd to Autry and Rogers can be found under the 'Hoppy, Gene & Roy' menu item on the Old Corral homepage.   Poll results for William Boyd are listed below.
• The 'Hopalong' moniker came about due to Cassidy being injured in a shootout. In HOP-A-LONG CASSIDY (Paramount, 1935), the first film of the series, Boyd/Hoppy is recovering from a gunfight, and is asked about his wound.  His response is something like "I'll manage to hop along".

The Motion Picture Herald and Boxoffice polls were conducted from about the mid 1930s through the mid 1950s.  With a few exceptions, the annual results would list the 'Top Ten' (or 'Top Five') cowboy film stars.  In most cases, the winners were what you would expect --- Autry, Rogers, Holt, Starrett ... and William Boyd as Hopalong Cassidy.  Boyd/Hoppy consistently placed in one or both polls from 1936-1952, with the exception of the year 1951.

         

Les Adams brought up an interesting tidbit about the billing given to the Hoppy performers.  In the early films with Jimmy Ellison, Boyd is first-billed, but Ellison gets the same sized lettering.  In the post-Ellison films, Boyd gets the dominant billing, and all the other players (like Hayden, Hayes) are in smaller letters and they're listed as being 'featured' or 'with'.

Laura Bates heads up the FRIENDS OF HOPALONG CASSIDY fan club.  Membership is $20.00 per year and includes a quarterly newsletter, reprints of comic strips, membership card, special mailings and festival news.  Membership is approaching 500 - worldwide.  Send to:

U.S. Television Office, Inc./Sagebrush Entertainment is the owner and copyright holder of all things Hopalong Cassidy.  At their website, you can find out more about the Cassidy character, William Boyd, the Hoppy films and radio series ... as well as ordering tapes of the movies and radio shows.  Go to: http://www.hopalong.com/home.asp

The official Hopalong Cassidy/Sagebrush Entertainment website has a list of the Hopalong Cassidy novels authored by Clarence E. Mulford as well as the later books written by Louis L'Amour: http://www.hopalong.com/novels.htm

Stars and Stripes is a daily newspaper published for the U.S. military, DoD civilians, contractors, and their families. Their website has several photos of Boyd, and the photo credit notes: Frankfurt, Germany, August 27, 1954: Cowboy star Bill Boyd, arriving at the Rhein-Main airport to begin a European vacation with his wife. Go to: http://www.stripes.com/photoday/031904photoday.html

There's some photos of Clarence Mulford and Cassidy novel book jackets at the Maine Memory Network:
http://www.mainememory.net/bin/Detail?ln=8675
http://www.mainememory.net/bin/Detail?ln=8661

Wanta read one of Clarence E. Mulford's short stories on Hoppy? The Adventure House Pulp website has an Adobe Acrobat download of Mulford's "Buzz Adams Hunts Trouble" from 1935: http://www.adventurehouse.com/e_texts/Western_Novel_35.02_Buzz_Adams_Hunts_Trouble.pdf

The Clan Boyd International Society has genealogy info on William Boyd: http://www.clanboyd.info/famous/hopalong/

There's a large website devoted to actress Dorothy Sebastian, whom Boyd was married to prior to Grace: http://www.dorothysebastian.com/

Charles Dudley's website on William Boyd and Hopalong Cassidy is at: http://www.hoppyandthebar-20.50megs.com

Roger Hall, the 'Tune Man', has a website titled the Cowboy Song Corral, and has lots of info on William Boyd, the Hoppy films, etc.: http://hometown.aol.com/Tunes1342/tunelov4.htm

Rob Williams' website on Hoppy is at: http://members.tripod.com/~compmast/boyd/boyd.html

In the Summer of 1950, Hopalong Cassidy was an important part of the new 'TV culture', and Life magazine had him on the cover: http://www.pathfinder.com/Life/covers/1950/cv061250.html

Jim Tipton's Find A Grave website has a picture of William Boyd's final resting place at Forrest Lawn - Glendale: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=2123

as well as the Memorial Marker for Boyd/Hoppy which was placed on the 20th anniversary of his death (September 12, 1992) at the Park Elementary School, Cambridge, Ohio: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pis&GRid=2123&PIgrid=2123&PIcrid=7974&PIpi=91513&ShowCemPhotos=Y&

and the resting place of Boyd's horse Topper at the Los Angeles Pet Cemetery: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7667621&pt=Topper%20Cassidy

The Cowboypal website pages on Hoppy are at: http://www.cowboypal.com/hoppyhp.html

"Silents are Golden" is a website devoted to silent films, and they have several 1920s era photos of William Boyd: http://www.silentsaregolden.com/photos/photosA-C.html

Cambridge, Ohio was the boyhood home of William Boyd.  They have a Hoppy museum and also host the annual Hopalong Cassidy Festival (held the first weekend in May each year): http://www.visitguernseycounty.com/index.htm

Joseph J. Caro is the author of the definitive book on Hoppy merchandise.  This link will take you to the amazon.com website with info on his Hoppy merchandise book: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0962807818

One of the many products endorsed by Boyd/Hoppy was Cass-Clay milk and dairy products, and the company's website has some info: http://www.cassclay.com/museum4.html

Remember the Hoppyland amusement park? Go to:
http://www.westland.net/venicehistory/articles/hoppy.htm
http://www.lilesnet.com/memories/past/hoppyland.htm
http://www.virtualvenice.info/media/attractions.htm

During 1999, the American Film Institute (AFI) conducted a poll to determine the '100 Greatest American Screen Legends'.  Not many of our cowboy heroes and heroines made the final cut, but you can see the list of the names in the poll ... such as Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Gabby Hayes ... and William Boyd: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6696/99afi100.htm

There's mention of the Hopalong Cassidy films on the Los Angeles KTLA TV Station:
http://ktla.trb.com/extras/ktla/60th/klaus.html
http://ktla.trb.com/about/station/ktla-about-history2,0,2676833.story?coll=ktla-footer&sitemap
http://ktla.trb.com/about/station/ktla-about-history1,0,2611296.htmlstory?coll=ktla-footer&sitemap

  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDB) has information on William Boyd, Harry Sherman, James Ellison, Russell Hayden, Gabby Hayes, Andy Clyde, Rand Brooks, and the other players.  Click below on: