Neal Hart: America’s Pal

As you might have guessed, western star Neal Hart (1879-1949) was a cousin of the much bigger western star William S. Hart. Less predictably, he was born on Staten Island!

According to his dossier, Hart had actually worked as a city marshal, cowboy, and stage coach driver before hitching up with Wild West shows. By 1916 (a couple of years after his cousin’s screen debut) he was appearing in silent films at Universal. Billed as “America’s Pal” Hart was top of the marquee oater star through the end of the silent era. He directed a couple of dozen of them as well. When talkies came he became a supporting player (henchmen and the like) in films starring Hoot Gibson,John Wayne, and others. By the mid ’30s he was strictly a bit player and extra but he kept at it through the end of the ’40s. In the end he appeared in over 150 films, the last of which The Wyoming Bandit (1949) starring Rocky Lane.