William S. Hart: Projecting the American West

by Ronald L. Davis

Stage actor turned Hollywood star, William S. Hart (1864-1946) was for movie fans a cherished symbol of the romantic Old West. His silent westerns offered excitement, lessons in righteous behavior, and a nostalgic vision of the American frontier. This biography explores the personal and professional life of Hollywood's prototypical cowboy hero.

For the first time, readers are given insights into Hart's somewhat lonely and tragic personal life, his quarrels with exploitive studios, and his association with such latter-day frontier legends as Charles M. Russell, Bat Masterson, and Wyatt Earp, who regarded him as a kindred spirit. Other highlights of this book include excerpts from his previously unpublished letters to starlet Jane Novak, Hart's one-time fiance, as well as numerous photographs from studio and private collections.

Drawing on Hart's papers, primary sources of the Motion Picture Academy, oral history, and contemporary newspapers, this chronicle of Hart's life is the first since his own starry-eyed autobiography, My Life East and West, appeared in 1929.

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