Arthur Hoyt

Arthur Hoyt (March 19, 1874 – January 4, 1953) was an American actor born in Georgetown, Colorado, whose career spanned both the Broadway stage and a prolific run in film lasting 34 years. He appeared in more than 275 films, roughly a third of which were silent productions.

Hoyt's stage career ran from 1905 to 1911. His Broadway debut came in 1905 with The Prince Consort, and he subsequently appeared in Ferenc Molnár's The Devil to Pay in 1908. His final Broadway credit was The Great Name in 1911.

His transition to film began with the silent comedy short The Scrub Lady in 1914, though sustained screen work commenced in 1916 with The Heart of a Show Girl. From 1916 through 1944, at least one film featuring Hoyt was released every year, with output frequently reaching a dozen or more titles annually. During the silent era he took on substantial roles in The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921), Souls for Sale (1923), and The Lost World (1925). In 1918 he also directed two silent features, Station Content, starring Gloria Swanson, and High Stakes, and served as casting director on Her American Husband. His 80th and final silent film was The Rush Hour (1928), starring Marie Prevost.

Hoyt navigated the shift to sound without interruption. His first talking picture was My Man (1928), a musical starring Fanny Brice. In the sound era he most often portrayed figures such as henpecked husbands or put-upon office workers, roles for which he frequently went uncredited. He is perhaps most recognizable as the motor-court manager who clashes with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert in Frank Capra's It Happened One Night (1934). During the 1940s, Hoyt became a regular presence in the films of writer-director Preston Sturges, appearing in every film Sturges wrote and directed between 1940 and 1947 as part of Sturges's informal company of character players.

Hoyt retired from acting at the age of 70. His final film, The Sin of Harold Diddlebock, was shot in late 1944 and early 1945 but not released until 1947. He died on January 4, 1953, at the Motion Picture Country Home in Woodland Hills, California, and is entombed at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles.