[citation needed] Before he began working in films, he was a city marshal, cowboy, and stage driver.

[citation needed] Until 1920 he worked at Universal Pictures as an actor, an assistant to director George Marshall, and a scenario writer.

He went from Universal to Pinnacle Studios in 1920, adding producing to his writing and acting as he continued to work in Western films through the 1920s.

[2] On April 2, 1949, Hart died at the Motion Picture Country Hospital in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles,[2] and was buried at the Holy Cross Cemetery.

He was a distant cousin of western actor William S. Hart, who is buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York City.