Paul Causey Hurst[citation needed] (October 15, 1888 – February 27, 1953) was an American actor and film director.

[3] Hurst is best remembered for two roles: as the Yankee deserter who trespasses at Tara and is shot by Scarlett in Gone with the Wind (1939);[4] and his characterization of the drunken and sadistic vigilante Smith in The Ox Bow Incident (1943).

However, he was most proud of his role[citation needed] as a crotchety, old rancher who refuses water to a Quaker family in the movie Angel and the Badman, until John Wayne's character convinces him to share the water.

It was after this latter role that Republic Pictures signed him as the comic sidekick in Monte Hale's Western series.

His last film was John Ford's The Sun Shines Bright.