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Jack Hoxie | |
|---|---|
 Hoxie, c. 1920 | |
| Born | John Hartford Hoxie (1885-01-11)January 11, 1885 |
| Died | March 28, 1965(1965-03-28) (aged 80) Elkhart, Kansas, U.S. |
| Other names | John F. Stone Hart Hoxie Hartford Hoxie John Hart Hoxie Jack Hart Hoxie Art Hoxie |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1913–1933 |
| Spouses | Hazel Louise Panting (divorced)Dianne Juanita Hodges "Dixie Starr" (divorced) |
John Hartford Hoxie (January 11, 1885 – March 28, 1965) was an Americanrodeo performer and motion-picture actor whose career was most prominent in thesilent film era of the 1910s through the 1930s. Hoxie is best recalled for his roles inWesterns and rarely strayed from the genre.
Born in Kingfisher Creek inIndian Territory (now the state ofOklahoma), Hoxie was the son of a veterinarian father, Bart "Doc" Hoxie, who was killed in a horse accident just weeks before Jack's birth, and a half–Nez Perce mother[1][2] (some reports list her asCherokee), Matilda E. Hoxie (née Quick). After his father's death, his mother and he moved tonorthern Idaho where, at an early age, Hoxie became a workingcowboy and ranch hand. Matilda married a rancher and horse trader named Calvin Scott Stone. The family then relocated toBoise, where Hoxie worked as a packer for a US Army fort in the area, continuing to hone his skill as a horseback rider while competing in rodeos. In 1905, aged 20, he married Pearl Gage. The marriage lasted only a few months before the couple divorced.[3]
In 1909, he met performer Dick Stanley and joined hisWild West show. He performed as bronco rider in the show.[4] During this period, Hoxie met and married his second wife, Hazel Panting, who was a Western trick rider with the outfit.[5]
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Hoxie continued to tour with circuit rodeos until 1913, when he was approached to perform in the Western drama film shortThe Tragedy of Big Eagle Mine.[6] Now billing himself asHart Hoxie (a moniker he used until 1919), he continued working through the 1910s in popular Western shorts, often in small but well-received roles. In 1919, after appearing in roughly 35 films, he was cast in the starring role in thePaul Hurst-directedLightning Bryce serials as main character Sky Bryce. Hoxie began billing himself as Jack Hoxie and used this name thereafter. In 1920, he met and married his third wife, actress and frequent co-starMarin Sais, after his divorce from Hazel Panting. Although he rarely strayed from the Western film genre, several notable exceptions include his role as Perrone in the 1916 historical dramaThe Dumb Girl of Portici, starringAnna Pavlova; a role in the 1916 epic drama filmJoan the Woman starringGeraldine Farrar; and his role as Sandusky in the 1917 dramaNan of Music Mountain, starringWallace Reid andAnn Little.[3]
Through the early 1920s, Hoxie became an extremely popular Western film star and worked for such film companies asPathé Exchange,Arrow Film Corporation, andSunset Pictures. In 1923,Universal Pictures headCarl Laemmle put Hoxie under contract and soon his career was on par with those of other Western stars of the era:Art Acord,Harry Carey, andHoot Gibson. He appeared in such high-profile films as 1923'sWhere Is This West? with newcomerMary Philbin and 1924's Universal promotional filmHello, 'Frisco, alongside such popular actors of the era asJackie Coogan,Norman Kerry,Barbara La Marr,Antonio Moreno,Anna Q. Nilsson,Bebe Daniels, andRin Tin Tin. The film was designed to showcase Universal's roster of its most popular actors. Hoxie, often atop his horses Fender and Dynamite, starred alongside such actresses asMarceline Day,Alice Day,Helen Holmes,Louise Lovely,Lottie Pickford, andFay Wray in Westerns throughout the silent era.
Also during this period, Jack's younger half-brother Al Stone began to appear with him in films. Al eventually became a successful actor in the Western genre after changing his name toAl Hoxie and appearing in a series of films by actor/directorJ.P. McGowan.
In 1926, Laemmle and Universal chose Jack to star asBuffalo Bill Cody in Metropolitan Pictures'The Last Frontier, co-starringWilliam Boyd. The film proved enormously successful. In 1927, however, Hoxie became dissatisfied with his contract at Universal and refused to renegotiate for another stint at the studio. He continued throughout the late 1920s making films with lower-rank film studios. He made his last silent film,Forbidden Trail, in 1929, before pursuing further work in circuit rodeos, carnivals, and theMiller Brothers 101 Ranch Wild West Show.
During the 1930s, Hoxie made a brief comeback in films after signing a contract with low-budget studioMajestic Pictures. The films, however, did little to revive his acting career, so he once again hit the rodeo circuit. His last film appearance was in 1933'sTrouble Busters withLane Chandler, who had appeared alongside Hoxie in a number of earlier films.
Hoxie eventually divorced and married his fourth wife, Dixie Starr. The couple briefly operated the Broken Arrow Ranch, adude ranch inHereford, Arizona. After a fire consumed the ranch, Hoxie returned to Wild West shows, often billed as the "Famous Western Screen Star". Hoxie performed throughout the 1940s and well into the 1950s before finally making his last public appearance as a performer in 1959 for the Bill Tatum Circus at age 74.
Hoxie divorced Starr and married his fifth wife, Bonnie Avis Showalter, and the couple retired to a small ranch inArkansas, then later moved to his mother Matilda's old homestead in Oklahoma. In his later years, Hoxie developedleukemia, and he died in 1965 at the age of 80. He was interred at the Willowbar Cemetery inKeyes, Oklahoma[7] with the epitaph "A Star in Life - A Star in Heaven".
Hoxie Boys: The Lives and Films of Jack and Al Hoxie. by Edgar M. Wyatt, Wyatt Classics, Raleigh, NC. 1992.
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