Gordon Westcott (born Myrthus Hickman, November 6, 1903 – October 30, 1935) was an American film actor.

Biography

Born in

St. George, Utah St. George is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Utah, United States. Located in southwestern Utah on the Arizona border, it is the principal city of the St. George Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). The city lies in the northe ...

, in 1903, Westcott studied architecture at the University of Chicago, where he was also lightweight boxing champion of the university. Westcott was a member of

the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

. Westcott acted on stage in New York, Utah, and California, before he made the move to film. He became a contract player with

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

and appeared in 37 films between

1928 Events January * January – British bacteriologist Frederick Griffith reports the results of Griffith's experiment, indirectly proving the existence of DNA. * January 1 – Eastern Bloc emigration and defection: Boris Bazhan ...

and 1935, starring alongside such up and comers as

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her pe ...

Loretta Young Loretta Young (born Gretchen Young; January 6, 1913 – August 12, 2000) was an American actress. Starting as a child, she had a long and varied career in film from 1917 to 1953. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the fil ...

and James Cagney. After appearing in a string of

Pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

productions, and working with such directors as

William A. Wellman William Augustus Wellman (February 29, 1896 – December 9, 1975) was an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor and military pilot. He was known for his work in crime, adventure, and action genre films, often focusing on avi ...

Busby Berkeley Busby Berkeley (born Berkeley William Enos; November 29, 1895 – March 14, 1976) was an American film director and musical choreographer. Berkeley devised elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns. Berke ...

and

William Dieterle William Dieterle (July 15, 1893 – December 9, 1972) was a German-born actor and film director who emigrated to the United States in 1930 to leave a worsening political situation. He worked in Cinema of the United States, Hollywood primarily a ...

, his film career ended with his death on October 30, 1935 from a skull fracture sustained in a polo accident that occurred three days earlier. He was 31 years old and survived by his second wife and two children.

Family

His son, from a brief 1922 marriage to Margaret Cardon Hickman (1902–1991), was Louis C. Hickman (1922–2016). His daughter, by Hazel Bethea McArthur, was actress

Helen Westcott Helen Westcott (born Myrthas Helen Hickman, January 1, 1928 – March 17, 1998) was an American stage and screen actress and former child actress. She is best known for her work in ''The Gunfighter'' (1950). Early years Westcott was the daughte ...

(1928–1998).

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Westcott, Gordon 1903 births 1935 deaths American male film actors American male silent film actors Male actors from Utah People from St. George, Utah 20th-century American male actors Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale) Polo deaths American Latter Day Saints