WILLIAM BOYD IN NEW ROLE

Evening Star, Issue 21218, 27 September 1932, Page 5

WILLIAM BOYD IN NEW ROLE

' SHY DEVILS ' COMING TO RECENT Sergeant Quirk is at it again. He may he William Boyd to you, hut to the. thousands who remember ‘ What Price Glory?’ and the two-fisted topsergeant, he will always be Sergeant Quirk. Boyd has been cast in another tough sergeant role in Howard Hughes’s sensational air comedy, ‘ Sky Devils,’ which comes' to the Regent Theatre next Friday. In this successor to ‘ Hell’s Angels ’ Boyd plays one of the three American flyers, who fight mostly with each other iii the Flying Corps during the war, the other two being Spencer Tracy and George Cooper, with pretty Ann Dvorak, new leading woman, to provide the heart interest. Boyd went to Hollywood from New York, where he was born, and where he had a distinguished record in Broadway theatricals. He descends from a noted theatrical family, and both his father and grandfather were known as “ William Boyd ” on the stage. As “ William Boyd ” he is thus distinguished from the “ Bill Boyd ” who won fame as a movie star before the “ stage Boyd ” arrived. Boyd was brought up in the theatrical atmosphere, and throughout his youth played in stage productions on Broadway and on tour. In his long and brilliant career on the New York stage lie has played opposite many distinguished actresses. He was a national sensation in the role of Sergeant Quirk in ‘ What Price Glory ?’ It was his association with Ethel Barrymore that led him to the screen, and in a series of film productions ho was leading man to Miss Barrymore and other stars of silent pictures, including Anita Stewart and Justine Johnstone. With the advent of sound on the screen, Boyd definitely abandoned the stage for pictures, and signed a longterm contract with Paramount. His pictures for Paramount include ‘ The Benson Murder Case,’ 1 The Spoilers,’ ‘ The Gang Buster,’ ‘ Derelict,’ ‘ Gun Smoke,’ ‘ Cite Streets,’ ‘ Murder by the Clock,’ and ‘ The Road to Bcno.’ Boyd delivers one of the outstanding characterisations of his career in ‘ Sky Devils ’—a tough, ” he-man ” part to his particular liking, and a typo of role in which he excels.