Henry Willson

Have you checked out Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood yet on Netflix? We talked about it in our last episode and made special mention of Jim Parsons’ stand out performance as lecherous agent/manager, Henry Willson. If you are as curious about the true story of Henry Willson as we were, here’s a Shorty where we give you the backstory you didn’t see in the limited series!

In the series, Willson tells the story of his lost love, actor Junior Durkin. We’d never heard of Durkin, but then, by chance, we were browsing the Criterion Channel (also available on Prime) this week and found a movie called Hell’s House. Durkin was third billing to Bette Davis and Pat O’Brien, but he was really the star of the film, and had he had a longer career might have done more of these kids gone wrong movies ala’ The Dead End Kids. 

Durkin did 10 movies between 1930 and 1934. In two, he was credited as Bernard Durkin. In Hell’s House, he was credited as Junior Dirken, and by 1934 he was credited in two films as “Trent” Durkin. We don’t know, but it seems like a good bet that the change to “Trent” came from the mind of Henry Wilson, who named his stable of actors names like Rock, Troy, Yale, and Tab. Durkin sadly died in a car crash in 1934. He was only 19 years old. If Durkin’s death was the catalyst that led to the bitter, drunken trajectory of Willson’s life, we’ll never know, but we’re glad to add Durkin to our gallery of actors you should know. 

Don’t have Criterion Channel or Prime Video?

Watch to Hell’s House below. (full movie)

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Stay safe. Shelter at home. Listen to your governors… and check out Shorties!