Terva Gaston Hubbard, better known as Trevor Bardette, was a Hollywood actor with a distinctive wavy hairdo and a talent for playing villains in westerns and cliffhanger serials. After graduating from Oregon State University in June 1925, Hubbard initially pursued a career in mechanical engineering, but by the late 1920s, he had changed his name to Trevor Bardette and begun acting on the East Coast stage.
Bardette's early career was marked by a brief and unremarkable stint on the stage, but he eventually made his way to Hollywood in 1937. Despite his rugged features and piercing eyes, Bardette was often cast as a ruthless heavy, sneaky spy, swindler, gangster, or double-crosser, and his characters rarely survived until the final scene.
Throughout his thirty-year career, Bardette took on a wide range of roles, often appearing in multiple films per year. Between 1938 and 1940 alone, he appeared in over 30 films, including prestige pictures like Jezebel, Marie Antoinette, Gone with the Wind, Abe Lincoln in Illinois, and The Grapes of Wrath. At smaller studios and later for television, Bardette fared better in terms of screen time, and serials gave him the opportunity to showcase his menacing side.
Some of Bardette's most notable roles include his appearances in serials like Overland with Kit Carson, Winners of the West, and The Secret Code, as well as his recurring roles in TV series like The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp, Lassie, Cheyenne, and Gunsmoke.
After retiring from acting in 1970, Bardette bought a ranch in Green Valley, Arizona, where he spent his remaining years. Interestingly, Bardette also had a literary side, and under his original name, Terva Hubbard, he published a short story called "The Phantom Photoplay" in the August 1927 issue of Weird Tales magazine.
