Paul W. 'Pat' Durnell
- Additional Crew
Born Feb 5, 1894, the 5th of 10 children to Thomas Wylie and Sarah Ellen Percifield Durnal, in Nashville, Brown County, Indiana.
He enlisted in "H" Troop, 2nd U.S. Cavalry at Columbus Barracks, Ohio on April 23, 1912. After serving in the Philippines, and at Fort Bliss, Texas, he was separated at Fort Ethan Allen, Vermont on Apr 22, 1915. He was baptized into the Catholic faith in Aug 1915 as Paul William Durnell, and married Minnie Mary Robarge in Burlington, Vermont in Sep 1915.
After his marriage, the family moved back to Indianapolis, Indiana and later moved to Montezuma, Indiana where he worked at the roundhouse for B&O Railroad. Following a destructive tornado in 1928, the family moved to California where he worked in the oil fields before beginning his career an employee of Lowes, Inc. where he worked in the Construction (Prop, and Special Effects) department at the MGM studio in Culver City, from the early 30's until his death in 1954.
His experience with the B&O railroad served him well; he was the resident steam locomotive engineer during his time at MGM. He was always frustrated when the directors wanted a lot of excessive smoke bellowing from the stack. While it was a much better for the visual effects, it was at the same time, a terribly inefficient way to operate a steam locomotive.
Among others productions, he worked on the sets of "The Wizard of Oz," "Northwest Passage," and "The Harvey Girls" (he was the engineer of the locomotive in the scenes with the crowd, and out in the open fields. His last picture was "The Tall Target" where he was again the actual locomotive engineer. He was not credited, and was concealed from view in all but his last movie where he is clearly visible in multiple scenes.
He died at 60, at the Motion Picture Hospital in Woodland Hills, California on March 16, 1954. Along with numerous celebrities with whom he worked, he is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.