Porter Hall

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Porter Hall (1930)

Clifford Porter Hall (born September 19, 1888 in Cincinnati , Ohio , † October 6, 1953 in Los Angeles , California ) was an American film and stage actor.

Life

Porter Hall initially toured the United States with theater productions. Hall had been active on Broadway since the 1920s . It wasn't until 1931 that the 43-year-old had his first film appearance in the comedy Secrets of a Secretary with Claudette Colbert . His final breakthrough in film was four years later with the crime comedy The Thin Man . Over the next two decades, 80 films followed that made him a well-known character actor. From then on, Hall mostly played overly serious, stingy, or rude personalities, sometimes even the movie villain. One of his best known roles was the humorless doctor Granville Sawyer in the classic film The Miracle of Manhattan , who wants to admit Santa Claus to psychiatry. In his private life, in contrast to his roles, Hall was considered a friendly personality. Another contradiction to his real life was his portrayal of a cold-hearted atheist in The Road to Happiness , for which he received high praise from critics. In fact, in real life he was a deacon in his parish.

The rather skinny actor with the small chin and piercing eyes shot with many of Hollywood's famous directors. Including Billy Wilder , for whom Hall played important supporting roles in Woman Without a Conscience (1944, as a train passenger and accidental murder witness) and Reporter of Satan (1951, as editor-in-chief of a local newspaper). Even Preston Sturges had Hall in his comedies Sullivan's Travels (1941) and sensation in Morgan's Creek (1944) occur in comedic roles. Other directors Hall shot with included Frank Capra in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Howard Hawks in His Girl for Special Cases (1940) and Cecil B. DeMille in The Undefeated (1947).

Hall died of a heart attack in the middle of his film career . His last film Return to Treasure Island was released after his death. He had been married to his wife Geraldine since 1927 and it was his only marriage. They had two children named David and Sarah. He is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood . Director Russ Meyer named a character in his cult film Flowers Without Scent (1970) after Hall.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Porter Hall at Hollywood.com
  2. ↑ IMDb biography
  3. ↑ IMDb biography
personal data
SURNAME Hall, porter
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hall, Clifford Porter (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-American actor
DATE OF BIRTH September 19, 1888
PLACE OF BIRTH Cincinnati , Ohio , USA
DATE OF DEATH October 6, 1953
Place of death Los Angeles , California , USA