Huntz Hall
| Huntz Hall | |
|---|---|
| 250px | |
| Born | Henry Richard Hall August 15, 1920 [1] New York, New York, United States |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. North Hollywood, California, United States |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1935–1994 |
| Spouse(s) | Elsie May Anderson (m. 1940–44) (divorced) Leslie Wright (m. 1948–53) (divorced) Leah Hall (m. 1966–99) (his death)[2] |
| Children | Reverend Gary Hall & Stevie Hall |
Henry Richard "Huntz" Hall (August 15, 1920[1] – January 30, 1999) was an American radio, theatrical, and motion picture performer noted primarily for his roles in the "Dead End Kids" movies, such as Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), which gave way to the "The Bowery Boys" movie franchise, a prolific and highly successful series of comedies in the 1940s and 1950s.
Life and career
Hall was born in 1920 in New York City[3] to Joseph Patrick Hall, an Irish immigrant air-conditioner repairman, and his wife Mary Ellen (Mullen).[1] The 14th of 16 children, he was nicknamed "Huntz" because of his Teutonic-looking nose.[4][5][6][7]
Hall attended Catholic schools[6] and started performing on radio at age 5.[8]
He appeared on Broadway in the 1935 production of Dead End, a play written and directed by Sidney Kingsley.[9] Hall was then cast along with the other Dead End Kids in the 1937 film Dead End, directed by William Wyler and starring Humphrey Bogart.[10]
Hall served in the United States Army during World War II.
In 1943, he appeared in the USN training film "Don't Kill your Friends" as the moronic Ensign Dilbert the Pilot who, because of his carelessness and cavalier attitude, manages to kill a civilian and three servicemen!
In 1948, Hall was arrested for possession of marijuana, but his 1949 trial resulted in a hung jury.[11]
Hall later played the increasingly buffoonish Horace DeBussy "Sach" Jones in 48 "Bowery Boys" films, gaining top billing when his longtime partner, Leo Gorcey, left the series in 1956. Hall and Gorcey reunited in Second Fiddle to a Steel Guitar (1966) and The Phynx (1969).
He also appeared in other films, including the war film A Walk in the Sun (1945), Gentle Giant (1967), Herbie Rides Again (1974), and The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery (1975) opposite Gabriel Dell, another former Bowery Boy.
In 1967, he became one of the celebrities featured on the cover of The Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
By 1976, Hall drove a brand-new Rolls-Royce. He did not have oil-well investments as has been erroneously reported for years all over the Internet. His son Gary Hall told biographer Jim Manago that his father made up that story for attention.
His plans to produce a movie series, "The Ghetto Boys" (a take on "The Bowery Boys"), fell through. In 1973, Hall took part in Princess Grace of Monaco's Council for Drug Abuse which was part of the Catholic Office of Drug Education.[12]
He later appeared alongside other Hollywood veteran stars in Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976), and in 1977 he played movie mogul Jesse Lasky in Ken Russell's film Valentino. His later films included roles in Gas Pump Girls (1979) and The Escape Artist (1982), the latter of which reunited him again with Gabriel Dell. His final film appearance was in The Ratings Game (1984). He then performed in dinner theater productions before retiring in 1994.[8]
Behind Sach: The Huntz Hall Story by Jim Manago, published by BearManor Media, is the first biography of Hall. A website on Hall is at http://huntzhall.blogspot.com.
Death
Hall died from congestive heart failure on January 30, 1999 at the age of 78 in North Hollywood, California. He was interred in a niche at All Saints Episcopal Church in Pasadena, California.[8]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Leonard Getz in his 2006 book From Broadway to the Bowery published by McFarland & Company uses August 15 but the more authoritative Social Security Death Index uses August 18, 1920. The Independent uses August 15, 1919 and the New York Times lists his age as 78 which would make his birth year 1920. Walker and Roat's biography use 1919. As with many actors, their resumes conflict with more official documents submitted to the government.
- ↑ Florida Marriage Index
- ↑ Social Security Death Index
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ David Ragan. "Who's Who in Hollywood 1900-1976", Arlington House, 1976, p. 176.
External links
- Huntz Hall at the Internet Movie Database
- Huntz Hall at the Internet Broadway DatabaseLua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
- Huntz Hall at Find a Grave
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