Porter Hall is a screen veteran of the old school whose work covers more eras of the industry than most. Neither the cinema nor the television half of the career can be called the side project. 'Double Indemnity' remains the reference point, thanks largely to Mr. Jackson. Another entry worth naming is 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'. He started at 43. Comedy keeps coming back on the credit list.
Porter Hall
65 years (Sep 18, 1888 – Oct 6, 1953)Cincinnati, Ohio, USA
72 Movies1 Series
Porter Hall is a screen veteran of the old school whose work covers more eras of the industry than most. Neither the cinema nor the television half of the career can be called the side project. 'Double Indemnity' remains the reference point, thanks largely to Mr. Jackson. Another entry worth naming is 'Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'. He started at 43. Comedy keeps coming back on the credit list.
Clifford Porter Hall (September 19, 1888 – October 6, 1953) was an American character actor known for appearing in a number of films in the 1930s and 1940s. Hall played movie villains or comedic incompetent characters. Hall was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and began his career touring as a stage actor with roles in productions of The Great Gatsby and Naked in 1926. Hall made his film debut in the 1931 drama Secrets of a Secretary. He made his last onscreen appearance in the 1954 film Return to Treasure Island, which was released after his death.
He was probably best remembered for four roles: a senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, an atheist in Going My Way, the nervous, ill-tempered Granville Sawyer, who administers a psychological test to Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street, and a train passenger who encounters a man (Fred MacMurray) who has just committed a murder in Double Indemnity.
On October 6, 1953, Hall died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California at the age of 65. His interment was at Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery. Hall had two children, David and Sarah Jane.