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Huntz Hall

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Huntz Hall
Born
Henry Richard Hall

(1920-08-15)August 15, 1920[1]
New York City, U.S.
DiedJanuary 30, 1999(1999-01-30) (aged 78)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
OccupationActor
Years active1935–1994
Spouses
Elsie May Anderson
(m. 1940; div. 1944)
Leslie Wright
(m. 1948; div. 1953)
Colleen Vico
(m. 1960, divorced)
Leah Stevens
(m. 1966)
[2]
Children2

Henry Richard "Huntz" Hall (August 15, 1920[1] – January 30, 1999) was an American radio, stage, and movie performer who appeared in the popular "Dead End Kids" movies, including Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), and in the later "Bowery Boys" movies, during the late 1930s to the late 1950s.

Life and career

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Hall was born in 1920 in New York City[3] to Joseph Patrick Hall, an engineer from Ireland, and his wife, Mary Ellen (née Mullen) Hall.[1] The fourteenth of sixteen children, he was nicknamed "Huntz" because of his nose.[4][5] He attended Catholic schools[6] and started performing on radio at five years of age.[7]

He appeared on Broadway in the 1935 production of Dead End, a play written and directed by Sidney Kingsley.[8][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.[citation needed] In 1943, he appeared in the USN training film "Don't Kill Your Friends" as moronic Ensign Dilbert the Pilot, who carelessly causes the death of a civilian and three servicemen.[11]

Dilbert: Don't Kill Your Friends, 1943

In 1948, Hall was arrested for possession of marijuana. His trial, held in 1949, resulted in a hung jury.[12]

Hall later played the increasingly buffoonish Horace DeBussy "Sach" Jones in 48 of "The 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 was one of the celebrities featured on the cover of The Beatles' 1967 album, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. In 1971, he co-starred with Art Metrano and Jamie Farr in the CBS situation comedy The Chicago Teddy Bears. 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, part of the Catholic Office of Drug Education.[13]

In 1976, he appeared in Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood, and in 1977 he played Jesse Lasky in Ken Russell's film Valentino. His later films included Gas Pump Girls (1979) and The Escape Artist (1982), the latter reuniting him with Gabriel Dell. His final film appearance was in Auntie Lee's Meat Pies in 1993.[7]

Behind Sach: The Huntz Hall Story by Jim Manago, published by BearManor Media in 2015, is the first biography of Hall.

Death

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Hall died from cardiac disease on January 30, 1999, at the age of 78 in Los Angeles, California.[7]

Filmography

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Film

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Year Film Role Notes
1937 Dead End Dippy Dead End Kids film
1938 Crime School Goofy Dead End Kids film
1938 Little Tough Guy Pig Dead End Kids film
1938 Angels with Dirty Faces Crab Dead End Kids film
1938 Swingtime in the Movies Himself Dead End Kids film / Short / Uncredited
1939 They Made Me a Criminal Dippy Dead End Kids film
1939 Hell's Kitchen Bingo Dead End Kids film
1939 The Angels Wash Their Faces Huntz Dead End Kids film
1939 Call a Messenger Pig Little Tough Guys film
1939 On Dress Parade Cadet Johnny Cabot Little Tough Guys film
1939 The Return of Doctor X Pinky
1940 You're Not So Tough Albert 'Pig' Little Tough Guys film
1940 Junior G-Men Gyp Little Tough Guys film / Serial
1940 Give Us Wings Pig Little Tough Guys film
1941 Hit the Road Pig Grogan Little Tough Guys film
1941 Bowery Blitzkrieg Limpy East Side Kids film
1941 Sea Raiders Toby Nelson Little Tough Guys film / Serial
1941 Spooks Run Wild Glimpy East Side Kids film
1941 Mob Town Pig Little Tough Guys film
1941 Zis Boom Bah Skeets Skillhorn
1942 Mr. Wise Guy Glimpy Stone East Side Kids film
1942 Junior G-Men of the Air 'Bolts' Larson Little Tough Guys film / Serial
1942 Let's Get Tough! Glimpy East Side Kids film
1942 Private Buckaroo Cpl. Anemic
1942 Tough As They Come Albert "Pig" Little Tough Guys film
1942 Smart Alecks Glimpy East Side Kids film
1942 'Neath Brooklyn Bridge Glimpy East Side Kids film
1942 Junior Army Bushy Thomas
1942 Mug Town Pig Little Tough Guys film
1943 Kid Dynamite Glimpy McGleavey East Side Kids film
1943 Clancy Street Boys Glimpy Freedhoff East Side Kids film
1943 Ghosts on the Loose Glimpy Freedhoff East Side Kids film
1943 Keep 'Em Slugging Pig Little Tough Guys film
1943 Mr. Muggs Steps Out Glimpy Freedhoff East Side Kids film
1943 Dilbert, Don't Kill Your Friends Ensign Dilbert Short / U.S. Navy training film
1944 Million Dollar Kid Glimpy Freedhoff East Side Kids film
1944 Follow the Leader Glimpy Freedhoff East Side Kids film
1944 Block Busters Glimpy East Side Kids film
1944 Bowery Champs Glimpy McClusky East Side Kids film
1945 Docks of New York Glimpy East Side Kids film
1945 Bring on the Girls Sailor
1945 Wonder Man Sailor
1945 Mr. Muggs Rides Again Glimpy East Side Kids film
1945 Come Out Fighting Glimpy East Side Kids film
1945 A Walk in the Sun Pvt. Carraway
1946 Live Wires Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1946 In Fast Company Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1946 Bowery Bombshell Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1946 Spook Busters Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1946 Mr. Hex 'Sach' Sullivan Bowery Boys film
1947 Hard Boiled Mahoney Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1947 News Hounds Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1947 Bowery Buckaroos Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1948 Angels' Alley Sach 'Turkey' Horace Debussy Jones Bowery Boys film
1948 Jinx Money Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1948 Smugglers' Cove Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1948 Trouble Makers Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones "Chopper McGee" Bowery Boys film
1949 Fighting Fools Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1949 Hold That Baby! Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1949 Angels in Disguise Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1949 Master Minds Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones "Ali Ben Sachmo" Bowery Boys film
1950 Blonde Dynamite Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1950 Lucky Losers Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones "Sacramento Jones" Bowery Boys film
1950 Triple Trouble Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1950 Blues Busters Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1951 Bowery Battalion Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1951 Ghost Chasers Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1951 Let's Go Navy! Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1951 Crazy Over Horses Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1952 Hold That Line Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1952 Here Come the Marines Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Jr. Bowery Boys film
1952 Feudin' Fools Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1952 No Holds Barred Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1953 Jalopy Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1953 Loose in London Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1953 Clipped Wings Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1953 Private Eyes Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1954 Paris Playboys Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones / Prof. Maurice Gaston Le Beau Bowery Boys film
1954 The Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1954 Jungle Gents Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1955 Bowery to Bagdad Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1955 High Society Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1955 Spy Chasers Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1955 Jail Busters Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1955 Dig That Uranium Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1956 Crashing Las Vegas Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1956 Fighting Trouble Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1956 Hot Shots Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1957 Hold That Hypnotist Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1957 Spook Chasers Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1957 Looking for Danger Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1957 Up in Smoke Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1958 In the Money Horace Debussy 'Sach' Jones Bowery Boys film
1965 Second Fiddle to a Steel Guitar Huntz
1967 Gentle Giant Dink Smith
1970 The Phynx Himself
1974 Herbie Rides Again Judge
1975 The Manchu Eagle Murder Caper Mystery Deputy Roy
1976 Won Ton Ton: The Dog Who Saved Hollywood Moving Man
1977 Valentino Jesse Lasky
1979 Gas Pump Girls Uncle Joe
1982 The Escape Artist Turnkey
1987 Cyclone Long John
1992 Auntie Lee's Meat Pies Farmer Final film role

Television

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Year Series Role Notes
1966 Flipper Barney 2 Episodes: "Disaster in the Everglades, Parts 1 and 2"
1970 Barefoot in the Park Fellows Episode: "Disorder in the Court"
1971 Escape Gilbert TV movie
1971 The Chicago Teddy Bears Dutch 5 Episodes
1972 The Corner Bar Sparky Schnauzer Episode: "The Navy Reunion"
1975 The Ghost Busters Gronk 2 Episodes: "Which Witch Is Which?" & "Merlin the Magician"
1975 The Sky's the Limit Hitchhiker TV movie
1976 Matt Helm Willy Episode: "Die Once, Die Twice"
1976 Good Heavens Barney Episode: "Good Neighbor Maxine"
1978 CHiPs Armored car driver Episode: "Crack-Up"
1982 Diff'rent Strokes The Happy Wanderer Episode: "Big Brother"
1984 The Ratings Game Benny Bentson TV movie
1988 Night Heat Father O'Malley Episode: "Bless Me Father"
1993 Daddy Dearest The Pretzel Man Episode: "American We"; final role

References

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  1. ^ a b c 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 uses 1919. As was the case with many actors, their resumes often conflict with official documents submitted to the government.
  2. ^ Mango, Jim (2015). Behind Sach - The Huntz Hall Story. BearManor Media. ISBN 9781593937737. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
  3. ^ Social Security Death Index
  4. ^ Huntz Hall, Allmovie
  5. ^ Leonard Getz (2006). From Broadway to the Bowery. McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-2535-0.
  6. ^ Vallance, Tom (March 3, 1999). "Huntz Hall". The Independent. London, UK. Retrieved May 17, 2010.
  7. ^ a b c Michael T. Kaufman (February 2, 1999). "Huntz Hall, Perpetual Youth In 'Bowery' Films, Dies at 78". New York Times. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
  8. ^ "Huntz Hall". Internet Broadway Database. The Broadway League. Retrieved June 27, 2010.
  9. ^ "BROADWAY TO BOWERY AND BACK: Huntz Hall reveals the secrets behind the Dead End Kids, East Side Kids & Bowery Boys". Screen Thrills Illustrated (5 (v02n01)): 37. 1963.
  10. ^ Hayes, David (1984). The Films of the Bowery Boys. Secaucus, NJ: The Citadel Press. ISBN 978-0806509310.
  11. ^ "Don't Kill Your Friends (WWII Training Video)". YouTube. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
  12. ^ Vallance, Tom (February 3, 1999). "Obituary: Huntz Hall". The Independent. London.
  13. ^ David Ragan. "Who's Who in Hollywood 1900-1976", Arlington House, 1976, p. 176.
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