Porter Hall

Clifford Porter Hall (September 19, 1888 – October 6, 1953) was an American actor whose career spanned Broadway and Hollywood, encompassing stage work from 1926 to 1934 and a prolific run of film appearances through the early 1950s. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, Hall was the son of W.A. Hall, who operated a cooperage business that collapsed as a result of Prohibition. Following his graduation from the University of Cincinnati, Hall took a position with the Fleischmann Company while simultaneously pursuing theater as a director and actor in little theater productions in Cleveland.

Hall's Broadway career began in 1926 with appearances in The Great Gatsby and Naked, followed by Loud Speaker in 1927 and Night Hostess in 1928. He continued on stage through the early 1930s, appearing in It's a Wise Child (1929), Collision (1932), and The Warrior's Husband (1932). His final Broadway credits were The Dark Tower in 1933 and The Red Cat in 1934.

Hall transitioned to film with his debut in the 1931 drama Secrets of a Secretary and went on to build a substantial screen career characterized by villainous and comedic incompetent roles. Among his most recognized performances were a senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, an atheist in Going My Way, the nervous and ill-tempered Granville Sawyer in Miracle on 34th Street, a train passenger who encounters a murderer in Double Indemnity, and the lawyer Herbert MacCaulay in The Thin Man. His final screen appearance came in the 1954 film Return to Treasure Island, released posthumously.

The breadth of Hall's film work brought him into contact with directors including Frank Capra, Billy Wilder, Howard Hawks, Preston Sturges, Cecil B. DeMille, and Leo McCarey, among many others. Six of the films in which he appeared received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture — The Thin Man (1934), The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Double Indemnity (1944), Going My Way (the 1944 winner), and Miracle on 34th Street (1947). Three of his films — Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Sullivan's Travels, and Double Indemnity — appear on the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest American films. Ten of his films were selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry as culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant: The Thin Man (1934), Make Way for Tomorrow (1937), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), Sullivan's Travels (1941), The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944), Double Indemnity (1944), Going My Way (1944), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), and Ace in the Hole (1951).

In his personal life, Hall married actress Geraldine Brown in 1927 and served for many years as a deacon at the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood. He died of a heart attack in Los Angeles on October 6, 1953, at the age of 65, and was interred at Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery. Director Russ Meyer later paid tribute to Hall by naming a character in the 1970 cult film Beyond the Valley of the Dolls after him.