Warren Hull

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John Warren Hull (January 7, 1903 – September 14, 1974) was one of the most popular serial actors in the 1930s.

A native of Gasport, New York, Hull attended New York University. Later, he left university to study voice and pursue a career in operas and operettas and as a radio announcer as well.

In 1935 Hull was signed to a contract by Warner Bros, and spent the next few years playing leading men both in drama and musical comedy. His best appearance of this period came in The Walking Dead (Michael Curtiz, 1936), a horror movie starred by Boris Karloff. Ending the decade, he excelled as a serial hero.

Working for Columbia Pictures Hull starred in The Spider's Web (1938), in which he assumed three parts as Richard Wentworth (a crime-fighting), Spider (Wentworth's mask-caped alter ego) and Blinky McQuade (a lowlife information-gatherer). Hull also played the titular Mandrake the Magician (1939), followed by The Green Hornet Strikes Again (1941) and The Spider Returns (1941).

In the mid-1940s Hull returned to radio announcing, appearing with frequency on such programs as The Hit Parade and Vox Pop. Mr. Hull was also the emcee of "Spin To Win," only the second game show created by the team of Mark Goodson and Bill Todman. The next two decades he hosted TV-hit programs as Strike it Rich, "Top Dollar" Who In the World and Beat the Odds.

Warren Hull died in Waterbury, Connecticut at age of 71, of a heart failure. He is honored with a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.