Jon Hall | |
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Born | Charles Felix Locher February 23, 1915 Fresno, California |
Died | December 13, 1979 North Hollywood, California |
(aged 64)
Occupation | Actor |
Spouse | Frances Langford (4 June 1934 - August 1955) (divorced) Raquel Torres (1959 - ?) (divorced) Raquel Torres (? - ?) (remarried/divorced) |
Jon Hall (February 23, 1915 – December 13, 1979) was an American film actor.
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Born Charles Felix Locher[1] in Fresno, California, and raised in Tahiti by his father, the Swiss-born actor Felix Locher, he was a nephew of James Norman Hall, one of the authors of Mutiny on the Bounty. Hall began acting in films in 1935 in minor roles, one of which was Charlie Chan in Shanghai. He achieved success in 1937 when cast opposite another relative newcomer, Dorothy Lamour, in The Hurricane, which was written by James Norman Hall. His double in The Hurricane was the stuntman and actor Paul Stader.
He maintained his popularity until the end of the 1940s, usually playing leads in adventure films. In 1940, he portrayed Kit Carson in a biographical film of the frontiersman's life. He is notable for having made six popular Technicolor adventure films with Maria Montez: Arabian Nights (1942), White Savage (1943), Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1944), Cobra Woman (1944), Gypsy Wildcat (1944), and Sudan (1945).
Jon Hall is perhaps best remembered by later audiences as the star of the television series Ramar of the Jungle, which ran from 1952 to 1954. Hall directed and starred in the 1965 cult horror film The Beach Girls and the Monster.
Hall was married to singer Frances Langford from 1934 until 1955, and also twice married and divorced actress Raquel Torres.
When he was stricken with bladder cancer, Hall's health declined to a point that he found unbearable, and after telling friends that the pain of his illness was overwhelming, he committed suicide in North Hollywood, California, and is buried next to his father in Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills). His bronze marker reads Charles F. Locher / "Jon Hall" / Beloved Son and Brother / 1915 - 1979.[2]
Hall has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for Motion Pictures at 1724 Vine Street and for television at 6933 Hollywood Boulevard.