Ellen Hall

{{short description|American actress (1923–1999)}}

{{Use American English|date=January 2023}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}

{{Upscaled images|date=January 2024}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Ellen Hall

| image = GOLDWYN GIRL OF 1943 Ellen Hall.png

| alt = Ellen Hall

| caption = Hall in 1943

| birth_name = Ellen Joanna Johnson

| birth_date = {{Birth date|1923|4|18}}

| birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S.

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1999|March|24|1923|April|18}}

| death_place = Bellevue, Nebraska, U.S.

| other_names = Ellen Langer

| occupation = Actress

| years_active = 1941–1952

| known_for = {{ubl|Call of the Rockies 1944| Brand of the Devil 1944}}

| spouse = {{marriage|Lee Langer|1944|1995|reason=died}}

| parents = {{ubl|Ella Hall|Emory Johnson}}

| relatives = Richard Emory (brother)

}}

Ellen Hall was an American actress and showgirl. She was introduced to the film industry when her mother, Ella Hall, got an uncredited cameo as a nurse in the 1930 Universal production All Quiet on the Western Front.

In 1943, Hall joined the Goldwyn Girls, a musical stock company of female dancers formed by Samuel Goldwyn, based on the Ziegfeld Girls. In 1944, 20th Century Fox invited her to join the newly formed Diamond Horseshoe Girls.

During her career, she acted in Westerns, a popular genre in the 1940s, as well as family comedies and musicals. In 1951, she appeared in the television series The Cisco Kid.

Hall performed her last acting role in 1952, when she was {{age|1923|4|18|1952|01|08}}.

Early years

{{Image frame|width=150|content=150px|align=left}}

Ellen Hall's mother was the actress Ella Hall, and her father was actor-turned-director Emory Johnson. The couple married in a private ceremony in 1917.{{cite magazine |title=Ella Hall Takes the Step| url=https://archive.org/details/motionpicturenew162unse/page/2202/mode/1up| magazine=Motion Picture News| publisher=Motion Picture News, inc.| date=Sep–Oct 1917| page=2202| access-date=July 29, 2024}} After their honeymoon, the newlyweds moved into Johnson's Los Angeles residence, which they shared with his mother, Emilie Johnson. The oldest of Hall's siblings, Emory Waldemar Johnson Jr, was born on January 27, 1919.{{cite web| title=California Birth Index, 1905–1995| url=https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/804085:5247| publisher=California Department of Public Health – Vital Records| date=2005 | url-access=subscription |access-date=January 7, 2024|quote=Waldemar Johnson Jr}} The Johnson's second child, Alfred Bernard Johnson, was born on September 26, 1920.{{cite web| title=California Birth Index, 1905–1995| url=https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/804085:5247| publisher=California Department of Public Health – Vital Records| date=2005 | url-access=subscription |access-date=January 7, 2024|quote=Alfred Bernard Johnson}} Ellen Hall was born Ellen Joanna Johnson on April 19, 1923.{{cite web| title=California Birth Index, 1905–1995| url=https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1036748:5247| publisher=California Department of Public Health – Vital Records| date=2005 | url-access=subscription |access-date=January 7, 2024|quote=Ellen Joanna Johnson}}

In 1924, Ellen's mother filed for divorce, though the couple reconciled in late 1925. In March 1926, a truck fatally struck the five-year-old Alfred while the kids were crossing a busy street in Hollywood. The Johnson couple subsequently had another child, Diana Marie, on October 27, 1929.{{cite web| title=California Birth Index, 1905–1995| url=https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/1568687:5247| publisher=California Department of Public Health – Vital Records| date=2005 | url-access=subscription |access-date=January 7, 2024}}

Hall's parents eventually divorced in 1930, and Ella and her three children found residence with Ella's mother, who lived in North Hollywood. Ella got work at the upscale department store I. Magnin.{{cite news| title=Daughter of Ella Hall, former film star, makes debut with Mary Pickford| url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/105164350/ |newspaper=The Indianapolis Star | location=Indianapolis, Indiana| date=January 19, 1933| page=3| via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription| access-date=January 9, 2024}} In 1932, Emory Johnson declared bankruptcy to reduce his financial obligations towards Ella and their children.{{cite magazine |title=Emory Johnson Broke |url=https://archive.org/stream/variety105-1932-03#page/n73/mode/1up |magazine=Variety |publisher=March 8, 1932 |date=March 8, 1932 | page=10}}

Career

File:All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 film) poster.jpg

Hall appeared in her first large-scale production when she was seven. Her mother secured roles for her and her ten-year-old brother, Waldmar, in the 1930 Universal production All Quiet on the Western Front.{{cite news| title=Ellen Hall Langer| url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/693668747/ |newspaper=The Modesto Bee| location=Modesto, California| date=March 30, 1999| page=39| via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription| access-date=January 9, 2024}}

According to another newspaper account, Hall made her first appearance in front of the cameras at age nine, with an uncredited role in Mary Pickford's Secrets, released in 1933.

=Comedies, glamour, and musicals=

At the age of 18, Hall was chosen to play one of the background autograph seekers in the 1941 musical comedy The Chocolate Soldier.{{AFI person|46750-Ellen-Hall|Ellen Hall Filmography}}{{AFI film|26646|The Chocolate Soldier}}

At 21, in 1943, Hall became one of the thirty-four Goldwyn Girls, created by Sam Goldwyn. This led her to appear in the 1944 Samuel Goldwyn Productions musical Up in Arms.{{cite news| title=Samuel Goldwyn Grabs Off Galaxy of Glamour Girls by Hedda Hopper| url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/380791610|newspaper=The Los Angeles Times| location=Los Angeles, California| date=October 3, 1943| page=50| via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription| access-date=January 14, 2024}} Her promotional photo from the shoot states, {{em|She is 5'6" tall, weighs 123 pounds, and has brown hair and blue eyes.}}Description of Ella Hall from her Commons Photograph In 1944, she appeared in Here Come the Waves;{{AFI film|1162|Here Comes the Waves}} in 1945, Wonder Man;{{AFI film|24666|Wonder Man}} and in 1946, Cinderella Jones.{{AFI film|24724|Cinderella Jones}} This role would be her last in a musical. In late 1944, Hall was selected by 20th-Century Fox producer William Perlberg to join the fourteen Diamond Horseshoe Girls.{{cite news| title=Glamour Girls Given Long-term Contracts by Hedda Hadda Hopper| url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/380740056/| newspaper=The Los Angeles Times| location=Los Angeles, California| date=November 5, 1944| pages=28–29| via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription|access-date=January 19, 2024|quote=New Hollywood Beauty Boss Launches Policy of Attempting to Gild Lilies}}

=Westerns=

File:Ellen Hall in Thunder Town (2).jpg

Although she had work in other genres, Hall found her acting niche in B movie Westerns. Out of her filmography of twenty movies, eight were Westerns.{{section link|Ellen Hall#Filmography}} In 1943, the 20-year-old actress got her first female lead in the Monogram Pictures production Outlaws of Stampede Pass.{{AFI film|604|Outlaws of Stampede Pass}} Hall would act in five Westerns in 1944: in January, she got top female billing in Raiders of the Border;{{AFI film|24131|Raiders of the Border}} in April, she appeared in Lumberjack;{{AFI film|24051|Lumberjack}} in June, Range Law;{{AFI film|24133|Range Law}} and in July, Call of the Rockies{{AFI film|2473|Call of the Rockies}} and Brand of the Devil.{{AFI film|24299|Brand of the Devil}}

Following her 1944 marriage, Hall began accepting fewer film roles. In 1946, she acted in Thunder Town,{{AFI film|25016|Thunder Town}} and in 1949, she accepted her final role in a Hollywood Western, in Lawless Code.{{AFI film|26389|Lawless Code}}

=Other genres and mediums=

Interspersed with her 1944 Western roles, Hall also landed a role as the long-dead wife of Bela Lugosi in the 1944 film Voodoo Man.{{cite magazine| title=Reviews of New Films – Voodoo Man – Hollywood Review| url=https://archive.org/details/filmdaily85wids/page/n433/mode/1up| page=433| magazine=The Film Daily| date=February 15, 1944| publisher=New York, Wid's Films and Film Folks, Inc.| url-status=live | archive-url=https://archive.org| archive-date=May 3, 2013| access-date=December 18, 2023}} After getting married, she acted in six more movies, and in 1951, she appeared in three episodes of the Western television series The Cisco Kid. Her final Hollywood production was the 1951 film Bowery Battalion,{{AFI film|50038|Bowery Battalion}} and her last recorded film is the 1952 PFC production The Congregation.{{AFI film|53365|The Congregation}} She retired from making films at the age of {{age|1923|4|18|1952|01|01}}.

Personal life

=Marriage=

In February 1944, Hall was working with actress Ann Sheridan on a scene for the Warner Bros. production Shine On, Harvest Moon.{{cite news| title=Marine will Wed Daughter of Actress| url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/380669417/ |newspaper=The Los Angeles Times| location=Los Angeles, California| date=March 12, 1944| page=16| via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription| access-date=December 30, 2023}} While on set, Sheridan introduced Hall to Lee Langer, a Marine fighter pilot who had seen action in the Guadalcanal campaign.{{efn|Nathan Hale "Toots" Langer was born on February 3, 1919, in Chicago, Illinois.{{Cite web| title=Cook County, Illinois, Birth Certificates Index, 1871–1922| url=https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/119229561/person/370192853823/facts| year=2011|publisher=NARA |url-access=subscription| access-date=January 2, 2024}} His Jewish parents immigrated to the United States from Austria in 1910.{{cite web|title=1920 Fourteenth Census United States Federal Census| url=https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/6061/images/4300188_00981|publisher=NARA|date=2010|access-date=January 2, 2024|url-access=subscription}} After earning his diploma from Chicago's Bowen High School, he became a student at Bradley Polytechnic Institute, in Peoria, Illinois.{{cite news| title=Chicagoan Back on Leave After Scoring on Japs| url= https://archive.org/details/per_chicago-daily-tribune_1943-11-07_102_45/page/n132/mode/1up| newspaper=Chicago Sunday Tribune| location=Chicago, Illinois| date=November 7, 1943| page=132| access-date=December 26, 2023}} On September 26, 1941, Langer was {{age|1919|2|3|1941|09|26}} years old and a second-year student at Bradley when he volunteered for the United States Marine Corps;{{Cite web| title= U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850–2010| url= https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/119229561/person/370192853823/facts| year=2011|publisher=NARA |url-access=subscription| access-date=January 2, 2024}} he secured his commission as a second lieutenant in June 1942.{{cite news| title=At Pacific base| url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/580195267/ |newspaper=San Fernando Valley Times| location=San Fernando, California| date=June 7, 1945| page=2| via=Newspapers.com| url-access=subscription| access-date=December 27, 2023}}{{break|2}}

Lieutenant Langer received his assignment to the marine squadron VMA-124. It became operational on December 28, 1942, and subsequently deployed to Guadalcanal on February 12, 1943. VMA-124 remained in the Solomon Islands until September 1943.{{cite web| url=https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA192519.pdf | title=U.S.Marine Aviation in World War II;VMF 124 in the Solomons| last=Kwallek| first=Major Jeffrey| date = April 1988| page=84| publisher=Air Command and Staff College| location=Maxwell AFB, AL| access-date=January 2, 2024}}}} Hall and Langer immediately connected, and two weeks later, on March 13, 1944, they announced their engagement. Hall was {{age|1923|4|18|1944|03|13}} years old, while Langer was {{age|1919|2|3|1944|03|13}}.{{cite news| title=Marine Will Wed Daughter of Actress| url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times/127762290/|newspaper=Los Angeles Times| location=Los Angeles, California| date=March 12, 1944| page=16| via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription| access-date=December 19, 2023}} The couple married on December 3, 1944, in North Hollywood.{{cite web| title=California, County Marriages, 1850–1953| url=https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G93H-W93V-K?i=2013&wc=96PR-2NL%3A147625001&cc=1804002| via=GenealogyBank.com| publisher=multiple county courthouses, California| date=2022| access-date=January 5, 2024| url-access=subscription}} Rickie VanDusen was Hall's maid of honor.{{cite news| title=Looking at Hollywood with Hadda Hopper| url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/372415312/ |newspaper=Chicago Tribune| location=Chicago, Illinois| date=November 5, 1944| page=89| via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription| access-date=January 4, 2024}}{{cite news| last=Hopper |first=Hedda |title=Marine Flyer Wins Daughter of Silent Star|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times/127762479/|newspaper=The Los Angeles Times| location=Los Angeles, California| date=December 2, 1944| page=2| via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription| access-date=December 19, 2023}} Hall's mother, Ella, was friends with Mary Pickford,{{sfn | Goldrup |Goldrup| 2012 | p=592}} who arranged for the wedding reception to be held at the Hollywood home of her friend Frances Marion. Along with Hall's mother, Pickford was in the receiving line. A newspaper article describing the wedding referenced Hall's father as "the late Emory Johnson"; father and daughter were estranged at the time.

After the wedding, Langer remained on active duty. The couple moved into a three-bedroom Spanish stucco-style home{{cite web|title=4421 Talofa Ave |url=https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/M2096446912 |website=realtor.com |access-date=August 7, 2024}} in Los Angeles.{{cite news| title=At Pacific Base| url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/580195267/ |newspaper=San Fernando Valley Times | location=San Fernando, California| date=June 7, 1945| page=2| via=Newspapers.com|url-access=subscription| access-date=December 26, 2023}} The military discharged Langer from active service on February 21, 1946.{{cite web| title=U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010| url=https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/5531061:2441| publisher=NARA| date=2011 | url-access=subscription |access-date=January 6, 2024}} A son was born to the couple on March 4, 1949.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}} They would remain married until Langer's death, in 1995.{{Citation needed|date=August 2024}}

=Retirement=

By 1952, Hall had retired from acting. She was a Motion Picture & Television Fund volunteer group member and served as its volunteer president from 1969 to 1970.{{cite news| title=Film Guild to Fill Posts| url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/383043385/| newspaper=The Los Angeles Times| location=los Angeles, California| date=June 15, 1969| page=227| via=Newspapers.com| url-access=subscription| access-date=January 19, 2024}}

Langer became a restaurateur, managing the upscale Encore Cafe on La Cienega Boulevard.{{cite news| title=Loot Hits $6000 in Wave of Sunset Strip Holdups| url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/381104197| newspaper=Los Angeles Times| location=Los Angeles, California| date=May 19, 1952| page=1| via=Newspapers.com| url-access=subscription| access-date=January 19, 2024|quote=Lee Langer manager of Encore}} In 1951, he also became a major in the Marine Reserves.{{cite news| title=Four local Officers Advanced to Major in Marine Reserves| url=https://www.newspapers.com/image/23603104| newspaper=The Van Nuys News| location=Van Nuys, California| date=August 9, 1951| page=43| via=Newspapers.com| url-access=subscription| access-date=January 19, 2024}}

=Death=

The couple eventually{{When|date=August 2024}} retired to Rosarito Beach, Mexico. Langer died in 1995 in San Ysidro, San Diego, at the age of 76.{{cite web|title=U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935–2014| url=https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/119229561/person/370192853823/facts| publisher=NARA|date=2011|access-date=January 19, 2024|url-access=subscription|quote=Lee Langer death February 24, 1995}} The couple had been married for 50 years. After Langer's death, Hall moved to Bellevue, Nebraska. On March 24, 1999, she died of complications from a stroke while residing in Bellevue's Hillcrest Care and Rehabilitation Center. She was 75 at the time of her death. Her ashes were transported west and interred with her mother and sister at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Her estranged father is buried a block away.{{cite news| title=1940s Starlet dies in Bellevue| url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/105874986/ellen-hall/ |newspaper=Lincoln Journal Star| location=Lincoln, Nebraska| date=March 29, 1999| page=10| via=Newspapers.com| url-access=subscription| access-date=December 19, 2023}}

Filmography

class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="background:lightyellow; border:2px solid gray;font-size:90%"

!colspan="18" style="border:1px solid #808080;background:lightgrey;|x30px{{nowrap|{{spaces|10}}◆{{spaces|3}}Filmography of Ellen Hall{{spaces|3}}◆{{spaces|10}}}}

style="border-bottom:2px solid black;border-top:2px solid black;background:#F2E0CE" |Year

!style="border-bottom:2px solid black;border-top:2px solid black;background:#F2E0CE" |Film

!style="border-bottom:2px solid black;border-top:2px solid black;background:#F2E0CE" |Role

!style="border-bottom:2px solid black;border-top:2px solid black;background:#F2E0CE" |Production

!style="border-bottom:2px solid black;border-top:2px solid black;background:#F2E0CE" |Distribution

!style="border-bottom:2px solid black;border-top:2px solid black;background:#F2E0CE" |Genre

!style="border-bottom:2px solid black;border-top:2px solid black;background:#F2E0CE" |Credit

!style="border-bottom:2px solid black;border-top:2px solid black;background:#F2E0CE" |Released

1930All Quiet on the Western FrontYoung girlUniversalUniversalWarNo{{dts|1930|Apr|21}}
1933SecretsYoung girlMary PickfordUnited ArtistsDramaNo{{dts|1933|Mar|16}}
1941The Chocolate SoldierAutograph seekerMGMLoews Inc.MusicalNo{{dts|1941|Oct|31}}
1943Outlaws of Stampede PassMary LewisMonogramMonogramWesternYes{{dts|1943|Oct|15}}
1944Raiders of the BorderBonita BayneMonogramMonogramWesternYes{{dts|1944|Jan|31}}
1944Up in ArmsGoldwyn GirlSamuel GoldwynRKOMusicalNo{{dts|1944|Feb|17}}
1944Voodoo ManEvelyn MarloweBanner ProdMonogramHorrorYes{{dts|1944|Feb|21}}
1944LumberjackJulie Peters JordanHarry ShermanUnited ArtistsWesternYes{{dts|1944|Apr|28}}
1944Range LawLucille GrayMonogramMonogramWesternYes{{dts|1944|Jun|24}}
1944Call of the RockiesMarjorie MalloyRepublicRepublicWesternYes{{dts|1944|Jul|14}}
1944Brand of the DevilMolly DawsonArthur AlexanderPRCWesternYes{{dts|1944|Jul|30}}
1944Here Come the WavesJohnny Cabot FanMark SandrichParamountMusicalNo{{dts|1944|Dec|18}}
1945A Royal ScandalUnknownErnst Lubitsch20th Century FoxDramaNo{{dts|1945|Apr|11}}
1945Having Wonderful CrimeBathing beautyRobert FellowsRKOComedyNo{{dts|1945|Apr|12}}
1945Wonder ManGoldwyn GirlSamuel GoldwynRKOMusicalNo{{dts|1945|Jun|08}}
1946Cinderella JonesJunior LeaguerWarner Bros.Warner Bros.MusicalNo{{dts|1946|Mar|09}}
1946Thunder TownBetty MorganPRCPRCWesternYes{{dts|1946|Apr|12}}
1949Lawless CodeRita CaldwellMonogramMonogramWesternYes{{dts|1949|Dec|04}}
1951Bowery Battalion{{center|–}}Jan GrippoMonogramComedyNo{{dts|1951|Jan|24}}
1952The Congregation{{center|–}}Paul F. Heard ProdPFCReligiousNo{{dts|1952|Jan|01}}

Television

class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="background:lightyellow; border:2px solid gray;"

!colspan="18" style="border:1px solid #808080;background:lightgrey;|x30px{{nowrap|{{spaces|10}}◆{{spaces|3}}Television Roles for Ellen Hall{{spaces|3}}◆{{spaces|10}}}}

style="border-bottom:2px solid black;border-top:2px solid black;background:#F2E0CE" |Year

!style="border-bottom:2px solid black;border-top:2px solid black;background:#F2E0CE" |Series

!style="border-bottom:2px solid black;border-top:2px solid black;background:#F2E0CE" |Role

!style="border-bottom:2px solid black;border-top:2px solid black;background:#F2E0CE" |Season

!style="border-bottom:2px solid black;border-top:2px solid black;background:#F2E0CE" |Episode

!style="border-bottom:2px solid black;border-top:2px solid black;background:#F2E0CE" |Name

!style="border-bottom:2px solid black;border-top:2px solid black;background:#F2E0CE" |Genre

!style="border-bottom:2px solid black;border-top:2px solid black;background:#F2E0CE" |Air Date

1950The Cisco KidElaine Jarrett116"Newspaper Crusader"WesternDecember 19, 1950
1951The Cisco KidElaine122"Freight Line Feud"WesternJanuary 27, 1951
1951The Cisco KidElaine Wilson21"Performance Bond"WesternSeptember 3, 1951

Gallery

EmoryJohnsonColorized1925.jpg|Emory Johnson
Father
1925

EllaHall1915.png|Ella Hall
Mother
1915

EllaHallWithKidsOct1924.jpg| Bernard, Ellen, Ella, and Waldemar
1924

Richard Emory 1952.jpg|Emory Waldemar Johnson
Richard Emory
1952

Ellen Hall.jpg|Ellen Joanna Johnson
Ellen Hall
1944

Outlaws of Stampede Pass 1943.jpg|Outlaws of Stampede Pass
1943

Raiders Of The Border.jpg|Raiders of the Border
1944

Voodoo Man lobby card 1944.JPG|Voodoo Man
1944

Range Law.jpg|Range Law
1944

Call of the Rockies.jpg|Call of the Rockies
1944

Brand of The Devil1944.jpg|Brand of the Devil
1944

Ellen Hall in Thunder Town.jpg|Thunder Town
1946

Lawless Code.jpg|Lawless Code
1949

Notes

{{notelist|refs=}}

References

{{Reflist}}

Bibliography

{{refbegin}}

  • {{cite book | last=Berg | first=A.S. | title=Goldwyn: A Biography | publisher=Penguin Publishing Group | year=1998 | isbn=978-1-101-49735-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YjwTszlu7DsC&pg=PT271 | language=pl | access-date=January 7, 2024}}
  • {{cite book |last=Bubbeo |first=Daniel |date=2002 |title=The Women of Warner Brothers – The Lives and Careers of 15 Leading Ladies, with Filmographies for Each| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OfwMkz8vpIgC|isbn=0-7864-1137-6| publisher=McFarland & Company Inc. Jefferson, North Carolina |pages= 199–200}}
  • {{cite book| last1=Goldrup| first1=Tom| last2=Goldrup | first2=Jim| title=The Encyclopedia of Feature Players of Hollywood, Volume 1| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vZNTDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT592|date=2012| publisher=BearManor Media| page=592}}
  • {{cite book | last=Lentz | first=H.M. | title=Western and Frontier Film and Television Credits: 1903–1995 | publisher=McFarland | year=1996 | url=https://archive.org/details/westernfrontierf0002lent/mode/1up | access-date=January 14, 2024}}

{{refend}}