Porter Hall
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Clifford Porter Hall (September 19, 1888 – October 6, 1953) was an American character actor known for appearing in a number of films in the 1930s and 1940s. Hall played movie villains or comedic incompetent characters. Hall was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and began his career touring as a stage actor with roles in productions of The Great Gatsby and Naked in 1926. Hall made his film debut in the 1931 drama Secrets of a Secretary. He made his last onscreen appearance in the 1954 film Return to Treasure Island, which was released after his death. He was probably best remembered for four roles: a senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, an atheist in Going My Way, the nervous, ill-tempered Granville Sawyer, who administers a psychological test to Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street, and a train passenger who encounters a man (Fred MacMurray) who has just committed a murder in Double Indemnity. On October 6, 1953, Hall died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California at the age of 65. His interment was at Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery. Hall had two children, David and Sarah Jane.
Double Indemnity
as Mr. JacksonA rich woman and a calculating insurance agent plot to kill her unsuspecting husband after he...
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Miracle on 34th Street
as Granville SawyerKris Kringle, seemingly the embodiment of Santa Claus, is asked to portray the jolly old fellow...
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Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
as Senator MonroeNaive and idealistic Jefferson Smith, leader of the Boy Rangers, is appointed to the United...
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Ace in the Hole
as Jacob Q. BootAn arrogant reporter exploits a story about a man trapped in a cave to revitalize his career.
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The Thin Man
as Herbert MacCaulayA husband and wife detective team takes on the search for a missing inventor and almost get...
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Going My Way
as Mr. BelknapYouthful Father Chuck O'Malley led a colorful life of sports, song, and romance before joining...
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Unconquered
as LeachEngland, 1763. After being convicted of a crime, the young and beautiful Abigail Hale agrees, to...
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His Girl Friday
as MurphyWalter Burns is an irresistibly conniving newspaper publisher desperate to woo back his paper’s...
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The Petrified Forest
as Jason MapleGabby, the waitress in an isolated Arizona diner, dreams of a bigger and better life. One day...
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Bulldog Drummond Escapes
as Norman MerridewDrummond manages to save a woman from jumping in front of his car but she runs away with his...
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Sullivan's Travels
as Mr. HadrianSuccessful movie director John L. Sullivan, convinced he won't be able to film his ambitious...
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Make Way for Tomorrow
as Harvey ChaseAt a family reunion, the Cooper clan find that their parents' home is being foreclosed....
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The Desperadoes
as Banker ClantonPopular mailcoach driver Uncle Willie is in fact in league with the town's crooked banker. They...
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The General Died at Dawn
as Peter PerrieChina, 1930s, during the ravaging civil war. General Pen entrusts O'Hara, an intrepid American...
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They Shall Have Music
as Mr. FlowerThe future is bleak for a troubled boy from a broken home in the slums. He runs away when his...
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That Wonderful Urge
as Attorney KetchellWhen an heiress finds out that the friendly young man she's met at Sun Valley is really an...
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A Stranger in Town
as Judge Austin HarkleyIn the small town of Crownport local attorney Bill Adams is trying to break up the ring of...
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The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek
as Jacob Woodson, Justice of the PeaceA small-town girl with a soft spot for American soldiers wakes up the morning after a wild...
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Wells Fargo
as James OliverIn the 1840s, Ramsey MacKay, the driver for the struggling Wells Fargo mail and freight company,...
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The Story of Louis Pasteur
as Dr. RossignolA true story about Louis Pasteur, who revolutionized medicine by proving that much disease is...
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Pony Express
as Jim BridgerBuffalo Bill and Wild Bill Hickok join forces to establish a mail route that can get mail from...
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Prison Farm
as Chiston R. BradbyShirley Ross plays an innocent young girl convicted for complicity in a crime committed by her...
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The Plainsman
as Jack McCallWild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane and Buffalo Bill go up against Indians and a gunrunner.
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The Mark of the Whistler
as Joe SorsbyA drifter claims the money in an old bank account. Soon he finds himself the target of two men...
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Arizona
as Lazarus WardPhoebe Titus is a tough, swaggering pioneer woman, but her ways become decidedly more feminine...
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Week-End at the Waldorf
as StevensAnything can happen during a weekend at New York's Waldorf-Astoria: a glamorous movie star meets...
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The Remarkable Andrew
as Chief Clerk Art SlocumbWhen Andrew Long, hyper-efficient small town accountant, finds a $1240 discrepancy in the city...
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Singapore
as Mr. BellowsAfter the war, Matt Gordon returns to Singapore to retrieve a fortune in smuggled pearls....
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Souls at Sea
as Court ProsecutorMichael 'Nuggin' Taylor and Powdah save lives during a sea tragedy in this story about the slave...
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Intruder in the Dust
as Nub GowrieRural Mississippi in the 1940s: Lucas Beauchamp, a local black man with a reputation of not...
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Blood on the Sun
as Arthur BickettNick Condon, an American journalist in 20s Tokyo, publishes the Japanese master plan for world...
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Bring on the Girls
as Dr. EfringtonA millionaire joins the Navy hoping to find a girl who'll marry him for himself, not for his...
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The Princess Comes Across
as DarcyA Swedish princess boards an ocean liner in Europe en route to an acting career in America and...
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Vice Squad
as Jack HartrampfA Los Angeles police captain (Edward G. Robinson) ties the case of a slain policeman to a bank...
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Dark Command
as Angus McCloudWhen transplanted Texan Bob Seton arrives in Lawrence, Kansas he finds much to like about the...
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Murder in the Private Car
as Alden MurrayRuth Raymond works on the telephone switchboard of a large NYC office building. One day, a...
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Murder, He Says
as Mr. JohnsonPete Marshall is sent as a replacement to the mountain district town of Plainville when a public...
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Bulldog Drummond's Peril
as Dr. BotulianDrummond's wedding with Phyllis is interrupted when the inspector guarding their gifts is...
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Men with Wings
as Hiram F. JenkinsReporter Nicholas Ranson is jubilant when, on 17 Dec 1903, in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina,...
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Standing Room Only
as Hugo FarenhallDuring WWII, an executive and his secretary arrive in Washington, DC on business but, because of...
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Carbine Williams
as Sam MarkleyDavid Marshall Williams is sent to a prison farm where he works in the tool shop and eventually...
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The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend
as Judge O'TooleSaloon-bar singer Freddie gets very angry whenever boyfriend Blackie seems to be playing around....
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True Confession
as Mr. HartmanA writer takes a job as a secretary because her scrupulous husband isn't bringing in the dough...
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Bulldog Drummond's Secret Police
as Man in Drummond's DreamCaptain Drummond and his girlfriend want to marry but a hidden treasure in the house in which...
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Tom Sawyer, Detective
as Uncle Silas PhelpsThe further adventures of Twain's most beloved fictional characters of Tom Sawyer and his...
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You Gotta Stay Happy
as Mr. CaslonIndecisive heiress Dee Dee Dillwood is pushed into marrying her sixth fiancée, but unable to...
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The Cheat
as Leslie (uncredited)Elsa Carlyle is impulsive and a gambler. Though loved by her husband Jeff, she's spoiled and...
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Holiday for Sinners
as LouieThree old friends reunite during Mardi Gras and try to forget their problems.
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And Sudden Death
as District AttorneyAn heiress with a penchant for speeding runs afoul of a traffic cop. Romance develops between...
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Secrets of a Secretary
as DrunkSociety girl becomes a social secretary when her father dies penniless. From a story by Charles...
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The Case of the Lucky Legs
as Col. BradburyA con man who stages phony "lucky legs" beauty contests and leaves town with the money is found...
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Scandal Street
as James WilsonJoe McKnight temporarily leaves his fiancée, Nora Langdon, for an expedition in a South American...
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Kiss and Tell
as Bill FranklinFilm adaptation of the Broadway hit, about the comic mayhem that erupts in a small town when a...
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Satan Met a Lady
as Milton AmesIn the second screen version of The Maltese Falcon, a detective is caught between a lying...
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The Woman of the Town
as Mayor Dog KilleyBat Masterson, who after failing to secure a job as a newspaper reporter becomes marshal of...
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Mr. and Mrs. North
as George HeylerMarried sleuths (Gracie Allen, William Post Jr.) find a corpse in their closet and round up...
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The Great Moment
as President Franklin PierceThe biography of Dr. W.T. Morgan, a 19th century Boston dentist, during his quest to have...
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The Half-Breed
as KraemerAn Apache of mixed blood tries to make peace between Indians and whites.
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Dangerous to Know
as Mayor BradleyRacketeer Steve Recka, art patron and political power-maker, rules his town and Madame Lan Ying,...
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Henry Goes Arizona
as Banker Edward G. Walsh (uncredited)A New Yorker moves West when he inherits an Arizona ranch.
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The Arkansas Traveler
as Mayor DanielsThe Arkansas Traveler, an itinerant printer, returns to a small town to help save The Daily...
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Return to Treasure Island
as Maximillian 'Maxie' HarrisThere's something to be said for finishing what you've started. That's why the gentile Captain...
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Chicken Every Sunday
as Sam HowellA woman takes in boarders to support her husband's harebrained financial schemes.
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Snowed Under
as Arthur LaytonAlan Tanner's new play opens in a week, but Tanner just can't finish the third act. He's...
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King of Alcatraz
as Matthew TalbotA convict who has just escaped from Alcatraz Prison takes over a passenger ship. Two of the...
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King of Gamblers
as George KramerWorking for a slick restaurateur who has fallen for her, a down-on-life songstress falls instead...
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Let's Make a Million
as SpencerA wealthy mama's boy finds himself the victim of con artists involved in an oil stocks racket.
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This Way Please
as S.J. CrawfordA famous singer and matinée idol helps a pretty young theater usher in her dreams of becoming a...
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The Parson of Panamint
as Jonathan RandallAs he looks over the dusty, deserted remains of the western "boom town" of Panamint, grizzled...
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Trail of the Vigilantes
as Sheriff KorleyA reporter goes undercover to break up an outlaw gang.
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Butch Minds the Baby
as Brandy SmithAloysius 'Butch' Grogan leads a life of criminal activities motivated to provide for a widow and...
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Wild Money
as Bill CourtA tightwad accountant for a newspaper becomes friends with a reporter. The bookkeeper goes on...
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Grand Jury Secrets
as Anthony PeltonA newspaper reporter gets involved with shady stock promoters when he listens in on a jury room...
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Stolen Heaven
as 'Von' OfferTwo attractive jewel thieves, one female (Olympe Bradna), one male (Gene Raymond) escape...
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