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Ellen Hall

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Ellen Hall
Ellen Hall
Hall in 1943
Born
Ellen Joanna Johnson

(1923-04-18)April 18, 1923
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
DiedMarch 24, 1999(1999-03-24) (aged 75)
Bellevue, Nebraska, U.S.
Other namesEllen Langer
OccupationActress
Years active1941–1952
Known for
Spouse
Lee Langer
​
​
(m. 1944; died 1995)​
Parents
RelativesRichard 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 28.

Early years

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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.[1] 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.[2] The Johnson's second child, Alfred Bernard Johnson, was born on September 26, 1920.[3] Ellen Hall was born Ellen Joanna Johnson on April 19, 1923.[4]

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.[5]

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.[6] In 1932, Emory Johnson declared bankruptcy to reduce his financial obligations towards Ella and their children.[7]

Career

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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.[8]

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.[6]

Comedies, glamour, and musicals

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At the age of 18, Hall was chosen to play one of the background autograph seekers in the 1941 musical comedy The Chocolate Soldier.[9][10]

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.[11] Her promotional photo from the shoot states, She is 5'6" tall, weighs 123 pounds, and has brown hair and blue eyes.[12] In 1944, she appeared in Here Come the Waves;[9][13] in 1945, Wonder Man;[9][14] and in 1946, Cinderella Jones.[9][15] 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.[16]

Westerns

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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.[17] In 1943, the 20-year-old actress got her first female lead in the Monogram Pictures production Outlaws of Stampede Pass.[9][18] Hall would act in five Westerns in 1944: in January, she got top female billing in Raiders of the Border;[9][19] in April, she appeared in Lumberjack;[9][20] in June, Range Law;[9][21] and in July, Call of the Rockies[9][22] and Brand of the Devil.[9][23]

Following her 1944 marriage, Hall began accepting fewer film roles. In 1946, she acted in Thunder Town,[9][24] and in 1949, she accepted her final role in a Hollywood Western, in Lawless Code.[9][25]

Other genres and mediums

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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.[9][26] 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,[9][27] and her last recorded film is the 1952 PFC production The Congregation.[9][28] She retired from making films at the age of 28.

Personal life

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Marriage

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L–R: Lee Langer, Ann Sheridan, Ellen Hall

In February 1944, Hall was working with actress Ann Sheridan on a scene for the Warner Bros. production Shine On, Harvest Moon.[29] While on set, Sheridan introduced Hall to Lee Langer, a Marine fighter pilot who had seen action in the Guadalcanal campaign.[a] Hall and Langer immediately connected, and two weeks later, on March 13, 1944, they announced their engagement. Hall was 20 years old, while Langer was 25.[36] The couple married on December 3, 1944, in North Hollywood.[37] Rickie VanDusen was Hall's maid of honor.[38][39] Hall's mother, Ella, was friends with Mary Pickford,[40] 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.[39] A newspaper article describing the wedding referenced Hall's father as "the late Emory Johnson"; father and daughter were estranged at the time.[39]

After the wedding, Langer remained on active duty. The couple moved into a three-bedroom Spanish stucco-style home[41] in Los Angeles.[42] The military discharged Langer from active service on February 21, 1946.[43] A son was born to the couple on March 4, 1949.[citation needed] They would remain married until Langer's death, in 1995.[citation needed]

Retirement

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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.[44]

Langer became a restaurateur, managing the upscale Encore Cafe on La Cienega Boulevard.[45] In 1951, he also became a major in the Marine Reserves.[46]

Death

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The couple eventually[when?] retired to Rosarito Beach, Mexico. Langer died in 1995 in San Ysidro, San Diego, at the age of 76.[47] 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.[48]

Filmography

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          ◆   Filmography of Ellen Hall   ◆          
Year Film Role Production Distribution Genre Credit Released
1930 All Quiet on the Western Front Young girl Universal Universal War No Apr 21, 1930
1933 Secrets Young girl Mary Pickford United Artists Drama No Mar 16, 1933
1941 The Chocolate Soldier Autograph seeker MGM Loews Inc. Musical No Oct 31, 1941
1943 Outlaws of Stampede Pass Mary Lewis Monogram Monogram Western Yes Oct 15, 1943
1944 Raiders of the Border Bonita Bayne Monogram Monogram Western Yes Jan 31, 1944
1944 Up in Arms Goldwyn Girl Samuel Goldwyn RKO Musical No Feb 17, 1944
1944 Voodoo Man Evelyn Marlowe Banner Prod Monogram Horror Yes Feb 21, 1944
1944 Lumberjack Julie Peters Jordan Harry Sherman United Artists Western Yes Apr 28, 1944
1944 Range Law Lucille Gray Monogram Monogram Western Yes Jun 24, 1944
1944 Call of the Rockies Marjorie Malloy Republic Republic Western Yes Jul 14, 1944
1944 Brand of the Devil Molly Dawson Arthur Alexander PRC Western Yes Jul 30, 1944
1944 Here Come the Waves Johnny Cabot Fan Mark Sandrich Paramount Musical No Dec 18, 1944
1945 A Royal Scandal Unknown Ernst Lubitsch 20th Century Fox Drama No Apr 11, 1945
1945 Having Wonderful Crime Bathing beauty Robert Fellows RKO Comedy No Apr 12, 1945
1945 Wonder Man Goldwyn Girl Samuel Goldwyn RKO Musical No Jun 8, 1945
1946 Cinderella Jones Junior Leaguer Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Musical No Mar 9, 1946
1946 Thunder Town Betty Morgan PRC PRC Western Yes Apr 12, 1946
1949 Lawless Code Rita Caldwell Monogram Monogram Western Yes Dec 4, 1949
1951 Bowery Battalion
–
 Jan Grippo Monogram Comedy No Jan 24, 1951
1952 The Congregation
–
 Paul F. Heard Prod PFC Religious No Jan 1, 1952

Television

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          ◆   Television Roles for Ellen Hall   ◆          
Year Series Role Season Episode Name Genre Air Date
1950 The Cisco Kid Elaine Jarrett 1 16 "Newspaper Crusader" Western December 19, 1950
1951 The Cisco Kid Elaine 1 22 "Freight Line Feud" Western January 27, 1951
1951 The Cisco Kid Elaine Wilson 2 1 "Performance Bond" Western September 3, 1951
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Notes

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  1. ^ Nathan Hale "Toots" Langer was born on February 3, 1919, in Chicago, Illinois.[30] His Jewish parents immigrated to the United States from Austria in 1910.[31] After earning his diploma from Chicago's Bowen High School, he became a student at Bradley Polytechnic Institute, in Peoria, Illinois.[32] On September 26, 1941, Langer was 22 years old and a second-year student at Bradley when he volunteered for the United States Marine Corps;[33] he secured his commission as a second lieutenant in June 1942.[34]

    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.[35]

References

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  1. ^ "Ella Hall Takes the Step". Motion Picture News. Motion Picture News, inc. September–October 1917. p. 2202. Retrieved July 29, 2024.
  2. ^ "California Birth Index, 1905–1995". California Department of Public Health – Vital Records. 2005. Retrieved January 7, 2024. Waldemar Johnson Jr
  3. ^ "California Birth Index, 1905–1995". California Department of Public Health – Vital Records. 2005. Retrieved January 7, 2024. Alfred Bernard Johnson
  4. ^ "California Birth Index, 1905–1995". California Department of Public Health – Vital Records. 2005. Retrieved January 7, 2024. Ellen Joanna Johnson
  5. ^ "California Birth Index, 1905–1995". California Department of Public Health – Vital Records. 2005. Retrieved January 7, 2024.
  6. ^ a b "Daughter of Ella Hall, former film star, makes debut with Mary Pickford". The Indianapolis Star. Indianapolis, Indiana. January 19, 1933. p. 3. Retrieved January 9, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Emory Johnson Broke". Variety. March 8, 1932. March 8, 1932. p. 10.
  8. ^ "Ellen Hall Langer". The Modesto Bee. Modesto, California. March 30, 1999. p. 39. Retrieved January 9, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Ellen Hall Filmography at the American Film Institute Catalog
  10. ^ The Chocolate Soldier at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  11. ^ "Samuel Goldwyn Grabs Off Galaxy of Glamour Girls by Hedda Hopper". The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. October 3, 1943. p. 50. Retrieved January 14, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ Description of Ella Hall from her Commons Photograph
  13. ^ Here Comes the Waves at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  14. ^ Wonder Man at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  15. ^ Cinderella Jones at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  16. ^ "Glamour Girls Given Long-term Contracts by Hedda Hadda Hopper". The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. November 5, 1944. pp. 28–29. Retrieved January 19, 2024 – via Newspapers.com. New Hollywood Beauty Boss Launches Policy of Attempting to Gild Lilies
  17. ^ Ellen Hall § Filmography
  18. ^ Outlaws of Stampede Pass at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  19. ^ Raiders of the Border at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  20. ^ Lumberjack at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  21. ^ Range Law at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  22. ^ Call of the Rockies at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  23. ^ Brand of the Devil at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  24. ^ Thunder Town at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  25. ^ Lawless Code at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  26. ^ "Reviews of New Films – Voodoo Man – Hollywood Review". The Film Daily. New York, Wid's Films and Film Folks, Inc. February 15, 1944. p. 433. Archived from the original on May 3, 2013. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
  27. ^ Bowery Battalion at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  28. ^ The Congregation at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
  29. ^ "Marine will Wed Daughter of Actress". The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. March 12, 1944. p. 16. Retrieved December 30, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  30. ^ "Cook County, Illinois, Birth Certificates Index, 1871–1922". NARA. 2011. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  31. ^ "1920 Fourteenth Census United States Federal Census". NARA. 2010. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  32. ^ "Chicagoan Back on Leave After Scoring on Japs". Chicago Sunday Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. November 7, 1943. p. 132. Retrieved December 26, 2023.
  33. ^ "U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850–2010". NARA. 2011. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  34. ^ "At Pacific base". San Fernando Valley Times. San Fernando, California. June 7, 1945. p. 2. Retrieved December 27, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  35. ^ Kwallek, Major Jeffrey (April 1988). "U.S.Marine Aviation in World War II;VMF 124 in the Solomons" (PDF). Maxwell AFB, AL: Air Command and Staff College. p. 84. Retrieved January 2, 2024.
  36. ^ "Marine Will Wed Daughter of Actress". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. March 12, 1944. p. 16. Retrieved December 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  37. ^ "California, County Marriages, 1850–1953". multiple county courthouses, California. 2022. Retrieved January 5, 2024 – via GenealogyBank.com.
  38. ^ "Looking at Hollywood with Hadda Hopper". Chicago Tribune. Chicago, Illinois. November 5, 1944. p. 89. Retrieved January 4, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  39. ^ a b c Hopper, Hedda (December 2, 1944). "Marine Flyer Wins Daughter of Silent Star". The Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. p. 2. Retrieved December 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  40. ^ Goldrup & Goldrup 2012, p. 592.
  41. ^ "4421 Talofa Ave". realtor.com. Retrieved August 7, 2024.
  42. ^ "At Pacific Base". San Fernando Valley Times. San Fernando, California. June 7, 1945. p. 2. Retrieved December 26, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  43. ^ "U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010". NARA. 2011. Retrieved January 6, 2024.
  44. ^ "Film Guild to Fill Posts". The Los Angeles Times. los Angeles, California. June 15, 1969. p. 227. Retrieved January 19, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  45. ^ "Loot Hits $6000 in Wave of Sunset Strip Holdups". Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles, California. May 19, 1952. p. 1. Retrieved January 19, 2024 – via Newspapers.com. Lee Langer manager of Encore
  46. ^ "Four local Officers Advanced to Major in Marine Reserves". The Van Nuys News. Van Nuys, California. August 9, 1951. p. 43. Retrieved January 19, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  47. ^ "U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935–2014". NARA. 2011. Retrieved January 19, 2024. Lee Langer death February 24, 1995
  48. ^ "1940s Starlet dies in Bellevue". Lincoln Journal Star. Lincoln, Nebraska. March 29, 1999. p. 10. Retrieved December 19, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.

Bibliography

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