Alan Hale Sr.
Alan Hale Sr., typically credited as Alan Hale, was an American actor and film director. He is best known for his many character roles during the Golden Age of Hollywood, in particular as a frequent sidekick of Errol Flynn. He also played in films supporting Lon Chaney, Wallace Beery, Douglas Fairbanks, James Cagney, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Humphrey Bogart, and Ronald Reagan. In total, his career in film lasted 40 years.
His son, Alan Hale Jr., also became an actor and remains most famous for playing "the Skipper" on the television series Gilligan's Island.
Early life
Hale was born Rufus Edward MacKahan in Washington, D.C. He studied to be an opera singer.
Career
His first film role was in the 1911 silent movie The Cowboy and the Lady. He became a leading man while working in 1913–1915 for the Biograph Company in their special feature film productions sponsored and controlled by Marc Klaw and Abraham Erlanger. Later, he became more of a character actor; he played "Little John" in the film Robin Hood, with Douglas Fairbanks and Wallace Beery, reprised the role 16 years later in The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone, then played him once more in Rogues of Sherwood Forest with John Derek as Robin Hood's son, a unique 28-year string of portrayals of the same character in theatrical films. Hale played Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, in The Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex, featuring a pivotal confrontation with the Earl of Essex, portrayed by Flynn.
His other films include the epic The Trap with Lon Chaney, Skyscraper ; as well as Fog Over Frisco with Bette Davis; Miss Fane's Baby Is Stolen with Baby LeRoy and William Frawley; The Little Minister with Katharine Hepburn; and It Happened One Night with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert; ; Stella Dallas with Barbara Stanwyck; High, Wide, and Handsome with Irene Dunne and Dorothy Lamour; The Fighting 69th with James Cagney and Pat O'Brien; They Drive By Night with George Raft and Humphrey Bogart; Virginia City with Errol Flynn, Randolph Scott, and Humphrey Bogart; Manpower with Edward G. Robinson, Marlene Dietrich, and George Raft; and as the cantankerous Sgt. McGee in the This Is the Army with Irving Berlin. He also co-starred with Errol Flynn and Olivia de Havilland in the successful western film Dodge City where he played the slightly dimwitted but likable and comical Rusty Hart, sidekick to Flynn's character, Sheriff Wade Hatton. Hale co-starred with Errol Flynn in 13 movies.
Hale directed eight movies during the 1920s and 1930s and appeared in 235 theatrical films in total.
Hale also had success as an inventor. Among his innovations were a sliding theater chair, the hand fire extinguisher, and greaseless potato chips.
Personal life
Hale's wife of over 30 years was Gretchen Hartman, a former child actress, silent film player, and mother of the couple's three children.
He was the father of actor Alan Hale Jr., best known as "the Skipper" in the Gilligan's Island television series. Father and son closely resembled one another, leading to occasional confusion after Hale Sr.'s death when Hale Jr. dropped the Jr. from his name. Hale Sr. and Hale Jr. both played the same character, Porthos the musketeer, in movies 40 years apart. Alan Hale Sr. played the character in the 1939 film Man in the Iron Mask, while Alan Hale Jr. played him in The Fifth Musketeer in 1979.
Alan Hale Sr. died at age 57 in Hollywood, California, on January 22, 1950, following a liver ailment and viral infection. He is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California, next to his wife.
There is a street named after Hale in San Antonio, Texas.
Filmography
The Cowboy and the Lady Jane Eyre Strongheart as Ralph ThorneThe Woman in Black Pudd'nhead Wilson as Tom DriscollThe Purple Lady as Count Louis PetelierThe Woman in the Case as Julian RolfeThe Beast Rolling Stones as Jerry BradenThe Scarlet Oath as John HuntingtonThe Love Thief as Captain Arthur BoyceThe Americano The Price She Paid as Stanley BairdOne Hour as G.D. StanleyLife's Whirlpool as Dr. Henry GreyThe Eternal Temptress as Count Rudolph FrizelMoral Suicide as 'Lucky' TraversThe Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse as Karl von HartrottThe Barbarian as Mark GrantA Voice in the Dark as Dr. Hugh SainsburyA Wise Fool as George MassonOver the Wire as James TwyfordThe Fox as Rufus B. CoulterThe Great Impersonation as Gustave SeamanOne Glorious Day as Ben WadleyA Doll's House as Torvald HelmerThe Trap as BensonThe Dictator as SabosRobin Hood as Little JohnShirley of the Circus as MaxQuicksands as FerragoThe Covered Wagon as Sam WoodhullHollywood as himself Main Street as Miles BjornstamThe Eleventh Hour as Prince Stefan de BernieCameo Kirby as Colonel MoreauLong Live the King as King KarlBlack Oxen as Prince RohenhauerCode of the Wilderness as Willard MastenGirls Men Forget as Jimmy MassonOne Night in Rome as Duke MarenoFor Another Woman Troubles of a Bride as Gordon BlakeDick Turpin as Tom KingFlattery as Arthur BarringtonThe Crimson Runner as GregoryThe Wedding Song The Scarlet Honeymoon Ranger of the Big Pines Braveheart Hearts and Fists as Preston TolleyForbidden Waters Vanity as 'Happy' Dan MorganRubber Tires The Wreck of the Hesperus as Singapore JackThe Leopard Lady as CaesarSkyscraper as Slim StredeThe Cop as MatherOh, Kay! as JansenPower as HansonSal of Singapore as Captain EricssonThe Spieler as FlashThe Leatherneck as Otto SchmidtSailor's Holiday as Adam PikeThe Sap as Jim BeldenRed Hot Rhythm as WalterShe Got What She Wanted as DaveAloha as StevensThe Night Angel as BezelSusan Lenox (Her Fall and Rise) as Jeb MondstrumThe Sin of Madelon Claudet as HubertU-67 as Greg WintersThe Sea Ghost as Capt. Greg WintersUnion Depot as The Baron – a.k.a. Bushy SloanSo Big! as Klass PooleRebecca of Sunnybrook Farm as Mr. SimpsonThe Match King as BorglundWhat Price Decency as Klaus van LeydenThe Eleventh Commandment as Max StagerDestination Unknown as LundstromMiss Fane's Baby Is Stolen as SamThe Lost Patrol as CookIt Happened One Night as DankerPicture Brides as Von LudenLittle Man, What Now? as Holger JachmanFog Over Frisco as Chief O'MalleyOf Human Bondage as Emil MillerThe Scarlet Letter as Bartholomew HockingsImitation of Life as Martin the Furniture ManGreat Expectations as Joe GargeryThere's Always Tomorrow as HenryBroadway Bill as Orchestra Leader Babbitt as Charlie McKelveyThe Little Minister as Rob DowGrand Old Girl as Click DadeThe Good Fairy as Maurice SchlapkohlThe Crusades as BlondelThe Last Days of Pompeii as BurbixAnother Face as Charles L. Kellar – Studio HeadTwo in the Dark as Police Inspector FlorioA Message to Garcia as Dr. Ivan KrugThe Country Beyond as Jim AlisonParole! as John BorchardYellowstone as John Alexander HardiganOur Relations as Joe Grogan -Denker's waiterGod's Country and the Woman as Bjorn Skalka Jump for Glory as Jim Diall 'Col. Fane'Thin Ice as BaronThe Prince and the Pauper as Captain of the GuardHigh, Wide, and Handsome as Walt BrennanStella Dallas as Ed MunnMusic for Madame as Detective FlugelmanThe Adventures of Marco Polo as KaiduFour Men and a Prayer as Mr. FurnoyThe Adventures of Robin Hood as John Little, a.k.a. Little JohnAlgiers as GranderValley of the Giants as 'Ox' SmithThe Sisters as Sam JohnsonListen, Darling as J.J. SlatteryPacific Liner as GallagherDodge City as Algernon 'Rusty' HartThe Man in the Iron Mask as PorthosDust Be My Destiny as Mike LeonardThe Private Lives of Elizabeth and Essex as Earl of TyroneOn Your Toes as Sergei AlexandrovitchThe Fighting 69th as Sgt. 'Big Mike' WynnGreen Hell as Doctor LorenAlice in Movieland as Carlo's Guest Three Cheers for the Irish as GallagherVirginia City as Olaf "Moose" SwensonThe Sea Hawk as Carl PittThey Drive by Night as Ed J. CarlsenTugboat Annie Sails Again as Capt. BullwinkleSanta Fe Trail as Tex BellThe Strawberry Blonde as Old Man GrimesThe Great Mr. Nobody as 'Skipper' MartinFootsteps in the Dark as Inspector MasonThieves Fall Out as Rodney BarnesManpower as Jumbo WellsThe Smiling Ghost as NortonCaptains of the Clouds as 'Tiny' MurphyJuke Girl as YippeeDesperate Journey as Flight Sergeant Kirk EdwardsGentleman Jim as Pat CorbettAction in the North Atlantic as Alfred "Boats" O'HaraThis Is the Army as Sgt. McGeeThank Your Lucky Stars as Alan HaleDestination Tokyo as 'Cookie' WainwrightThe Adventures of Mark Twain as Steve GillisMake Your Own Bed as Walter WhirtleJanie as Prof. Matthew Q. ReardonHollywood Canteen as himself Roughly Speaking as Lew MortonHotel Berlin as Herman PlottkeGod Is My Co-Pilot as Big Mike HarriganEscape in the Desert as Dr. Orville TedderPerilous Holiday as Dr. LilleyNight and Day as Leon DowlingThe Time, the Place and the Girl as John BradenThe Man I Love as RileyThat Way with Women as Herman BrinkerPursued as Jake DingleCheyenne as Fred DurkinMy Wild Irish Rose as John DonovanMy Girl Tisa as DuganAdventures of Don Juan as LeporelloWhiplash as Terrance O'LearySouth of St. Louis as Jake EvertsThe Younger Brothers as Sheriff KnudsonThe House Across the Street as J.B. GrinnellAlways Leave Them Laughing as Sam WashburnThe Inspector General as KovatchStars in My Crown as Jed IsbellColt.45 as Sheriff HarrisRogues of Sherwood Forest as Little John