Updated June 9, 2020
Alexander Hall Career Summary:
Occup. Inheritance
Social Class
Education
Training: child actor; film editor; assistant director
First Film: silent
Oscar Nominations: Here Comes Mr. Jordan, 1941, age 47
Other Awards: No
Last Film: Forever Darling, 1956, age 62
Genre: Comedies
Career Span: 1932-1956 (24 films)
Career Output: 33 films
Marriage:
Politics:
Death: 1968; age 74
Alexander Hall, January 11, 1894–July 30, 1968.
Hall acted in the theatre from the age of 4 through 1914, when he began to work in silent movies.
After his military service in World War I, he returned to Hollywood and pursued a career, working as a film editor and assistant director at Paramount until 1932, when he directed his first feature, Sinners in the Sun.
From 1937 to 1947, he was a contract director at Columbia, where he earned a reputation for sophisticated comedies. He was nominated for the Best Director Oscar for Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941).
Hall was married to actress Lola Lane, from 1934 to 1936. He was also married to Marjorie Hunter. Hall was engaged briefly to Lucille Ball, who left him when she met Desi Arnaz. The couple later hired him to direct Forever, Darling, which became his last film.
Hall died of complications from a stroke in San Francisco on July 30, 1968, aged 74.
Films Directed by Alexander Hall
A Game of Craft (1922)
Miss Nobody (1926)
Kismet (1930, as editor)
1930s: 19 films
Sinners in the Sun (1932)
Madame Racketeer (1932)
The Girl in 419 (1933)
Midnight Club (1933)
Torch Singer (1933)
Miss Fane’s Baby Is Stolen (1934)
Little Miss Marker (1934)
The Pursuit of Happiness (1934)
Limehouse Blues (1934)
Annapolis Farewell (1935)
Goin’ to Town (1935)
Give Us This Night (1936)
Yours for the Asking (1936)
Exclusive (1937)
There’s Always a Woman (1938)
I Am the Law (1938)
There’s That Woman Again (1938)
The Lady’s from Kentucky (1939)
Good Girls Go to Paris (1939)
1940s: 9 films
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941)
Bedtime Story (1941)
They All Kissed the Bride (1942)
My Sister Eileen (1942)
The Heavenly Body (1944)
Once Upon a Time (1944)
She Wouldn’t Say Yes (1945)
Down to Earth (1947)
The Great Lover (1949)
1950s: 5
Love That Brute (1950)
Louisa (1950)
Because You’re Mine (1952)
Let’s Do It Again (1953)
Forever, Darling (1956)