This article includes historical images which have been upscaled by an AI process .(January 2024) |
Ellen Hall | |
---|---|
Born | Ellen Joanna Johnson April 18, 1923 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Died | March 24, 1999 75) Bellevue, Nebraska, U.S. | (aged
Other names | Ellen Langer |
Occupation | Actress |
Years active | 1941–1952 |
Known for |
|
Spouse | Lee Langer (m. 1944;died 1995) |
Parents | |
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 of 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.
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]
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 of 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]
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] }}
Although she found work in other genres, she found her acting niche in B movie westerns. Often referred to as the "Golden Age of the spurs-and-saddles films" spanning from 1940 to 1960, Hall's affinity for this genre would flourish. [17] Since the Western genre was a constant staple in those days, acting in these types of films represented a source of steady employment. Out of her filmography of twenty movies, she appeared in eight westerns. [18]
In 1943, the 20-year-old actress got her first female lead in 1943 Monogram Pictures production of Outlaws of Stampede Pass released on October 15, 1943. This Western featured Johnny Mack Brown, Raymond Hatton and Hall in the role of Mary Lewis. [9] [19]
Hall would act in five westerns in 1944. In January, she got top female billing in her second Johnny Mack Brown Western, Monogram Picture of Raiders of the Border. [9] [20] In April, she saddled up with William Boyd in the Hopalong Cassidy film, Lumberjack [9] [21] In June, she acted in her third Johnny Mack Brown western, the Monogram Pictures release of Range Law. [9] [22] July 1944 saw the release of Republic Pictures Call of the Rockies with Smiley Burnette and Sunset Carson, Hall played Marjorie Malloy. [9] [23] The end of July marked her final appearance in a western for 1944. Brand of the Devil produced by Producers Releasing Corporation was released on July 30. The film featured Dave O'Brien, James Newill with hall playing Molly Dawson. [9] [24]
Following her 1944 marriage, she started accepting fewer movie roles. 1946 saw the release of Thunder Town featuring Bob Steele. [9] [25] Her final Hollywood western was the Monogram Pictures production of Lawless Code released on December 4, 1949. The movie featured Jimmy Wakely and a 26 year old Hall as Rita Caldwell. [9] [26]
Movie Quotes
Voodoo Man 1944Betty Benton: Is she ill?
Dr. Marlowe: No, she's dead. She has been dead for twenty-two years. [27]
— Wanda McKay questions Bela Lugosi
about his zombie-like wife Ellen Hall
Interspersed with her 1944 Western roles, she also managed to land a role as the long-dead wife of Bela Lugosi in the 1944 production of Voodoo Man. [9] [28]
The 1950s saw Hall's career winding down and her older brother, Richard Emory, beginning the early stages of his acting career. The 1950s also proved to be the Golden Age of Television, during which the medium underwent enormous growth. Television began to vie with motion pictures as a major form of popular entertainment. The same opportunity to act in a new western television series, The Cisco Kid, was presented to Hall and Emory. Hall appeared in three episodes:
Although they never acted in the same episode, each of Hall's three appearances was preceded by Emory's performance in the previous week's installment of the popular Western series. [29] [30] [31]
After her 1945 marriage, Hall acted in six more movies. Hall's last Hollywood film was the 1951 production of the Bowery Battalion featuring The Bowery Boys. [9] [32] Her last recorded film is the 1952 PFC production of The Congregation starring Peter Graves and June WhitleyTaylor. [9] [33] She retired from making films at the age of 28.
"I said to the producers what a horrible thing to do to a G.I. You're going to get every guy in the army all upset, thinking he can marry a movie queen. He doesn't even know what he's getting into."
— Ann Sheridan - explaining her refusal to take part in the 1944 wartime musical Hollywood Canteen [34]
Louella Parsons, the "Queen of Hollywood gossip," wrote in her "In Hollywood" gossip column dated January 26, 1944, "Ann Sheridan, as gay and happy as a lark, was with the Perc Westmore in the Mocambo." [lower-alpha 1] The same column also noted, "Kim Hunter, whose favorite boyfriend is Captain Bill Baldwin, is out with him, Captain Lee Langer, and Orry Kelly at the Mocambo. The two boys have been overseas and soon will be off for other duties" [36]
In the early months of 1943, 28-year-old Ann Sheridan was given the female lead of Nora Bayes in the Warner Bros. production of Shine On, Harvest Moon. [lower-alpha 2] Fast forward to February 1944, as reported in the Los Angeles Times, Sheridan and Ellen Hall collaborated on a scene in the movie. [38] Captain Lee Langer was a Marine fighter pilot who had seen action in the Guadalcanal campaign. [lower-alpha 3] As noted before, Langer had been observed at the Mocambo on the same night as Sheridan. [36] For reasons unknown, Captain Langer appeared on the same movie set where Sheridan and Hall were working together. Sheridan seized upon the opportunity to play matchmaker and introduced Langer to Hall. Hall and Langer immediately connected. They adopted the song Shine On, Harvest Moon and claimed it belongs to them. Two weeks later, Hall and Langer made a significant announcement.
Ellen Joanna Johnson, also known as Ellen Hall, shared the news of her engagement with Nathan Hale Langer, also known as Lee Langer, on Monday, March 13, 1944. At the time of the announcement, Ellen was 20 years old, while Nathan was 25. [47] They planned an early marriage, but ended up waiting almost a year.
On Sunday, December 3, 1944, Ellen Jeane Johnson, 21, married Lee Langer, 25, at an Episcopalian Church located North Hollywood. [48] Rickie VanDusen,19, a fellow Diamond Horseshoe Girl. [49] was Hall's Maid of Honor. [50] Hall's mother, Ella Hall, was a good friend of Mary Pickford. [51] Pickford arranged for the Wedding reception to be held at the Hollywood home of her good friend, Frances Marion. Along with Hall's mother, Pickford was in the Receiving line. [50] A newspaper article describing the wedding referenced her father as "The late Emory Johnson." Father and daughter were estranged at the time. [50] The marriage was filed in Los Angeles, California, on January 11, 1945. [52]
After their marriage, Captain Langer remained on active duty. They moved into a modest three-bedroom Spanish stucco-style home [53] at 4421 Talofa Avenue in Los Angeles. [54] They knew the military could order him to return to the Pacific theater at any time. In June 1945, a news article listed him as "serving with a fighter squadron at a Pacific base." [54] The war in the Pacific would linger until VJ Day on August 15, 1945. The military discharged Langer from active service on February 21, 1946. [55] A son was born to the couple on March 4, 1949. They would remain married until his death in 1995.
By 1952, she had retired from films. The couple moved to a quiet cul-de-sac in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. Raising her son and local volunteer work became her main focus. She was a Motion Picture & Television Fund volunteer group member. She served as its volunteer president from 1969 to 1970. [56]
Her husband became a Hollywood restaurateur. He managed the upscale restaurant Encore Cafe at 806 North La Cienega Boulevard. [57] The restaurant was one of the many upscale diners located on La Cienega Boulevard in an area that became Hollywood's Restaurant Row. In 1951, he also became a Major in the Marine Reserves. [58]
After living in Los Angeles, the couple retired to Rosarito Beach, Mexico. Lee Langer died in 1995 in San Ysidro, San Diego at the age of 76. [59] Langer and Ellen had celebrated 50 years of marriage. After his death, Hall moved to Bellevue, Nebraska. On March 24, 1999, Ellen Hall Langer died of complications from a stroke while residing in Bellevue's Hillcrest Care and Rehabilitation Center. A private service was held in Bellevue. Her ashes were transported West and interred with her mother and sister at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. Her estranged father is interred a block away. Ellen Langer was 75 at the time of her death. [60]
Hall's father, Emory Johnson, 66, died in San Mateo, California on April 18, 1960, from burns suffered in a fire. [61] Hall's mother, Ella Hall, 84, was residing in Los Angeles, California at the time of her death on September 3, 1981. [62] Hall's only sister, Diana Marie (Dinie) Johnson, 55, died on November 29, 1984, in Los Angeles, California. [63] Her brother, Emory Waldemar Johnson (Richard Emory), 74, died of a stroke on February 15, 1994, in Moab, Utah. [64]
◆ Filmography of Ellen Hall ◆ | |||||||||||||||||
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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 | WAC | Jan Grippo | Monogram | Comedy | No | Jan 24, 1951 | ||||||||||
1952 | The Congregation | Unk | Paul F. Heard Prod | PFC | Religious | No | Jan 1, 1952 | ||||||||||
◆ Television Roles for Ellen Hall ◆ | |||||||||||||||||
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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 | ||||||||||
The Cisco Kid aired 156 episodes between 1950 - 1956 | |||||||||||||||||
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Waldemar Johnson Jr
Alfred Bernard Johnson
Ellen Joanna Johnson
New Hollywood Beauty Boss Launches Policy of Attempting to Gild Lilies
Lee Langer manager of Encore
Lee Langer death February 24, 1995
Diana Marie Moxley died Los Angeles November 29, 1984