- Born
- Died
- Nickname
- The Little Nemesis
- Height5′ 4½″ (1.64 m)
- Born in Birmingham, England, Charlie Hall was a member of the famed Fred Karno vaudeville troupe, which gave the world Charles Chaplin and Stan Laurel. Hall arrived in the U.S. in the early 1920s, after Chaplin and Laurel, and entered films playing a foil for many of the era's top comics. He is best remembered, though, as the short, stocky, black-haired, bad-tempered nemesis to Laurel and Oliver Hardy in scores of their films, often playing a husband jealous of Hardy's attentions to his wife, a competing store owner, or just a bystander who winds up in an altercation with the duo.- IMDb Mini Biography By: frankfob2@yahoo.com
- Charlie Hall was born in Birmingham, England. Despite three books little is known about Charlie's early childhood. He left school at age fifteen and followed his father's footsteps by becoming a carpenter. As well as working a carpenter Charlie supplemented his income by appearing in theatres and clubs around Birmingham and the North of England in comedy sketches and vaudeville plays. The acting bug had bitten this young man and when Charlie left England for America in 1920 he took this bug with him.
After initially settling in Newark, New Jersey, where his sister was living, Charlie soon moved to Hollywood when an increasing number of film studios began to congregate in the area.
Charlie credits a chance meeting with Bobby Dunn as securing him his first work as an extra in Hollywood. His first film appearances were for Mack Sennett in the early 1920s. He soon made his way to the Hal Roach Studios where Roach nicknamed him The Little Menace as frequently Charlie standing only at five foot four inches played the role that used to be reserved for 'heavies'.
Throughout his career Charlie appeared alongside such stars as Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton, Charley Chase, James Finlayson, Will Rogers, Glenn Tryon, Edgar Kennedy, Billy Gilbert, Frank Faylen, Basil Rathbone, Abbott and Costello, and Charlie Chaplin. He appeared in more than 270 films but sadly was very rarely a top of the bill star, infact more often than not Charlie's parts were uncredited.
In the mid 1950s Charlie's health began to suffer. Troubled with liver problems he all but gave up film work and went back to his roots working as a prop man in the film studios. On December, 7th, 1959 Charlie passed away peacefully at home at 5622 Willow Crest Avenue, North Hollywood with his devoted wife, Wilda, at his side. Charlie's funeral service was held in the Little Church of the Flowers at Forrest Lawn where he is interred in the Memorial Park.- IMDb Mini Biography By: Tonyman 5
- SpousesDolly Gray(? - 1937) (her death)WIlda George
- Usually played a bad-tempered man who served as a foil for Laurel & Hardy or Edgar Kennedy
- Hall appeared in more Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy movies than any other actor, including Mae Busch, Billy Gilbert or James Finlayson.
- In most of his appearances in the Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy films, Hall doesn't have a lot of dialogue, and what lines he has are usually growled or barked angrily at either Laurel or Hardy. That was to disguise his British accent, which was more pronounced than Laurel's. Laurel thought it would be a bit too implausible and distract from the scene to have two Englishmen fighting in the middle of an American comedy, so he had Hall disguise his voice whenever possible (although there are times when his English accent is quite obvious).
- In 1937 Charlie returned to England probably hoping to get work in the British studios. This may have been due to being sacked by Hal Roach for not turning up at the studio, probably due to over socialising with Stan or to get away from his wife or to see his mother who was very ill. However things didn't turn out well for him as little filming was being done in London and with money running out he eventually moved to his family in Birmingham where the only work he was able to get was in a gas mask factory. He eventually wrote to his friend, director George Stevens, in the States, asking for a loan of $200 so that he could return to America but then he met up with his friend Edgar Kennedy, who'd come over to make 'Hey. Hey USA' with Will Hay, and who got him a few days work on the film which earned him enough for him to get back to the States.
- By the mid-1950s, Hall's health was declining due to increasing liver problems as he aged and an inability to continue working as an extra and bit player. Returning to his carpentry skills, he took a job as a prop-maker at Warner Brothers.
- He met Stan Laurel when they were both members of the Fred Karno company which toured Britain.
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