Hall's Broadway credits included
The Great Gatsby (1926),
Naked (1926),
Loud Speaker (1927),
Night Hostess (1928), ''It's a Wise Child
(1929), Collision
(1932), The Warrior's Husband
(1932), The Dark Tower
(1933), The Red Cat'' (1934). Hall made his film debut in the 1931 drama
Secrets of a Secretary. His last onscreen appearance was in the 1954 film
Return to Treasure Island, which was released after his death. Hall is best remembered for five roles: a senator in
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; an
atheist in
Going My Way; the nervous, ill-tempered Granville Sawyer, who administers a psychological test to
Kris Kringle in
Miracle on 34th Street; a train passenger who encounters a man (
Fred MacMurray) who has just committed a murder in
Double Indemnity; and the title character's lawyer (Herbert MacCaulay) in
The Thin Man. Hall appeared in a number of critically acclaimed films, now regarded as classics, and worked with many high-profile directors including
W.S. Van Dyke,
William Dieterle,
Lewis Milestone,
Cecil B. DeMille,
Leo McCarey,
Henry Hathaway,
Frank Lloyd,
William A. Wellman,
Frank Capra,
Howard Hawks,
Raoul Walsh,
Preston Sturges,
Charles Vidor,
Billy Wilder,
Clarence Brown,
William Castle,
George Seaton and
Richard Thorpe. He appeared in three films listed on
AFI's
100 Years... 100 Movies, a list of the 100 greatest films in American cinema;
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), ''
Sullivan's Travels (1941) and Double Indemnity'' (1944). Hall also appeared in six films that were nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Picture, including
The Thin Man (1934),
The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936),
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939),
Double Indemnity (1944),
Going My Way (
the 1944 winner) and
Miracle on 34th Street (1947). He also appeared in ten films selected by the
Library of Congress for preservation in the
National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant", including: •
The Thin Man (1934) •
Make Way for Tomorrow (1937) •
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) •
His Girl Friday (1940) • ''Sullivan's Travels'' (1941) • ''
The Miracle of Morgan's Creek'' (1944) •
Double Indemnity (1944) •
Going My Way (1944) •
Miracle on 34th Street (1947) •
Ace in the Hole (1951) ==Personal life==