Benjamin Joseph Hall was an American actor who started performing as a boy and worked for three and a half decades, mainly in small parts.

Born in Brooklyn, New York as the eldest child of American stevedore

Stevedore

Stevedore, dockworker, docker, dock labourer, wharfie and longshoreman can have various waterfront-related meanings concerning loading and unloading ships, according to place and country....

 George E. Hall and his English wife Constance L. Fletcher, Ben Hall began making appearances in films when he was little more than ten years old. After a handful of movies, his family moved to Weehawken, New Jersey

Weehawken, New Jersey

Weehawken is a township in Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township population was 12,554.-Geography:Weehawken is part of the New York metropolitan area...

, and in 1918 Ben took work as a bank clerk in Manhattan

Manhattan

Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...

. But by 1920, Ben and his mother had moved to Los Angeles (where they were joined later by his younger brother George Jr.). Hall worked as a property man for the studios for a time, but eventually began to get small roles and was eking out a living as an actor again by 1926. He became a minor but fairly frequently-used member of the John Ford Stock Company

John Ford Stock Company

The John Ford Stock Company is the name given to the large collection of actors used repeatedly in the films of American director John Ford. Most famous among these was John Wayne, who appeared in twenty-four films and three television episodes for the director...

, and did eight films for John Ford

John Ford

John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...

 between 1929 and 1946. Most memorable among these bit roles was probably that of the barber who slicks down and perfumes Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Earp

Wyatt Berry Stapp Earp was an American gambler, investor, and law enforcement officer who served in several Western frontier towns. He was also at different times a farmer, teamster, bouncer, saloon-keeper, miner and boxing referee. However, he was never a drover or cowboy. He is most well known...

's hair in My Darling Clementine

My Darling Clementine

My Darling Clementine is a 1946 western movie. It was directed by John Ford, and based on the story of the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral between the Earp brothers and the Clanton gang. It features an ensemble cast including Henry Fonda, Victor Mature, Ward Bond, Walter Brennan, and others.The movie...

(1946). Hall left acting in 1949, though he lived for another 36 years. He died in North Hollywood, California in 1985.

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