James Hall

The swashbuckling James Hall, given name James E. Brown was born in Dallas on October 22, 1900 according to his press, 1898 if you check the census. I suppose then as now, it paid to appear younger than you were. Hall's first role was in the silent film "The Man Alone" in 1923 when he was about 25. It was followed by more than a dozen other silent films including "Four Sons", directed by John Ford. His first sound film came in 1929, "The Canary Murder Case" with William Powell and Louise Brooks. He co-starred in Howard Hughes' film "Hell's Angels" but by 1940 he had fallen into obscurity and was eking out a living performing in small nightclubs and cabarets in New York and New Jersey. Hall died in Jersey City, New Jersey of cirrhosis. (thanks to Wikipedia for most of this info)