Thurston Hall

Biography

Movies, especially comedies, have always needed big, blustery, booming authoritarian types for the lead to play off of (or against), and one of the best was Thurston Hall, most famous for his role of Mr. Schuyler in the Topper (1953) series of the early 1950s. Hall was a tall, distinguished, imposing-looking man, which fit perfectly with the variety of military officers, wealthy businessmen, bankers and upper-crust types he played so well. The Boston-born Hall was attracted to a theatrical career as a youth, and toured New England with a theater troupe and eventually journeyed to Britain, where he spent several years on the stage. He formed his own theater company and successfully toured South Africa, New Zealand and Australia. By the time he entered films he was an established and successful stage actor, in both the U.S. and Europe. He started out in silent films, but his rich baritone voice enabled him to easily transition into talkies. He appeared in more than 200 films, his final one being Affair in Reno (1957), although he had kept busy in television, with appearances on many different series in addition to his co-starring role on "Topper". He died of a heart attack in 1958.