Arch Hall Jr. (born December 2, 1943) is an American former actor.

Early career

Born in

Van Nuys, California Van Nuys () is a neighborhood in the central San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. Home to Van Nuys Airport and the Valley Municipal Building, it is the most populous neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley. History In 1909, ...

, Hall began his career as a teen actor and musician, appearing in a number of early 1960s films that were all produced by his father,

Arch Hall Sr. Archibald Williams Hall (December 21, 1908 – April 28, 1978), known as Arch, was an American actor and filmmaker, best known for making a series of B-movies in the early 1960s starring his son, Arch Hall Jr. Hall used various names througho ...

Most of Hall Jr.'s films featured his particular musical abilities, a teenager's

tenor A tenor is a type of classical music, classical male singing human voice, voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The lo ...

voice and guitar riffs played with

swamp blues Swamp blues is a type of Louisiana blues that developed in the Black communities of Southwest Louisiana in the 1950s.Malone, Evelyn Levingston, "Swamp Blues: Race And Vinyl From Southwest Louisiana" (2016). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertation ...

inflection. Hall was also the frontman for the rock n' roll combo Arch Hall Jr. and the Archers. The band, formed with high school friend

Alan O'Day Alan Earle O'Day (October 3, 1940 – May 17, 2013) was an American singer-songwriter, best known for writing and singing " Undercover Angel," a million-selling Gold-certified American No. 1 hit in 1977. He also wrote songs for many other notab ...

(who later wrote No. 1 pop hits in the 1970s) played

Sunset Strip The Sunset Strip is the stretch of Sunset Boulevard that passes through the city of West Hollywood, California. It extends from West Hollywood's eastern border with the city of Los Angeles near Marmont Lane to its western border with Beverly H ...

clubs such as the

Whisky a Go Go The Whisky a Go Go (informally nicknamed "the Whisky") is a historic nightclub in West Hollywood, California, United States. It is located at 8901 Sunset Boulevard on the Sunset Strip, corner North Clark Street, opposite North San Vicente Boul ...

and

Pandora's Box Pandora's box is an artifact in Greek mythology connected with the myth of Pandora in Hesiod's c. 700 B.C. poem ''Works and Days''. Hesiod reported that curiosity led her to open a container left in the care of her husband, thus releasing phys ...

. For the most part, the films produced by the Halls and their associates, which at one point included cult director

Ray Dennis Steckler Ray Dennis Steckler (January 25, 1938 – January 7, 2009), also known by the pseudonym Cash Flagg, was an American film director, producer, screenwriter and actor best known as the low-budget auteur of such cult films as ''The Incredibly Stran ...

, are considered

B-movie A B movie or B film is a low-budget commercial motion picture. In its original usage, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, the term more precisely identified films intended for distribution as the less-publicized bottom half of a double featur ...

s. Hall's roles ranged from dunebuggy-driving teenager to a rock n' roll singing spy in a white dinner jacket. It is perhaps Hall's second movie, ''

Eegah ''Eegah'' (sometimes stylized as ''Eegah!'' and also known as ''Eegah: The Name Written in Blood'') is a 1962 American horror film directed by Arch Hall Sr. (as Nicholas Merriwether) and starring Arch Hall Jr., Marilyn Manning and Richard Kie ...

'' (1962), which has won him the most recognition, due in part to the television show ''

Mystery Science Theater 3000 ''Mystery Science Theater 3000'' (abbreviated as ''MST3K'') is an American science fiction comedy film review television series created by Joel Hodgson. The show premiered on KTMA-TV (now WUCW) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on November 24, 1988. ...

''featuring the movie in a 1993 episode, and the late night comedy horror series '' Elvira's Movie Macabre''. In ''

The Sadist ''The Sadist'' (German: "Der Sadist") is a book published by psychiatrist Karl Berg, following the confessions of Peter Kürten, a notorious German serial killer known as both The Vampire of Düsseldorf and the Düsseldorf Monster who committed a ...

'' (1963), Hall portrayed a psychopathic killer based in part on teenage murderer Charles Starkweather.

Later career

After appearing in his last film in 1965, Hall became an airline pilot (his father had flown with the

Army Air Force The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...

during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

). In 1967, he went to work for cargo carrier Flying Tiger Airlines as an apprentice co-pilot on the L-1049H, and eventually became a captain flying the

Boeing 747 The Boeing 747 is a large, long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2022. After introducing the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, t ...

. In 1989, Flying Tiger was purchased by

FedEx FedEx Corporation, formerly Federal Express Corporation and later FDX Corporation, is an American multinational conglomerate holding company focused on transportation, e-commerce and business services based in Memphis, Tennessee. The name "Fe ...

and Hall flew the DC-10 until he retired in 2003. He later flew for a private company with businesses in the U.S. and Japan. Hall wrote the novel ''

Apsara An apsaras or apsara ( sa, अप्सरा ' lso ' pi, अक्चरा, translit=accharā) is a type of female spirit of the clouds and waters in Hinduism and Buddhist culture. They figure prominently in the sculpture, dance, literat ...

Jet'', which was published in 2001 under the pen name Nicolas Merriweather (a name often used by his father). The book draws on Hall's knowledge of both commercial airlines and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

in telling the story of a

Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by #Names, other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vie ...

vet who gets involved in the

illegal drug trade The illegal drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black market dedicated to the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of prohibited drugs. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs through ...

. A career-spanning 51-page interview with Hall appears in the book ''Earth vs. the Sci-Fi Filmmakers'' (McFarland & Co., 2005) by Tom Weaver. Hall's anthology, ''Wild Guitar'', was released on Norton Records. The anthology, with liner notes and biography, collects the original '60s output of Arch Hall Jr. and the Archers, much of which was unreleased at the time.

Filmography

Discography

* (2005) ''Wild Guitar'' — recording as Arch Hall Jr. and the Archers * (1959) ''Monkey in My Hat Band / Konga Joe'' — recording as Arch Hall Jr.

Books

* (2001) ''Apsara Jet'' — ; writing as Nicolas Merriweather

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hall, Arch Jr. 1943 births Living people Male actors from California American male writers American aviators American male film actors American tenors American rock singers American male screenwriters People from Van Nuys, Los Angeles Guitarists from California American male guitarists Commercial aviators 20th-century American guitarists Rock and roll musicians Screenwriters from California 20th-century American male musicians