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Creighton Hale

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Creighton Hale
Hale in 1916
Born
Patrick Wills Fitzgerald[1][2]

(1882-05-24)May 24, 1882
County Cork, Ireland
DiedAugust 9, 1965(1965-08-09) (aged 83)
South Pasadena, California, U.S.
Other namesPat Creighton Hale
OccupationActor
Years active1914–1959
Spouses
Victoire Lowe
​
​
(m. 1912; div. 1926)​
Kathleen Bering
​
​
(m. 1931)​
Children2

Creighton Hale (born Patrick Wills Fitzgerald; May 24, 1882 – August 9, 1965)[3] was an Irish-American theatre, film, and television actor whose career extended more than a half-century, from the early 1900s to the end of the 1950s.[4]

Career

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Born in County Cork, Ireland,[5] Hale was one of two children born to Maud V. Hale and Daniel Fitzgerald.[2][6][7] Educated in Dublin[8] and London, he later attended Ardingly College in Sussex.[9] He emigrated to the United States in 1910,[7] with a company headed by Gertrude Elliott.[10] Remaining in the country, he acted in stock theater in Hartford, Indianapolis, and other cities, billed initially as Pat Creighton Hale.[8] While starring in Charles Frohman's Broadway production of Indian Summer, Hale was spotted by a representative of the Pathe Film Company.[11][12] He eventually became known simply as Creighton Hale, although the derivation of "Creighton" remains unknown. Making his screen debut in The Exploits of Elaine (1914),[8] Hale had prominent supporting roles in films like D.W. Griffith's Way Down East, Orphans of the Storm,[12] and The Idol Dancer,[13] and later starred in such films as The Marriage Circle, Seven Footprints to Satan and The Cat and the Canary. Regarding the latter, Picture Show wrote of Hale's performance, "He makes no attempt to be impressive. He is just natural."[12]

It was thought that in 1923 Hale starred in an early pornographic "stag" film On the Beach (a.k.a. Getting His Goat and The Goat Man).[14] In the film, three nude women agree to have sex with him, but only through a hole in a fence. Photographs of the scene clearly show that the man in the film is not Hale, but is another actor who also wore glasses.[15]

When talkies came about, Hale's career declined. He made several appearances in Hal Roach's Our Gang series (School's Out, Big Ears, Free Wheeling), and also played uncredited bits in major talking films such as Larceny, Inc., The Maltese Falcon, and Casablanca.

Personal life

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Hale's two sons, Creighton Hale Jr. and Robert Lowe Hale, from his first marriage to Victoire Lowe, were adopted by Lowe's second husband, actor John Miljan.[16] After his divorce, Hale married Kathleen Bering in Los Angeles in 1931.[17]

Hale's sister-in-law, Isabelle Lowe,[18][19] was both an accomplished stage actress and a published author and aspiring playwright.[20][21][22][23] She and Hale performed together at least twice during the early 1920s—co-starring in revivals of Rida Johnson Young's Little Old New York and A.E. Thomas's Just Suppose[24][25][26]—and co-authored two never-produced plays.[27][28]

Hale died at the Motion Picture Country Home on August 9, 1965, at age 83. In accordance with his wishes, no funeral service was held, his remains were cremated at Chapel of the Pines, and his ashes were brought to rest at Duncans Mills Cemetery in Northern California.[29][30]

Selected filmography

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References

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  1. ^ "Actor Named in Will". The Evening Star. October 31, 1924. p. 10. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  2. ^ a b "New York, New York City Marriage Records, 1829-1938", database, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:243N-R8Y : 22 August 2022), Patrick Wills Fitzgerald and Victoria De La Vincendure Hale, 1912.
  3. ^ Hollywood Star Walk, Los Angeles Times
  4. ^ Creighton Hale at Silent Hollywood.com (includes seven glossy photographs)
  5. ^ Willis, John, ed. (1966; 1983). Screen World, 1966. Cheshire, CN: Biblo-Moser. p. 37. ISBN 0-8196-0307-4.
  6. ^ "California, County Marriages, 1850-1952," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8JQ-SKY : 9 March 2021), Creighton Hale and Kathleen E Bering, 01 Aug 1931; citing Los Angeles, California, United States, county courthouses, California; FHL microfilm 2,074,934.
  7. ^ a b "New York Passenger Arrival Lists (Ellis Island), 1892-1924", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JJ81-1PG : 2 March 2021), Patrick Creighton Hale, 1910.
  8. ^ a b c "Creighton Hale in A Dangerous Maid". The Morning News. Delaware, Wilmington. March 21, 1921. p. 8. Retrieved October 21, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  9. ^ The Motion Picture Almanac. New York: Quigley Publishing Company. 1931. p. 169.
  10. ^ "CORSAIR BEATS THE BALTIC: Mr. Morgan Wins Race from Quarantine to Meet Wife and Grandson; Players to support Gertrude Elliott". The New York Times. September 26, 1910. p. 13. ProQuest 97064432. The company that will support Gertrude Elliott in 'The Dawn of a Tomorrow' will include Scott Gatti, Fuller Mellish, Sydney Booth, Charles Garry, Arthur Barry, Philip Leslie, Sam Pearce, Creighton Hale, Bennett Kilpack, Ernest C. Joy, Angela Ogden, Anna Waite, Julia Blanc, and Carrie Merrilees. Of these, Messrs. Garry, Leslie, Pearce and Hale were with Miss Elliott in the London run of the piece, and Messrs. Mellish, Barry and Joy and Miss Merrilees have been in the play since it was first produced in America by Eleanor Robson.
  11. ^ "Creighton Hale, the Pathe Actor". The Moving Picture World. Vol. 25, No. 2; July 10, 1915. p. 289. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
  12. ^ a b c Slide, Anthony (1988). The Cinema and Ireland. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company pp. 86–87. ISBN 0899503225.
  13. ^ "News and Views of Stage and Screen; Famous Screen Players Appear in 'The Idol Dancer'". The Daily Ontario. p. 3. Retrieved January 24, 2023.
  14. ^ Penley, Constance. "Crackers and Whackers: The White Trashing of Porn" in Williams, Linda, ed. (2004). Porn Studies. Durham, NC: Duke University Press. p. 314. ISBN 0822333007.
  15. ^ Biography with comparison photos of Hale and "The Goat Man", UnsungJoe website. Retrieved August 16, 2015.
  16. ^ "Salute to Legal Godfather; Formal Adoption". New York Daily News. New York, New York. July 27, 1932. p. 3. Retrieved January 24, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
  17. ^ "Actor accused of deserting young sons". Oakland Tribune. California, Oakland. July 13, 1932. p. 4. Retrieved October 21, 2019 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ Patterson, Ada (December 20, 1919). "The Love Romance That Began With a Bet; A Challenge to Cupid". The Tampa Tribune. p. 19. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  19. ^ "Isabelle Lowe Lauds Creighton Hale". The Courier (Harrisburg, PA). p. 6. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
  20. ^ "The Dancer". Cosmopolitan. p. 68. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  21. ^ Isabelle Lowe: Credits. IBDb.
  22. ^ Lowe, Isabelle (1907). Lillian, the Beautiful Typewriter: A Thrilling Tale of Modern City Life. Baltimore, MD: I. Ottenheimer Publishers.
  23. ^ Library of Congress Copyright Office (1918). Dramatic Compositions Copyrighted in the United States, 1870 to 1916, Volume 1. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  24. ^ "Theatrical Notes". The New York Times. July 1, 1922. p. 16. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  25. ^ "Isabelle Lowe in the character of Patricia O'Day and Creighton Hale in the role of Larry Delvan in 'Little Old New York'". The San Francisco Examiner. p. 11. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  26. ^ "Isabelle Lowe and Creighton Hale in 'Just Suppose'". Los Angeles School Journal. February 16 1923. p. 32. Retrieved January 25, 2023.
  27. ^ Library of Congress Copyright Office (February 1, 1921). "Catalogue of Copyright Entries; Part 1, Group 2: Pamphlets, Leaflets, Contributions to newspapers or Periodicals, Etc.; Lectures, Sermons, Addresses for Oral Delivery; Dramatic Compositions; Maps; Motion Pictures; 1921: New series, Volume 18, No. 1. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  28. ^ Library of Congress Copyright Office (1921). "Catalog of Copyright Entries. Part 1. [B Group 2. Pamphlets, Etc. New Series"]. U.S. Government Printing Office.
  29. ^ "Creighton Hale, Pioneer Motion Picture Actor, Dies". The Valley News. August 12, 1965. p. 38. Retrieved January 24, 2022.
  30. ^ Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company. p. 307. ISBN 978-0-7864-7992-4.
  31. ^ "This Changing World". The Spokesman-Review. March 12, 1950. pt. III, p. 22. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  32. ^ Ayer, Belle (February 21, 1950). "Film Fanfare: Odds and Ends from the Cutting Room Floor". The Rock Island Argus. p. 22. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  33. ^ "Music as Written". Billboard. March 31, 1951. p. 20. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  34. ^ "Actor Uses Own Name in Film". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. April 15, 1953. p. 8. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  35. ^ "Old-Timers in Roles of 'A Star Is Born'". Los Angeles Times. February 28, 1954. pt. IV, pg. 3. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  36. ^ "Down Memory Lane". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. September 23, 1954. p. 18. Retrieved January 29, 2023.
  37. ^ "Seasoned Septet". The Hollywood Reporter. February 18, 1955. p. 6. ProQuest 2338269604. Seven Hollywood veterans, with a combined total of more than 200 years' experience in films, were at work at Warners yesterday in a courtroom scene for 'Illegal.' The seasoned troupers included Kit Gerard, Leah Baird, Gertrude Keeler, Creighton Hales, Jack Mower, Fred Kelsey and Tom Wilson.

Further reading

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Creighton Hale.
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