Gita Hall
Gita Hall | |
|---|---|
_Lobby_Card.jpg) Gita Hall, Barry Sullivan, and Peter Graves starred in the 1958 movie "Wolf Larsen". | |
| Born | Birgitta Wetterhall September 6, 1933 Linköping, Sweden |
| Died | August 13, 2016, age 82 Studio City, California |
| Spouse(s) | Leslie Jackson (1954-1957, divorce) Barry Sullivan (1958-1961, divorce) Mitchell May (1964-2000, his death) |
| Children | 3 daughters |
Gita Hall (September 6, 1933 – August 13, 2016) was a Swedish-American model and actress who was the second wife of actor Barry Sullivan and a member of the "jet set" in the 1950s and 1960s.
Early years
Hall was born Birgitta Wetterhall in Linköping, Sweden.[1] The daughter of a chemist, she spoke seven languages. She worked as a model to pay tuition for her studies at a dramatic school in Sweden.[2]
She had minor roles in three Swedish movies in 1951-1952[3] and won the Miss Stockholm beauty pageant in 1953.[4] Broadway columnist and radio personality Walter Winchell "discovered" her and got her into Hollywood movies.[1] (An International News Service story published February 26, 1958, says that Hall "landed in the movies by way of producer Clarence Greene, whom she met at a party in New York.")[2]
Film
Hall's American film debut came in Don Seigel's The Gun Runners, an adaptation of Ernest Hemingway's To Have and Have Not.[4] She appeared with Sullivan in the 1958 movie Wolf Larsen.
In 2013, Hall settled a lawsuit she filed against Lionsgate, the production company behind the TV series Mad Men for using an image of her gleaned from a 1960s Revlon ad in the show's opening title credits sequence. The image was taken from a Richard Avedon photograph; the producers had secured permission from Revlon, but not from Hall.[5]
Personal life
Hall married Leslie Jackson in August 1954.[1] After they divorced, she married Sullivan in 1958; they divorced in 1961. Hall was the mother of Sullivan's daughter Patricia. She later married Mitchell May III, an insurance broker. He died in 2000.[6]
Death
Hall died of liver failure in Studio City, Los Angeles. She was survived by three daughters, nine grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.[6]
Filmography
- The Gun Runners (1958) - Eva
- Wolf Larsen (1958) - Kristina
References
- ^ a b c "Gita Hall, Hollywood starlet – obituary". The Telegraph. 22 August 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
- ^ a b Belser, Lee (26 February 1958). "Gita Hall Rates Nearest Approach To Greta Garbo". Corsicana Daily Sun. Texas, Corsicana. International News Service. p. 3. Retrieved 18 October 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Birgitta Wetterhall in The Swedish Film Database
- ^ a b "Gita Hall, Swedish Actress Who Starred in 'The Gun Runners,' Dies at 82". Yahoo! Movies. The Hollywood Reporter. 15 August 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
- ^ "Lionsgate, Ex-Model Settle 'Mad Men' Title Sequence Lawsuit (Exclusive)". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
- ^ a b Barnes, Mike (17 October 2016). "Gita Hall, Swedish Actress Who Starred in 'The Gun Runners,' Dies at 82". MSN Entertainment. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
