He portrayed Chief Phillips in the 1979 war film Apocalypse Now and Judge Seymore Walsh in Ally McBeal and The Practice.

Hall gained mainstream attention for his role as Chief Phillips in Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 war classic Apocalypse Now, in which his character, as a Chief Petty Officer, leads the rest of a United States Navy PBR (Patrol Boat, River) crew upriver from Vietnam to Cambodia so that Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) can complete his mission to assassinate Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando).

[1] Other films Hall appeared in during that decade include Major Payne (1995), Devil in a Blue Dress (1995), Courage Under Fire (1996) and Beloved (1998).

[1] In the late 1990s, Hall became known by television audiences for his recurring role as Judge Seymore Walsh in the series The Practice and Ally McBeal, both of which were created by David E.

[8] Hall has portrayed real life figures such as Hank Aaron in the 1998 television film The Tiger Woods Story and Elijah Muhammad in Michael Mann's 2001 biopic Ali.