Jon Hall (born Charles Felix Locher,[1] February 23, 1915 – December 13, 1979) was an American film actor known for playing a variety of adventurous roles, as in 1937's The Hurricane, and later when contracted to Universal Pictures, including Invisible Agent and The Invisible Man's Revenge and six films he made with Maria Montez.

One critical appraisal described Hall as follows: Handsome, well-built, slightly awkward and not terribly charismatic, he nonetheless managed to persevere in leading roles for two decades, half that time in “A” pictures, which isn’t too shabby by any measure, especially for someone who couldn’t really act.

He had the lead role in a bona fide classic from a master director, appeared in a string of beloved cult pictures (covering camp, horror and “I can’t believe they made that”), formed one-third of a legendary on-screen team, had an exotic love life and tragic death, got involved in a Hollywood scandal and was a genuine renaissance man IRL, reinventing himself several times.

[3] His appearance on stage in Murder on a Mountain at the Bliss Hayden Little Theatre in Beverly Hills[4] earned him a contract at Warner Bros.[5] He followed it with What?

[7] He did not appear in that movie, but he did have an uncredited bit in Here's to Romance and he played the romantic male lead in Charlie Chan in Shanghai (1935).

"[8] He had supporting roles in Westerns: The Mysterious Avenger (1936), at Columbia; Winds of the Wasteland (1936), with John Wayne at Republic Pictures, and in the serial The Clutching Hand (1936).

[9] He changed his screen name to "Lloyd Crane" and in 1936 signed a contract with Major Pictures, a company run by producer Emmanuel Cohen, who distributed through Paramount.

Samuel Goldwyn was preparing a big budget spectacular, The Hurricane (1937), based on a novel by Nordhoff and Hall and directed by John Ford.

There was some talk of a sequel to The Hurricane;[14] of playing the lead in Golden Boy;[15] of Black Gold, a film about firefighters in Oklahoma;[16] of The Fleet's In;[17] of Tahiti, based on a book by Somerset Maugham.

"[20] After two and a half years of inactivity, Hall made three films in quick succession: Sailor's Lady (1940), a comedy with Nancy Kelly that was developed by Goldwyn and sold to 20th Century Fox;[21] South of Pago Pago (1940), a South Seas adventure with Frances Farmer, for producer Edward Small; and Kit Carson (1940), in the title role, again for Edward Small.

Goldwyn agreed to share Hall's contract with Universal Pictures, which put him in a supporting role in Eagle Squadron (1942), produced by Walter Wanger and directed by Arthur Lubin.

Wanger called upon Hall for another movie at Universal, a big budget "exotic" spectacular co-starring Maria Montez and Sabu, Arabian Nights (1942).

Paramount borrowed Hall for the musical Lady in the Dark (1944), in which he played the role originated on Broadway by Victor Mature.

However Sabu was drafted into the army and was replaced by Turhan Bey for Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves (1944), directed by Lubin.

Bey was going to reteam with Hall and Montez in Gypsy Wildcat (1944), but he was needed for another film, and was replaced by Peter Coe.

He held patents on an underwater camera, optivision lenses and the design of the hulls of PT boats for the US Navy.

He died by suicide on December 13, 1979,[35] and was buried at the Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.