[1] Hall's Broadway credits included The Great Gatsby (1926), Naked (1926), Loud Speaker (1927), Night Hostess (1928), It's a Wise Child (1929), Collision (1932), The Warrior's Husband (1932), The Dark Tower (1933), The Red Cat (1934).

Hall is best remembered for five roles: a senator in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; an atheist in Going My Way; the nervous, ill-tempered Granville Sawyer, who administers a psychological test to Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street; a train passenger who encounters a man (Fred MacMurray) who has just committed a murder in Double Indemnity; and the title character's lawyer (Herbert MacCaulay) in The Thin Man.

Hall appeared in a number of critically acclaimed films, now regarded as classics, and has worked with many high-profile directors including W.S.

Hall also appeared in six films that were nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture, including The Thin Man (1934), The Story of Louis Pasteur (1936), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), Double Indemnity (1944), Going My Way (the 1944 winner) and Miracle on 34th Street (1947).

He also appeared in ten films selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry as being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant"; The Thin Man (1934), Make Way for Tomorrow (1937), Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), His Girl Friday (1940), Sullivan's Travels (1941), The Miracle of Morgan's Creek (1944), Double Indemnity (1944), Going My Way (1944), Miracle on 34th Street (1947) and Ace in the Hole (1951).