Jonathan Hale

For the American actor similarly named, see Jonathan Hole.

Jonathan Hale (March 21, 1891 – February 28, 1966) was a Canadian-born film and television actor.

Life and career

Born Jonathan Hatley in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Hale was well known as Dagwood Bumstead's boss, Julius Caesar Dithers, in the Blondie film series in the 1940s. He is also notable for playing Inspector Farnack in various The Saint films by RKO Pictures.

In 1950 he made two appearances in The Cisco Kid as Barry Owens. He also appeared in two different episodes of Adventures of Superman: "The Evil Three", in which he played a murderous "Southern Colonel"-type character, and "Panic in the Sky", one of the most famous episodes, in which he played the lead astronomer at the Metropolis Observatory, actually a California observatory.

Among the relatively few television programs on which Hale appeared are the religion anthology series Crossroads, The Loretta Young Show, Brave Eagle, Schlitz Playhouse, The Joey Bishop Show, and Walt Disney Presents: "A Tribute to Joel Chandler Harris".

Death

Hale committed suicide on February 28, 1966. He was found dead in the evening of Monday, February 28, 1966, in his room at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. Hale had taken his own life with a .38 caliber pistol, which was found near his body. He was 74. Hale was interred at Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood, California. Sadly, Hale's grave went unmarked for more than four decades, until a proper headstone was erected by donations from the 'Dearly Departed' fan-based group, in 2013.

Partial filmography

• Alice Adams (1935)
• A Night at the Opera (1935) (uncredited)
• Too Tough to Kill (1935)
• Charlie Chan's Secret (1936)
• Charlie Chan at the Race Track (1936)
• Fury (1936)
• The Devil is a Sissy (1936)
• Exiled to Shanghai (1937)
• Racketeers in Exile (1937)
• A Star is Born (1937) (uncredited)
• The League of Frightened Men (1937)
• Saratoga (1937)
• Madame X (1937)
• The Saint in New York (1938)
• Boys Town (1938)
• Blondie (1938)
• Stand Up and Fight (1939)
• The Saint Strikes Back (1939)
• The Story of Alexander Graham Bell (1939)
• In Name Only (1939)
• The Amazing Mr. Williams (1939)
• The Saint's Double Trouble (1940)
• Johnny Apollo (1940)
• The Saint Takes Over (1940)
• The Saint in Palm Springs (1941)
• Strange Alibi (1941)
• Miss Annie Rooney (1942)
• Calling Dr. Gillespie (1942)
• Blondie for Victory (1942)
• The Amazing Mrs. Holliday (1943)
• Hangmen Also Die! (1943)
• Sweet Rosie O'Grady (1943)
• Dead Man's Eyes (1944)
• This Is the Life (1944)
• Divorce (1945)
• Allotment Wives (1945)
• Dakota (1945)
• The Walls Came Tumbling Down (1946)
• The Beginning or the End (1947)
• High Wall (1947)
• Stampede (1949)
• The Baron of Arizona (1950)
• Strangers on a Train (1951)
• Let's Go Navy! (1951)
• Scandal Sheet (1952)
• Carbine Williams (1952)
• The Steel Trap (1952)
• Kansas Pacific (1953)

External links

• Jonathan Hale at the Internet Movie Database
• Jonathan Hale at Find a Grave