Gita Hall

Gita Hall
Gita Hall, Barry Sullivan, and Peter Graves starred in the 1958 movie "Wolf Larsen".
Born Birgitta Wetterhall
6 September 1933
Linköping, Sweden
Died 13 August 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 (6 September 1933 – 13 August 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 and won the Miss Stockholm beauty pageant in 1953.[3][4] Broadway columnist and radio personality Walter Winchell "discovered" her and got her into Hollywood movies.[1] (An International News Service story published 26 February 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

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Gita Hall, Hollywood starlet – obituary". The Telegraph. 22 August 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
  2. 1 2 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.
  3. ↑ Birgitta Wetterhall in The Swedish Film Database
  4. 1 2 "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.
  5. ↑ "Lionsgate, Ex-Model Settle 'Mad Men' Title Sequence Lawsuit (Exclusive)". Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 16 October 2013.
  6. 1 2 Barnes, Mike (17 October 2016). "Gita Hall, Swedish Actress Who Starred in 'The Gun Runners,' Dies at 82". MSN Entertainment. Retrieved 19 October 2016.
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