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Hal Roach

Hal Roach
WP Hal Roach 1920 (cropped).jpg
1920
Born Harold Eugene Roach, Sr.
(1892-01-14)January 14, 1892
Elmira, New York, United States
Died November 2, 1992(1992-11-02) (aged 100)
Los Angeles, California, United States
Cause of death Pneumonia
Resting place Woodlawn Cemetery
Occupation Director, producer, actor
Years active 1912–1992
Spouse(s) Marguerite Nichols
(m.1915–41; her death)
Lucille Prin
(m.1942–81; her death)
Children Hal Roach, Jr.,
Margaret Roach
Elizabeth Roach (1945–1946)
Maria Watkins
Jeanne Roach
Bridget Anderson

Harold Eugene "Hal" Roach, Sr. (January 14, 1892 – November 2, 1992) was an American film and television producer, director, and actor from the 1910s to the 1990s, best known today for producing the Laurel and Hardy and Our Gang film comedy series.

Hal Roach was born in Elmira, New York, the grandson of Irish immigrants. A presentation by the great American humorist Mark Twain impressed Roach as a young grade school student.

After an adventurous youth that took him to Alaska, Hal Roach arrived in Hollywood, California in 1912 and began working as an extra in silent films. Upon coming into an inheritance, he began producing short film comedies in 1915 with his friend Harold Lloyd, who portrayed a character known as Lonesome Luke.

In September 1916, Roach married actress Marguerite Nichols. They had two children, Hal Jr. (June 15, 1918 – March 29, 1972) and Margaret M. Roach (March 15, 1921 – November 22, 1964). After 26 years of marriage, Marguerite died in 1940.

Roach married a second time on September 1, 1942, to Lucille Prin (January 20, 1913 – April 4, 1981), a Los Angeles secretary. They were married at the on-base home of Colonel Franklin C. Wolfe and his wife at Wright-Patterson Airfield in Dayton, Ohio, where Roach was stationed at the time while serving as a major in the US Army Air Corps. Roach and Lucille had four children, Elizabeth Carson Roach (December 26, 1945 – September 5, 1946), Maria May Roach (April 14, 1947), Jeanne Alice Roach (October 7, 1949), and Kathleen Bridget Roach (January 29, 1951).


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