Movie Star Mystery Photo

Posted on September 25, 2009 by lmharnisch

Los Angeles Times file photo

Update: Hall Bartlett in an unidentified photo published in 1954.

Update: As many people guessed from a certain picture with a seagull, this is Hall Bartlett.

Hall Bartlett; Wrote, Directed Offbeat Films

September 16, 1993

By BURT A. FOLKART, TIMES STAFF WRITER

Hall Bartlett, whose films generally proved to be imaginative and provocative, if not commercially successful, has died.

A
family spokesman said Wednesday that the writer-producer-director of
such cult favorites as "Changes" and "The Children of Sanchez" was 71
when he died Sept. 8 en route to UCLA Medical Center from his home in
Los Angeles.

Bartlett had undergone hip surgery and the spokesman said he may have died of complications. An autopsy is pending.

Born
to a wealthy family, Bartlett was a Yale graduate and member of Phi
Beta Kappa who challenged film with mystic notions. He developed a
reputation for small, often experimental, pictures that transcended
their low-budget formats.

His first was "Navajo" in 1952. The
feature-length documentary was credited as the first sensitive scrutiny
of the plight of the modern American Indian. It was nominated for an
Academy Award.

He told Paris Match in 1992 that he had been
influenced by films since his boyhood in Kansas City, Mo., and first
fell under the spell of "Les Miserables."

His self-described
"passion for pictures" ran a wide gamut; from "Crazylegs," a
biographical film about football running back Elroy Hirsch, to
"Unchained," an examination of life inside the California Institution
for Men at Chino (the film's leitmotif, "Unchained Melody," became a
popular song of the day and won new fans when it was later featured in
the film "Ghost.")

Bartlett also produced the film of Arthur
Haley's novel "Zero Hour," a melodrama whose theme was widely imitated;
"Drango," a study of the struggle for power in a small, post-Civil War
Southern town, and "All the Young Men," a Sidney Poitier vehicle about
racial tension at the Korean front.

In 1966 he married actress
Rhonda Fleming and two years later starred his stepson, Kent Lane, as a
troubled youth undergoing a spiritual odyssey in the Big Sur area of
California. "Changes" received sympathetic reviews for effort but many
critics found fault with Bartlett's results.

"The Children of
Sanchez," starring Anthony Quinn and Delores del Rio, was released in
1978. It was an adaptation of the award-winning study of a Mexican
family by an American couple who lived with them for five years. Again,
the reviews were mixed, but the picture was highly praised by such
diverse viewers as former President Jimmy Carter and syndicated film
critic Rex Reed.

Bartlett's adventurous spirit was more widely appreciated overseas, and he won several awards at international film festivals.

He
also was a widely felt presence on the Los Angeles civic scene, where
he was a supporter of the Music Center, the James Doolittle Theater, a
patron of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and an organizer of
support clubs for the Rams and Lakers.

In 1992, the Boy Scouts of America honored him with their Jimmy Stewart Good Turn Award.

Of
his life's work, Bartlett told an interviewer: "I hope to continue to
make films relatively small in cost but hopefully of some matter."

He was divorced from Fleming in 1972.

His survivors include two daughters and five grandchildren.

A
funeral service is scheduled for Friday at 3 p.m. at Bel-Air
Presbyterian Church. Donations in Bartlett's memory may be made to the
Good Shepherd Center for Homeless Women and Children, 267 N. Belmont
Ave., Los Angeles 90026.

Just
a reminder on how this works: I post the mystery photo on Monday and
reveal the answer on Friday … or on Saturday if I have a hard time
picking only five pictures; sometimes it's difficult to choose. To keep
the mystery photo from getting lost in the other entries, I move it
from Monday to Tuesday to Wednesday, etc., adding a photo every day.

I
have to approve all comments, so if your guess is posted immediately,
that means you're wrong. (And if a wrong guess has already been
submitted by someone else, there's no point in submitting it again).

If
you're right, you will have to wait until Friday. There's no need to
submit your guess five times. Once is enough. The only prize is
bragging rights.

The answer to last week's mystery star: Esther Ralston.

Photograph with Marianna Diamos / Los Angeles Times

Update: Nov. 2, 1973: Hall Bartlett with "Mmes Robert O'Meara, Don Fedderson and Larry Greene at the International Orphans Ball." This is from the era when The Times thought married women had no first name other than "Mrs."

Here's another photo of our mystery guest with some mystery companions.

Los Angeles Times file photo

Update: Jan. 3, 1974, Producer-director Hall Bartlett on the set of "Jonathan Livingston Seagull."

Here's another photo of our mystery guest with a mystery friend.

Los Angeles Times file photo

Update: Hall Bartlett in an unidentified photo, Aug. 12, 1982.

Here's another photo of our mystery guest. Please congratulate Mary Mallory, Pamela Porter, Stacia, Edward Cradduck, JT, Dr. Fudd, Christa, Richard Heft, Margie, Zabadu, William and Evelyn for identifying him.

Photograph by Jayne Kamin-Oncea / Los Angeles Times

March 10, 1988. Hall Bartlett poses outside Hunter's Books with copies of his novel "The Rest of Our Lives."

Please congratulate Greg Clancey and Dewey Webb for identifying him (and Dewey recognized Yvonne Lime).

About lmharnisch

I am retired from the Los Angeles Times

View all posts by lmharnisch →

This entry was posted in Film, Hollywood, Mystery Photo, Obituaries. Bookmark the permalink.

46 Responses to Movie Star Mystery Photo

Mary Mallory says:

September 21, 2009 at 9:14 am

Jon Hall.

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Lee Rivas says:

September 21, 2009 at 9:43 am

Audie Murphy??

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Paul Cardinal says:

September 21, 2009 at 9:49 am

Dick Contino

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waldo lydecker says:

September 21, 2009 at 9:50 am

Christopher (Chris) Robinson — still is from TV series 12 O’clock High although he’s probably best known from General Hospital or the Bold and the Beautiful.

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william says:

September 21, 2009 at 9:51 am

Robert Preston

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Arye Michael Bender says:

September 21, 2009 at 9:56 am

I know it isn’t, but he sure looks like flamboyant early TV personality and sometimes actor, Tom Duggan.
Tom was an amazing, highly controversial and always fascinating presence. Died too early, but not early enough to avoid being cast in ‘Frankenstein 1970’.

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Eve says:

September 21, 2009 at 10:56 am

Nope. Got me stumped.

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james says:

September 21, 2009 at 11:01 am

It’s mark goddard

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Barbara Klein says:

September 21, 2009 at 11:52 am

Steve Forrest.
Long-shot, for sure.

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annie frye says:

September 21, 2009 at 2:06 pm

Looks a little like an early Spencer Tracy

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Suzy Q says:

September 21, 2009 at 2:56 pm

David Hedison

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Nancy Price says:

September 21, 2009 at 4:59 pm

Lloyd Bridges

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Edward Cradduck says:

September 22, 2009 at 7:13 am

Looks like Ben Cooper.

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Eve says:

September 22, 2009 at 9:23 am

Well, that second photo APPEARS to be my Uncle Bob at my bat mitzvah, but I am guessing that’s not right?

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Carmen says:

September 22, 2009 at 9:31 am

William Self

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juile says:

September 22, 2009 at 10:42 am

Is it… Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers??

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Suzy Q says:

September 22, 2009 at 10:44 am

I like Eve’s answer. Very funny.

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Mary Mallory says:

September 22, 2009 at 12:20 pm

I think it’s John Rodney, and the first photo is from FIGHTER SQUADRON.

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Greg Clancey says:

September 22, 2009 at 12:22 pm

Is that Jane Russell on the left?

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Rogét-L.A. says:

September 22, 2009 at 4:48 pm

John Hart

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Rinky Dink says:

September 22, 2009 at 9:55 pm

Is the woman on the far right Helen Gurley Brown?

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Mary Mallory says:

September 23, 2009 at 9:15 am

Hall Bartlett.

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Evelyn says:

September 23, 2009 at 9:26 am

Hall Bartlett. The seagull gave it away.

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Mary Mallory says:

September 23, 2009 at 9:27 am

We have the first photo in Hall’s bio file, but the film isn’t identified. It must be either JET PILOT or WILD BLUE YONDER, probably that. Today’s photo is from JONATHAN LIVINGSTON SEAGULL and is that Chang? We don’t have this exact photo, but he’s wearing that coat.

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william says:

September 23, 2009 at 9:31 am

Hall Bartlett

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william says:

September 23, 2009 at 9:41 am

Richard David Bach

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zabadu says:

September 23, 2009 at 9:55 am

Hall Bartlett?

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Arye Michael Bender says:

September 23, 2009 at 10:13 am

Still don’t know, but if it ever comes up for auction, I’ll take his hair.

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juile says:

September 23, 2009 at 10:28 am

The mystery friend in the third picture, I believe I am right in saying, was Celia Gull, whose early high-flying career was grounded after Studio bosses failed to cover up several scurrilous scandals.

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margie says:

September 23, 2009 at 10:50 am

Hall Bartlett

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James Curtis says:

September 23, 2009 at 11:13 am

Actor-director Don Taylor?

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Richard Heft says:

September 23, 2009 at 1:07 pm

Hall Bartlett?

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Christa says:

September 23, 2009 at 1:17 pm

Hall Bartlett?

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Dr. Fudd says:

September 23, 2009 at 2:01 pm

Hal Bartlett

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JT says:

September 23, 2009 at 2:23 pm

deducing that it’s Hall Bartlett

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Edward Cradduck says:

September 23, 2009 at 3:12 pm

Okey, with that last photo, I’m guessing it’s Hall Bartlett, although, I’ve never seen a picture of him.

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Pamela Porter says:

September 23, 2009 at 5:00 pm

Producer/Director Hall Bartlett

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Stacia says:

September 24, 2009 at 3:31 am

Hall Bartlett? I didn’t recognize him, I recognized the seagull.

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Pamela Porter says:

September 24, 2009 at 8:30 am

Director/Producer/former actor Hall Bartlett on the set of “Jonathan Livingston Seagull”

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Dewey Webb says:

September 24, 2009 at 8:58 am

Hall Bartlett–blonde gal in party pic is former starlet Yvonne Lime (wife of TV producer Don Fedderson)

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Mike Hawks says:

September 24, 2009 at 9:57 am

I hope the mystery man is Ken Loach.

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Greg Clancey says:

September 24, 2009 at 10:47 am

Should have got this yesterday…Hal Bartlett.

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Arye Michael Bender says:

September 24, 2009 at 12:33 pm

Franklin Schaffner. He was head of the DGA for a time. If so, the first shot in the series was of him while he was in the military… a reminder that many of a certain generation’s finest filmmakers also participated in WWII.

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Megan says:

September 24, 2009 at 6:27 pm

The lady on the right looks like Veronica Cartwright.

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Flo Myers says:

September 25, 2009 at 12:45 pm

Thanks for taping “jonathan’s” eyes. I would have guessed it for sure!!!!!!for sshure!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Josh Bramhall says:

August 13, 2010 at 9:22 pm

That is Hall Bartlett all right. My grandfather, mentor, and hero. Great person and awesome guy. I own the rights to 2 of those pics. And have the originals in my house. He was a great guy. Thanks for the pics and the article.

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