Movie Star Mystery Photo

Nov. 23, 2009, Mystery Photo
Los Angeles Times file photo

Update: This is Creighton Hale in a photo dated Feb. 17, 1924. He died in 1965.
Aug. 12, 1923, Creighton Hale

Aug. 12, 1923: Newcomer Creighton Hale is making a picture with "Ernest" [Ernst] Lubitsch. [ProQuest shows that The Times frequently misspelled his name].

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 reward is bragging rights. 

The answer to last week's mystery star: Milton Sills!

Nov. 24, 2009, Mystery Photo
Los Angeles Times file photo

Update: Creighton Hale and Irving Cummings in an unidentified photo dated March 4, 1924.

Here’s our mystery fellow with a mystery companion. Please congratulate Carmen, Mike Hawks, Nick Santa Maria and newcomer Vidor Fan for identifying him.

Nov. 25, 2009, Mystery Photo
Los Angeles Times file photo
Jun 16, 1929: Creighton Hale in a publicity photo for “Paris Bound,” a play produced at the Hollywood Music Box. 

Here’s another photo of our mystery star!

Nov. 26, 2009, Mystery Photo
Los Angeles Times file photo
Update: Creighton Hale, Kent Smith and Ann Sheridan in “The Sentence,” later changed to “Nora Prentiss,” April 9, 1947. 

Our mystery fellow and some mystery companions. Please congratulate Mary Mallory for identifying him. And special congratulations to Mike Hawks for identifying Tuesday’s mystery companion.

Nov. 27, 2009, Mystery Photo
Los Angeles Times file photo

Creighton Hale and his Boston terrier in an undated photo. Please congratulate Dewey Webb, Don Danard, Jenny M., Michael Ryerson, Gregory Moore, Stacia, Thom B and Alexa Foreman for identifying him.

Unknown's avatar

About lmharnisch

I am retired from the Los Angeles Times
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37 Responses to Movie Star Mystery Photo

  1. Carmen's avatar Carmen says:

    Creighton Hale – Happy Thanksgiving Week to all!

    Like

  2. Paul Cardinal's avatar Paul Cardinal says:

    DICK POWELL

    Like

  3. Barbara Klein's avatar Barbara Klein says:

    Wallace Reid

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  4. william's avatar william says:

    Fred MacMurray

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  5. Mary Mallory's avatar Mary Mallory says:

    Douglas MacLean.

    Like

  6. Unknown's avatar zabadu says:

    For some reason, the photo reminds me of Bob Cummings.

    Like

  7. Arye Michael Bender's avatar Arye Michael Bender says:

    He’s got Neil Hamilton’s hair.

    Like

  8. Mike Hawks's avatar Mike Hawks says:

    The man is Creighton Hale.

    Like

  9. Nick Santa Maria's avatar Nick Santa Maria says:

    Creighton Hale.

    Like

  10. Eve's avatar Eve says:

    He’s so far away it’s hard to tell–is he Donald Keith?

    Like

  11. Virginia Jauregui's avatar Virginia Jauregui says:

    Looks like Donald Keith

    Like

  12. Arye Michael Bender's avatar Arye Michael Bender says:

    BTW: The photo retouch master makes it look like the mystery guest’s head is in a guillotine. Hard to play a sax when your head is about to roll.

    Like

  13. Vidor Fan's avatar Vidor Fan says:

    I’m going to guess Creighton Hale.

    Like

  14. JM GREEN's avatar JM GREEN says:

    al jolson

    Like

  15. Mary mallory's avatar Mary mallory says:

    Ben Lyon.

    Like

  16. Eve's avatar Eve says:

    Wow, he looks completely different in Photo 2. I am kinda stumped, but will wildly guess Harrison Ford? (No, not the current one, the 1920s one!)

    Like

  17. Arye Michael Bender's avatar Arye Michael Bender says:

    The angle doesn’t allow for detection of a famous cleft, but Tuesday’s mystery companion could be the young, yet to be debonaire, Archie Leach (when he still was Archie Leach).

    Like

  18. JM GREEN's avatar JM GREEN says:

    man on right charley chase?

    Like

  19. Pat in Michigan's avatar Pat in Michigan says:

    George K. Arthur

    Like

  20. gerald mccann's avatar gerald mccann says:

    William Boyd

    Like

  21. Eve's avatar Eve says:

    Darn, he looks so familiar it’s driving me crazy, but I cannot pin him down. He’d be in his 40s in the 1920s, by the looks of him, but darned if I can put a name to him. I’ll feel a right prat on Friday, I’m sure. “Oh–HIM!”

    Like

  22. Mary Mallory's avatar Mary Mallory says:

    It’s Creighton Hale. Now I have to work on what movie is the second one. Melbourne Spurr is one of my favorite still photographers from that era. VidorFan is my coworker Sue, who helped me guess a previous MSMP.

    Like

  23. Mike Hawks's avatar Mike Hawks says:

    Just a hunch with photo #2, is this a candid of Hale with director Irving Cummings on the set of RIDERS UP?

    Like

  24. Paul Cardinal's avatar Paul Cardinal says:

    Neil Hamilton

    Like

  25. Mary Mallory's avatar Mary Mallory says:

    We have today’s photo in the Hollywood Museum Collection. I think Monday’s photo is promoting the WAMPAS Frolic Ball, because it looks like he’s wearing the same suit and has the same saxophone as he poses with other people and the poster.

    Like

  26. Thom B's avatar Thom B says:

    I think it’s Chic Johnson and Ole Olsen.

    Like

  27. Rick Scott's avatar Rick Scott says:

    With A Vidor Fan guessing right, let’s go for James Murray, star of “The Crowd.”

    Like

  28. Cold in Phx's avatar Cold in Phx says:

    Okay, I think I got the mystery guest as Bert Wheeler. Didn’t know he played the sax. But the other one is some famous old baseball player. He’s familiar, but I can’t place him. Maybe it’s Dazzy Vance.

    Like

  29. Dewey Webb's avatar Dewey Webb says:

    Creighton Hale, Kent Smith & Ann Sheridan in Nora Prentiss

    Like

  30. Lana's avatar Lana says:

    Kent Smith

    Like

  31. Jenny M's avatar Jenny M says:

    Creighton Hale

    Like

  32. margie's avatar margie says:

    Bruce Bennett

    Like

  33. MichaelRyerson's avatar MichaelRyerson says:

    And now the Creighton Hale is out of the bag, shown here with a philandering Dr. Richard Talbot/Robert Thompson (Kent Smith) on the town with a scrumptuous Nora Prentiss (Ann Sheridan).

    Like

  34. Gregory Moore's avatar Gregory Moore says:

    Aha! Creighton Hale….

    Like

  35. Mary mallory's avatar Mary mallory says:

    I think that’s David Brian, and the film is THE GREAT JEWEL ROBBER.

    Like

  36. Stacia's avatar Stacia says:

    I think that’s Creighton Hale. Thursday’s picture is of him in “Nora Prentiss” with Kent Smith and Ann Sheridan.

    Like

  37. Thom B's avatar Thom B says:

    How about Creighton Hale

    Like

Comments are closed.