Hal Price was born June 24, 1886 in Wauseon, Ohio. He became a vaudevillian, comedian, and actor in traveling stock companies during the 1900s - 1920s. We find "Happy" Hal Price touring with E. B. Jepson's Jolly Players, the Kelly and Brennen Traveling Show, and other repertory companies. He was also part owner of the Cornell-Price players which featured actress Florence Madeira (and an ad for the Cornell-Price players from 1914 is shown on the right). Some newspaper articles imply that Hal and Florence were married.

As vaudeville faded away, Price settled on a film career which began around 1930 and continued into the early 1950s. Short, pudgy and balding, he generally wore a vest, suit, or bartender's apron, and his primary roles were that of the local law officer, townsman, mayor, store owner, ranch owner, barkeep, etc.

Price was married three (or four) times:

• perhaps to Florence Madeira, his leading lady and co-star in his traveling show days.
• Eleanor Fitzsimmons (mother of Harry Franklin Price Jr. who was born in 1917).
• Amy F. Goodrich (mother of May Lou Price who was born in 1926). They married in 1923. The funeral notice for Amy F. Price mentions she retired from the stage in 1929 and passed away on July 5, 1939 from a heart attack.
• Josephine ??? (Harry's wife at the time of his death).

Price's film work from the mid 1940s through the early 1950s is relatively light. The reason is that he was in the Victor Herbert play "The Red Mill" with runs in New York, Washington, D.C., and other locales. Price portrayed the innkeeper and newspaper reports indicate that he did over a thousand performances. There was a mention in the July 27, 1946 issue of Billboard: "Hal Price, who has been in pictures in Hollywood for several years, is with The Red Mill at the 46th Street Theater, New York."

Thanks to Dale Crawford, Nick Curry and Jim Sorensen for the following death certificate information on Hal Price:

Harry F. 'Hal' Price was born June 24, 1886 in Ohio to John Price and Angy Vine Price.  He passed away from arteriorsclerosis (heart disease) at the age of 77 on April 15, 1964, at the Glendale Sanitarium, Glendale, California.  Price was cremated and interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale California.  His wife's name was Josephine, and her occupation was 'PBX instructor'.  He had resided in California for 30 years (which would equate to 1934); his home address was 1427 Carroll Avenue, Los Angeles; and his occupation and last employer was 'actor' and Columbia Pictures.

(Old Corral webmaster note: as a retired 'Ma Bell' employee, my guess is that Mrs. Price was a switchboard trainer for the old Pacific Bell Telephone. The term PBX is an abbreviation for Private Branch Exchange.)

Les Adams has Price in 256 sound era films, of which 147 are westerns and 4 are serials. Les adds some further details on Price's film career:

Interesting in that his employer (on the death certificate) was listed as Columbia, although he was only in 17 westerns for them and they were mostly far between and across twenty years of western film appearances --- but his first (WESTERN CODE, 1932, Tim McCoy) and his last (JUNCTION CITY, 1952, Charles Starrett) were made there.

He was in more feature films in the 30's than westerns.  He made about a half-dozen John Wayne and Bob Steele Monograms in 1933-34, a few Larry Damour Columbia westerns with Ken Maynard, Bob Allen and Jack Luden in the 1935-37 years (along with some indie stuff), with most of his 1937-1940 westerns for Monogram and Republic. He was nearly a fixture at Monogram and PRC primarily in the 1940-1942 period with some scattered roles at Republic. From then on, it was nearly all Republic with a few at Columbia. Scattered again is the term for his Columbia westerns as there was a seven-year gap between his next-to-last (RETURN OF THE DURANGO KID, 1945) and last (JUNCTION CITY, 1952) at that studio.

Offhand, I can recall only a couple of out-and-out henchie roles and only three or so where he was the 'Brains' gang leader.  The majority of his roles were some kind of town leader or businessman or rancher. He did bartend in at least a dozen saloons, but was also a lawman (Sheriff, Marshal, et al) of some kind at least 45 times. Monogram let him do a few grizzly sidekick roles (maybe four or so) with Jack Randall, Tom Keene and Tex Ritter.

For westerns only, I have him working for: Republic (46 films), Monogram (36 films), PRC (20 films), Columbia (17 films), with the rest mostly indies. I've only spotted him in one Universal western (BAD MAN FROM RED BUTTE) and only one Hopalong Cassidy film.

  Although some of the data is incomplete or inaccurate, the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) has information on Hal Price: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0696912/

The Internet Broadway Database has 1945 - 1947 productions of "The Red Mill", and you'll find Hal Price: https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-production/the-red-mill-1732

The Family Search website, newspapers, tradezines and the California Death Index have information on Hal Price and family:

• 1900 census summary and census takers worksheet - 61 year old John M. Price (born Michigan; occupation "Stationary Eng"), 56 year old wife Angie Price (born New York), 15 year old son Harry (born Ohio) and 13 year old daughter Ella (born Ohio) were living at 815 Monroe Street in Toledo, Ohio. Son Harry was born in Ohio, was 'at school', and his birth info is listed as June, 1885: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MMD2-DGK
• February 12, 1916 New York Clipper tradepaper: " 'Happy Hal' Price, half owner of the Cornell-Price Players, and Eleanor Fitzsimmons, a member of that company, were married in Rockford, Ill., Jan. 3 (1916)."
• World War I draft registration - May 25, 1917 - Harry Franklin Price was in Portland, Oregon and lists his birth date and location as June 24, 1886 in Wauseon, Ohio and occupation as "Actor and theatrical manager - Kelly and Brennen Traveling Show". He also notes a unnamed wife and child as dependents (which would be Eleanor Fitzsimmons and son Harry Franklin Price Jr.): https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1971-26276-41613-23?cc=1968530&wc=M9MT-2MX:159370344
• April 24, 1923 marriage of Harry Franklin Price to 35 year old Amy Florence Goodrich in Dubuque, Iowa: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XJQN-65L
• July 8, 1939 Los Angeles Times newapaper had an obituary for Hal's wife, Amy Florence Goodrich. Excerpts: "... Mrs. Amy F. Price, actress who died ... at the Hollywood Hospital from a heart attack ..." ; "Mrs. Price ... was known professionally as Amy Goodrich. She retired from the stage in 1929. She leaves her husband, Hal Price, a daughter, Mary Lou Price, a step-son, Harry Price ..."
• 1940 census summary and census takers worksheet - 53 year old Harry F. Price (born Ohio) and his 13 year old daughter May Lou Price (born California) lived in Los Angeles. He owned their home at 2763 Newell Street, Los Angeles, and they lived there in 1935. Hal's occupation was "Actor - moving pictures", and in 1939, he worked 20 weeks and earned $1039.00: https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/K9CD-744
• World War II draft registration: Harry Franklin (Hal) Price was born June 24, 1886 in Wauseon, Ohio. His contact was daughter May Lou Price, and their home address was 2763 Newell Street, Los Angeles. His employer was "all motion picture studios": https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-1-16368-27483-24?cc=1861144&wc=MMRW-15R:n1652918836
• California Death Index has a record for Harry F. Price, born June 24, 1886 in Ohio, and he passed away on April 15, 1964 in the Los Angeles area: https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VP4X-WBH

Find A Grave website has Harry Price interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Glendale), Glendale, California: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/146443814/harry-franklin-price

  The Internet Movie Database has a record for singer and comic actress Lu Leonard (1927-2004) noting that her real name was May Lou Price and she was Hal Price's daughter: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0502691/

The Los Angeles Times newspaper website has an obituary on Lu Leonard: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2004-jun-11-me-passings11.2-story.html