His last public appearance was just a few months before his death, at the premiere of Hurricane (1979), the remake of The Hurricane (1937) in which Hall starred.
Interred at Forest Lawn (Hollywood Hills), Los Angeles, California, USA, in the Court of Liberty, same row as Buster Keaton.
Of Swiss & Tahitian ancestry, his father, Felix Locher, was a former world skating champion turned actor and his mother was a Tahitian princess. Nephew of author James Norman Hall who wrote the book on which his star-making role in The Hurricane (1937) was based. Cousin of cinematographer Conrad L. Hall and Ben Chapman who played the creature (when out of the water) in the cult classic, Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954).
Screen-tested by Universal for the role of Flash Gordon; the part eventually went to Buster Crabbe.
To end the weakness and suffering due to cancer of the bladder, he shot himself in the head at the age of 64.