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Thread: Sam Hall, 93, wrote for Dark Shadows, One Live To Live, etc.

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    Sam Hall, 93, wrote for Dark Shadows, One Live To Live, etc.

    Allison Samuel Hall, a WW2 vet, Dartmouth grad, and would-be playwright whose career took the more practical turn of soap opera scripting, died on Sept. 26, 2014 at age 93. His best-known work included THE BRIGHTER DAY, both the original and 1991 DARK SHADOWS and the original series' two feature films, a long stint on ONE LIFE TO LIVE, and SANTA BARBARA. He branched out into higher-profile TV series, including the highly-regarded THE ADAMS CHRONICLES on PBS, and episodes for THE WIDE WORLD OF MYSTERY.

    The DS job that kept him from returning to Ohio to work in his father's rubber-glove factory, and onward to a solid TV writing career, came about when his Academy-Award-nominated (but out-of-work) actress wife, Grayson Hall (nee Shirley Grossman) got a call to audition for a short-term role on the oddball Gothic soap opera. The role of a female doctor (uncommon enough in 1967) who tried to cure, then fell in love with a vampire (rather MORE uncommon!) went long-term with both characters' popularity.

    Then, when the job of head writer on DS opened up, producer Dan Curtis hired Sam and the other scriptwriter who would become his long-standing writing partner, Gordon Russell. These two went on to work on ONE LIFE TO LIVE, where they wrote the "Karen Wolek courtroom confession scene" which won actress Judith Light her first Daytime Emmy.

    In time, wife Grayson and their son Matthew both came to work on OLTL, Grayson in the role of eccentric "Euphemia Ralston", and young Matt as a fledgling writer. He later worked with his Dad on the 1991 DS, and wrote several novels with dark themes. A few years ago, Sam worked on a local TV project, a serial about his neighborhood, and as recently as January, had filed a lawsuit in an attempt to claim royalties from the short-lived re-launch of OLTL. He had been paid by the original series until it went off the air in 2012, and some of the characters he'd created (some with Gordon Russell) were utilized in the reboot.

    Sam is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, and two grandsons. Sam and Grayson owned a historic home in Rhinebeck, NY, where he remained after his wife's death in 1985. (Don't know if he died there.)

    Sources:

    http://www.serialscoop.com/2014/09/s...ead-at-93.html

    http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr...er-sues-669645

    http://www.hvmag.com/Hudson-Valley-M...with-Sam-Hall/

    http://www.tvparty.com/70-dark-shadows.html

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Light

    http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0356075/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1


    Last edited by Linnie; 09-27-2014 at 10:59 PM.

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