HALL, Willis 1929–2005

OBITUARY NOTICE—See index for CA sketch: Born April 6, 1929, in Leeds, England; died March 7, 2005, in West Yorkshire, England. Author. Hall was a popular playwright for both children's and adult theater who often collaborated with his close friend Keith Waterhouse. Hall and Waterhouse were raised in the same Yorkshire town, became friends when they were twelve, and attended the same schools. Too young to serve in the military during World War II, Hall enlisted in the British Army in 1947, spending several years in Asia, where he first put his youthful love of theater to task by creating radio plays for Chinese children. After returning to England, his play Disciplines of War was produced at the Edinburgh Festival in 1957. Two years later, the play had evolved into the popular The Long and the Short and the Tall. Hall and Waterhouse's first collaboration was Billy Liar (1960), which was adapted from a novel Waterhouse wrote. The two writers went on to release a wide variety of theater productions, ranging from drama and comedy to musicals and revues. Among these are England, Our England (1962), All Things Bright and Beautiful (1962), Say Who You Are (1965), and Children's Day (1969). In addition to these works, Hall was a prolific author of screenplays (including the well-received 1962 film Whistle down the Wind) as well as radio plays, television programs, and children's plays and musicals. In fact, much of his more recent popularity came from his musical adaptations of such children's classics as Treasure Island (1985) and The Wind in the Willows (1985). His 1989 television series Budgie was also popular with British audiences.

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Independent (London, England), March 12, 2005, p. 44.

Times (London, England), March 14, 2005, p. 51.