A Fulton native, Murray State graduate, Broadway breakout actor, and Hollywood character actor William Harold “Hal” Riddle’s life and work lives on in the Hollywood Memorabilia Collection he donated to Wrather West Kentucky Museum in 2007, now housed in Forrest C. Pogue Special Collections Library and University Archive,
An exhaustive overview of the collection is impossible without simply listing everything [available here]. Several items in the collection stand out: screenplays from Riddle’s time as a member of the Motion Picture Academy, materials from the Screen Actors Guild, several boxes of vintage magazines, autographed pictures and stills, even nearly 90 tubes containing original movie posters. Riddle built his collection over the course of his life, writing celebrities in his youth and meeting them as an adult.
Riddle’s collection was sought by many universities and organizations before its donation to Murray State University, including Warner Bros. Entertainment for whom Riddle had acted several times over his career. However, Riddle selected Wrather Museum for exhibition in the early 2000s, and then donated it in 2007. Even after his death in 2009, Riddle continued to give back to Murray State: his estate made a sizable donation in 2011.
Sometime before his death, a documentary entitled Raisin' Hell, supposed to chronicle the life and work of Hal Riddle, was proposed. The Hal Riddle digital exhibit gives access to just some of the material available at Pogue Special Collections Library for research and interest, and in homage to the documentary that was never made. Sections illuminating upon Hal Riddle’s personal life, his career, and various items in the collection are made available here.
— David Adams, Spring, 2025
Special thanks to Chris Nashawaty for making his article “The Riddle of Fame,” published in Entertainment Weekly September 19, 2003, available for sourcing.