William “Hal” Harold Riddle might be the most prolific actor from Western Kentucky who never made it to stardom. Born December 11, 1919 to Forrest Hyte and Mayme Salmon Riddle in Calhoun, Kentucky, his story is something of a fairy tale—a boy who fell in love with the movies and a movie star in particular, and lived his life doing what he loved and finding his early love afterwards.

In hindsight, Riddle’s life seems destined for the Broadway stage and Hollywood screen. His first role came at age 7 or 8, the titular lead in Peter Rabbit. His rabbit ears, made of wire, kept falling down. The first time he corrected them, the crowd laughed and cheered. The second time, they chuckled. The third, they were silent. As he was fond of telling, Riddle learned his first important lesson about acting that day: “...never milk a laugh!” Age 11, at the height of the Great Depression, Riddle would often sneak out to the movie theater for 10 cents a showing. There, on the silver screen of a movie theater in Fulton, Kentucky watching the silent film Adoration, he fell in love with Billie Dove. Arriving home, he told his, who promptly scolded him for attending the movies without her permission. But she gave him permission to write a letter to Dove. Weeks later, he received an autographed picture from the famed actress who would inspire his road to Hollywood. Ever hungry for news of the screen and opportunities at stardom, he struck up a correspondence with director Norman Taurog in 1935 after watching his 1931 film Skippy. Taurog, young Riddle knew, had cast children before. After corresponding for over a decade, Taurog would eventually cast Riddle in the Andy Griffith-led 1958 film Onionhead.

Riddle graduated from Fulton High School in 1938 and started his studies at Murray State Teachers College the same year. Coming to Murray, Riddle knew that small-town people like him weren’t the kind of material Hollywood was looking for—he took the advice of his parents and majored in business. He kept his love of the stage alive with a minor in drama and literature, studying under Miss Helen Thornton, a titan of Murray State’s early dramatics program from 1936 onwards. He also came to know Price “Pop” Doyle, Fine Arts Chair from 1939 to 1957, for whom the Fine Arts Building at Murray State is now known. Riddle’s first part played in Brother Rat, a play which 1938 film adaptation would star Ronald Reagan, an actor whose career Riddle would follow until the Presidency. Graduating in 1942, Forrest Riddle delivered a tough graduation present: a draft card which had arrived the week before that Forrest had hidden until his son graduated.

Riddle found himself in the Navy from the latter half of 1942 to 1945, upon which he started his career on Broadway and later in Hollywood. Riddle’s connection to Kentucky remained alive and well in his Southern Baptist heritage, which he kept until his passing. Riddle was a member of the Hollywood Christian Group, which included Roy Rogers and Dale Evans.

Riddle made friends of various stars, not least of all the infamous Gypsy Rose Lee. Chosen by Lee for her match as a contestant on The Dating Game in July 1969, the two took a trip to Montreux, Switzerland together. Although Lee would pass away on April 26, 1970 of lung cancer, she left a lasting mark on Riddle, who wrote a memoir essay eulogizing her.

Hal Riddle retired from acting in 1995 and moved into the retirement home maintained by the Motion Picture & Television Fund. While introducing himself to other residents as they discussed how they came to be in the acting profession, Riddle spun his tale about stealing away to the movie theatre and falling in love with Billie Dove on that screen in Fulton, Kentucky in 1931. The next morning, Riddle got a call from a worker at the home who had overheard him. Billie Dove lived at the home, just a five minute walk from his cottage. The two became best friends—Dove told him of her life, while Riddle would help her answer letters from fans or push her around the home in her wheelchair when the weather permitted. Although he knew her for only two years, Riddle became one of the best friends Dove ever had. He delivered her eulogy at her funeral in 1998.

Riddle himself lived another decade at the home, giving interviews, maintaining his collection of Hollywood memorabilia, and involving himself in fundraising efforts for the MP&T Fund. In 2007, Riddle donated his collection, appraised at over $350,000 at the time, to Wrather Museum, where it was displayed as an exhibit. It is now housed at the Forrest C. Pogue Special Collections Library.

Sources

McClain, Sherry. “Hal’s Success No Riddle.” Murray State University Magazine (Spring 2001): 16-18.

Nashawaty, Chris. “The Riddle of Fame.” Entertainment Weekly September 19, 2003. https://ew.com/article/2003/09/19/riddle-fame/.

Riddle, Hal. “I Remember Gypsy.” William Harold Riddle collection. MS20-04, Box 2, Folder 9. Forrest C. Pogue Special Collections Library and University Archive, Murray State University, Murray, KY.

Wainess, Lacy. “All This and Heaven Too.” William Harold Riddle collection. MS20-04, Box 2, Folder 9. Forrest C. Pogue Special Collections Library and University Archive, Murray State University, Murray, KY.