Arch Hall Jr. was born on December 2, 1943, in Van Nuys, the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles, California, as the only child of actor, writer, and producer Arch Hall Sr.
He began his career as a teen film actor and musician, appearing in numerous early 1960s films produced by his father. These films showcased his musical abilities, including his tenor voice and guitar riffs played with a swamp blues inflection. Hall was also the frontman for the rock n' roll combo Arch Hall Jr. and the Archers, formed with high school friend Alan O'Day. The band played in various Sunset Strip clubs, such as the Whisky-a-Go-Go and Pandora's Box.
Hall appeared in six feature films in the 1960s, which were produced by the Halls and their associates, including cult director Ray Dennis Steckler. His roles ranged from a dune buggy-driving teenager to a rock n' roll singing spy wearing a white dinner jacket. His first film was The Choppers (1961),in which he played the leader of a teenage gang of car thieves. His second role was Eegah (1962),which has won him the most recognition, partly due to the television show Mystery Science Theater 3000 featuring the movie in a 1993 episode and the late-night comedy horror series Elvira's Movie Macabre.
His third role was playing a young musician named Bud Eagle who tries to make a living and deal with the corruption of the music business in Los Angeles in Wild Guitar (1962). In The Sadist (1963),Hall portrayed a psychopathic killer, named Charlie Tibbs, who terrorizes a trio of helpless people in a remote auto junkyard in the desolate Antelope Valley area of California, which also netted him some praise for his performance, loosely based on teenage spree killer Charles Starkweather.
In the comedy spoof The Nasty Rabbit (aka: Spies-a-Go-Go) (1964),Hall played Britt Hunter, a secret government agent trying to locate a Russian spy trying to use a rabbit to unleash a deadly virus at a remote Dude Ranch. In the western Deadwood '76 (1965),Hall played a drifter named Billy May who is mistaken for outlaw Billy the Kid, which leads to some drastic consequences.
After appearing in his last film, Hall quit his acting career and became an airline pilot. In 1967, he went to work as a pilot for the cargo carrier Flying Tiger Airlines as an apprentice co-pilot on the L-1049H, and eventually became a captain flying the Boeing 747. In 1989, Flying Tiger was purchased by FedEx, and Hall flew the DC-10 until he retired in 2003. He also flew airplanes for a private company with businesses in the U.S. and Japan.
Hall wrote the novel Apsara Jet, which was published in 2001 under the pen name Nicolas Merriweather. The book draws on Hall's knowledge of both commercial airlines and Southeast Asia in telling the story of a Vietnam War vet who gets involved in the illegal drug trade.
A career-spanning 51-page interview with Hall appears in the book Earth vs. the Sci-Fi Filmmakers (McFarland & Co., 2005) by Tom Weaver. Hall's anthology, Wild Guitar, was released on Norton Records. The anthology, with liner notes and biography, collects the original '60s output of Arch Hall Jr. and the Archers, much of which was unreleased at the time.
