About Albert Hall (actor)
Albert W. Hall (born November 10, 1937) is an American retired actor. He portrayed Chief Phillips in the 1979 war film Apocalypse Now and Judge Seymore Walsh in Ally McBeal and The Practice. He also played Brother Baines in the 1992 Spike Lee film Malcolm X. His last screen role was a 2011 episode of the television series Men of a Certain Age. == Early life and education == Hall was born and raised in Brighton, Alabama. He graduated from the Columbia University School of the Arts. == Career == === Early work === After portraying Pointer in Willie Dynamite (1974), Hall had a part in the 1976 biopic Leadbelly. He played a co-pilot in the 1978 film The Bermuda Triangle. Hall had a small role in the 1979 miniseries Roots: The Next Generations. === Apocalypse Now === Hall gained mainstream attention for his role as Chief Phillips in Francis Ford Coppola's 1979 war classic Apocalypse Now, in which his character, as a Chief Petty Officer, leads the rest of a United States Navy PBR (Patrol Boat, River) crew upriver from Vietnam to Cambodia so that Captain Willard (Martin Sheen) can complete his mission to assassinate Colonel Kurtz (Marlon Brando). To prepare for the role, Hall did research to accurately portray someone experiencing the Vietnam War first hand.
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