Horn-rimmed British comedy star of Cochran and Coward revues, pantomime and musicals, on stage from 1921. Hale forsook the theatre for films in the mid-1930's, having signed as actor/writer/director for Gaumont British. His screen career came to a sudden end in 1938, following the cancellation of a projected musical he had written for Jessie Matthews ("Asking for Trouble").