| Bgcolour: | silver |
| Alan Hale, Sr. | |
| Birthname: | Rufus Edward Mackahan |
| Born: | February 10, 1892 |
| Location: | Washington, D.C., United States |
| Deathplace: | Hollywood, California, United States |
Alan Hale, Sr. (born Rufus Edward Mackahan, February 10, 1892 - January 22, 1950) was an American movie actor and director, best known for his many supporting character roles, in particular as frequent sidekick of Errol Flynn. His wife of over thirty years was Gretchen Hartmann (1897 - 1979), a child actress and silent film player and mother of their three children. He was the father of lookalike actor Alan Hale, Jr., best known as "the Skipper" on television's Gilligan's Island.
Hale was born in Washington, D.C.. His first film role was in the 1911 silent movie The Cowboy and the Lady. He played "Little John" in the 1922 film Robin Hood, with Douglas Fairbanks and Wallace Beery, reprised the role sixteen years later in The Adventures of Robin Hood with Errol Flynn and Basil Rathbone, then played him yet again in Rogues of Sherwood Forest in 1950 with Bo Derek's future husband John Derek as Robin Hood, 28 years after his initial performance (possibly the longest period for an actor in the same role in movie history). His other films include Fog Over Frisco, The Little Minister, and It Happened One Night with Clark Gable, all released in 1934; the 1937 remake of Stella Dallas; High, Wide, and Handsome; The Fighting 69th with James Cagney; They Drive By Night with George Raft, Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino, and Humphrey Bogart; Manpower with Edward G. Robinson, Marlene Dietrich, and George Raft; and as the cantankerous Sgt. McGee in the 1943 movie This Is the Army with George Murphy and Ronald Reagan.
Hale directed eight movies during the 1920s and 1930s and acted in 235 theatrical films.
Hale's son Alan Hale, Jr. played the Skipper in Gilligan's Island on television, and the two blond and heavy-set actors closely resembled each other. Both men had very long and extremely successful movie/television careers.
Alan Hale, Sr. died in Hollywood, California on January 22, 1950 following a liver ailment and viral infection. He is interred in the Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Glendale, California.
Hale's son (who died 40 years later, almost to the day) often regretted that his father had died before the major success of Gilligan's Island.