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Emmy-Nominated TV Writer Dead at 93 — He Was Known for Soaps Including ‘Dark Shadows,’ ‘Santa Barbara’

Oct 1, 2014  •  Post A Comment

A longtime soap opera writer who worked on shows including “Dark Shadows” and “Santa Barbara” has died. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Sam Hall died Friday at 93.

Hall died after contracting pneumonia, the story says, citing his son, Matt.

The story reports: “Hall, a five-time Daytime Emmy Award nominee and Peabody Award winner, was married for 33 years to the late Grayson Hall, who received a supporting actress Oscar nomination for playing Judith Fellowes in John Huston’s ‘The Night of the Iguana’ (1964).”

Hall joined “Dark Shadows” in 1967 and wrote more than 300 episodes of the Gothic soap opera, and he also worked on a 1991 revival of the show for NBC.

Of his work on “Dark Shadows,” Hall said in an interview for a DVD feature release, “We stole things right and left from all the horror classics, including the werewolf, which worked for a while, and a lot of the great American short story writer [H.P.] Lovecraft. I only wish that Stephen King had been [known] then, because he could have kept the show going for a hundred years.”

After “Dark Shadows” was canceled in 1971, Hall moved to ABC’s “One Life to Live,” where he took over as head writer from Agnes Nixon, who created the soap. Hall sued ABC earlier this year, claiming he hadn’t been paid royalties for the online reboot of the show from Prospect Park. The story notes, “His original agreement did not spell out whether ‘broadcast’ was restricted to network television.”

Hall worked on “Santa Barbara” in the 1980s and worked for “General Hospital” before he retired in the 1990s, the piece adds.

sam hall

Sam Hall

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