Hal March
actor, comedian and game show host (1920-1970)

Hal March (born Harold Mendelson; April 22, 1920 – January 19, 1970) was an American comedian, actor, and television quiz show emcee.
Early career
March entered show business as a straight man in the vaudeville act the Hollywood Rioteers, before serving in the U.S. Army beginning in 1941. He began his career in broadcasting as an announcer at Station KYA in San Francisco. From 1944 through 1948 he teamed with comedy partner Bob Sweeney in The Bob Sweeney-Hal March Show on CBS Radio. He also appeared in The Adventures of Sam Spade, which ran on CBS from 1946 to 1949.
March co-starred as Harry Morton on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show on the NBC and CBS radio networks from the mid-1940s until 1950. When the show switched to television that year, he continued in the role until the middle of the season, in 1951. During the next few seasons, he appeared occasionally in various guest roles on the show.
March and Mary Jane Croft co-starred in Too Many Cooks, a summer replacement program on CBS radio in 1950. The comedy centered on Douglas and Carrie Cook and their 10 children.
The public source identifies “Hal March” as actor, comedian and game show host (1920-1970). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around March, actor and comedian.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 30, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3125892. VIAF identifies the subject as 21119802. The Library of Congress control number is n85173960. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1920, 1970, 1941 and 1944.
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This entry incorporates text from “Hal March” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.