- He died by a self inflicted gunshot wound to the chest.
- Hal graduated from Opp High School in absentia while he was serving with the U.S. Navy in June 1945 in Okinawa.
- Holds B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering and Business Administration from the Univerity of Colorado (1952). Later received an MBA from the University of Southern California (USC) and a Master's in Anthropology (Folk Music) from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). Hal worked for Douglas Aircraft for one year before starting his acting career.
- Served in the U.S. Navy during World War II.
- Wrote a weekly community history column in The Opp (Alabama) News newspaper. Reportedly, he called 911 and then shot himself about an hour after submitting his last article.
- Hal had success with plays he wrote, Three Miles to Poley and Heroes of Opp, for which his grandfather Bird Jacobs was the inspiration. He also had a number of television scripts he wrote accepted.
- Member of the Los Angeles company "Theatre West.".
- It is reported that Hal had 3 marriages. He had three children from his first marriage to: Phyllis Lorraine Weiss. The three children from that marriage are: Michael Tilton Lynch, 1951. Meggin Lorraine Lynch, 1954 and Timothy Sean Lynch, 1956. There were no children added during his brief two year marriage to Joyce Van Patten. A third marriage to a psychiatrist he met in Opp, AL that was the Dr. to his son Michael lasted only 3 or 4 years. He had no other children.
- Began his acting career on stage in the 50s and was featured in the Broadway production of "Spoon River Anthology" in 1963.
- Retired and spent his last years in Alabama.
- Friends reported that late in life in Alabama he was considered "a minor racist" and at times difficult to be around. Hal was known for sitting on his back porch taking pot shots with his .22 to hurry blacks along who were crossing his property. Prior to his suicide severe arthritis had left him in constant pain.
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