Kevin Peter Hall could make a creature threatening or gentle through the way he moved inside a cumbersome suit. We value the menace he brings to Predator, even when the human characters are thin.
Fi1m perspective
In Predator (1987), Kevin Peter Hall has to give an alien personality while his own face is largely concealed. His movement does much of the acting, and the cumbersome suit gives him plenty to work against. We rate the performance highly: the creature has enough character to sustain our interest as well as threaten the humans. At 7 ft 2 in, Hall had an obvious advantage in suggesting danger, but height alone cannot make a character.
The early parts were already pointing him towards this sort of work: a mutant bear in Prophecy (1979), then the alien in Without Warning (1980). Harry and the Hendersons (1987) gave him a gentler creature to play. As Harry, the sasquatch, he brought expression to another cumbersome costume. That contrast with Predator, released the same year, matters: it gives us a reason to value his choices beyond the practical business of being tall enough for the part.
John McTiernan gives him a useful setting in Predator: a jungle commando film that becomes an alien hunt. We were frightened because Hall's physical menace makes the danger to Schwarzenegger's convincingly vulnerable soldier feel real. The director builds the suspense, but a creature performer still has to justify the waiting when the creature is there to be seen. Hall does, and that is a substantial part of why we recommend the film despite its crude dialogue and thin characterisation.
He returned as the alien in Predator 2 (1990). Prominent unmasked parts were scarce, which limits what we can judge of him outside creature work. That is no reason to treat these performances as interchangeable: Harry and the Predator have different temperaments, despite the disguises. Start with Predator, then try Harry and the Hendersons for the gentler performance.
Biography
Kevin Peter Hall (9 May 1955 – 10 April 1991) was an American actor. Standing 7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) tall, he frequently played monster characters in film and television.
He portrayed the titular Predator in the 1987 science fiction film Predator, also appearing unmasked as a helicopter pilot, and reprised the role in the 1990 sequel Predator 2. Hall played the title character Harry in the 1987 film Harry and the Hendersons and its subsequent television series. Other credits include Without Warning (1980), Prophecy (1979), Big Top Pee-wee (1988), a guest appearance as Leyor in Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987) and a recurring role in the sitcom 227 (1989–1990).
Hall was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and attended Penn Hills High School and George Washington University. He was married to actress Alaina Reed Hall from 1988 until his death.
