Word: one
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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When he was five, his mother walked out, taking Hall and moving in with his grandmother, who lived around the corner. Thereafter Hall's childhood was a disjointed and lonely one. "Teachers would write on my report card, 'Arsenio needs attention. Is there anything you can do about it?' " Yet his grades were good, and he avoided drugs in high school -- though he admits to a rebellious period as a senior. "You couldn't get close to him," remembers Marjorie Banks, his old Sunday school teacher and the wife of former Chicago Cubs star Ernie Banks. "When you talked...
...guitar in a couple of groups. He started college at Ohio University and finished at Kent State, where he majored in speech communication and played the lead in the musical Purlie Victorious. After graduation, Hall went to work in Detroit for Noxell, the makers of Noxema skin cream. But one evening after tuning in to a Tonight show segment, he decided the moment had come "to do what I'd been dreaming about." He quit his job the next...
...better one was in the offing. Last year Paramount proposed another late-night talk show; Hall would be executive producer as well as star, and he would be guaranteed time off to make movies. He was still reluctant. But a guest appearance with Carson on Tonight got his talk-show juices flowing again, and he finally agreed...
...ratings of the troubled show, but it was too late. Fox had already decided to scrap the program in favor of a new late-night entry, The Wilton North Report. "I was able to do a lot of stuff because the Fox executives weren't watching," says Hall. "No one cared." When Wilton North was a quick failure, Fox asked Hall to return. But by this time his attention was elsewhere, notably in movies: he had just shot Coming to America, the first of a three-picture deal with Paramount. Hall turned down the Fox offer...
...filled with electronic gear. ("I'm very high-tech oriented. I wouldn't have a TV without doors that open electronically.") His garage houses two cars: a white 1986 Jaguar XJS and a Mustang convertible. He stays in close touch with his mother, who is a big fan ("No one barks louder at my show than my mom") and for whom he bought a condo in West Hollywood. For relaxation, Hall tried painting for a while but gave it up; took tennis lessons but "hated them." Says he: "I'm not an outdoor person...