Background
Hanlon was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and was raised by his grandmother in Culver City, California.
Hanlon was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and was raised by his grandmother in Culver City, California.
He started acting at age 10. His first role was in Buster Keaton"s 1926 film, The General, before appearing in two 1927 Our Gang/Little Rascals silent shorts: The Glorious Fourth and Olympic Games. He had what was characterized as a breakout performance in the 1929 William Wyler-directed part-talkie The Shakedown, co-starring James Murray and Barbara Kent.
He also had minor roles in Romance, where as an uncredited extra he got his first on-screen kiss from Greta Garbo.
Between 1930 and 1933, Hanlon appeared in eight more films before giving up his acting career in 1932. After graduating from high school, he played minor league baseball and served as an Army Air Corps paratrooper during World World War World War II After the war, Hanlon, worked as a furniture mover for Allied Van Lincolnshire.
He moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1994. He died on December 13, 2012.
According to Variety, at the time of his death he was the oldest living person to appear in the Our Gang comedies and likely the last surviving cast member of the Buster Keaton silent classic The General.