Menu

Ron Hall’s True Calling

An art dealer’s story of friendship takes on a life of its own as a movie, Same Kind of Different As Me, now in theaters.

Denver Moore, left, and Ron Hall '71 (MBA '73) became friends when Hall volunteered at a homeless shelter. Courtesy of Same Kind of Different as Me Charitable Foundation

Denver Moore, left, and Ron Hall '71 (MBA '73) became friends when Hall volunteered at a homeless shelter.
Courtesy of Same Kind of Different as Me Charitable Foundation

Ron Hall’s True Calling

An art dealer’s story of friendship takes on a life of its own as a movie, Same Kind of Different As Me, now in theaters.

Ron Hall ’71 (MBA ’73) was slacking his way through TCU, thoroughly enjoying the social scene, when he was drafted into the U.S. Army. His two years of service included training as a top-secret nuclear weapons inspector at Sandia Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He returned to campus a changed man.

“It was eye-opening on the value of education and how I had wasted my first three years at TCU,” he said. “I came back to TCU and finished my last year with a 4.0.”

With a business degree (majoring in finance), Hall landed a job as a bank officer at First National Bank of Fort Worth, where he bought and sold tax-free bonds. On his first business trip to Houston, he wandered into an art gallery to kill time before a bond auction. The visit sparked a lifelong passion for art. Within minutes he had spent more than half of his monthly salary on a $350 LeRoy Neiman lithograph, In the Paddock.

His wife, Deborah Short Hall ’67, was livid. A schoolteacher, she made about $300 a month. “That’s why she was so upset when I spent the equivalent of her one-month salary to buy my little LeRoy Neiman print,” said Hall, who still owns the print. “That was my passport to the art world.”

Banking by day, Hall spent every spare moment soaking up art knowledge and buying and flipping as much as he could on credit. “I was on a fast track at the bank and most people were surprised – especially my wife,” he said, crediting his MBA from TCU for his quick rise to assistant vice president. “It was big promotions and low pay. When I left, I was making $15,000 a year, and they offered me $18,000 and a full vice president’s job to stay.”

International Art Dealer 

By 1975, Hall was ready to take the plunge into art dealing full time and launched Ron Hall Gallery. At different times through the years, he had galleries in Fort Worth, Dallas, New York City and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

“I sold many, many museum-quality works by Picasso, Monet, Renoir, Gauguin, Jackson Pollock,” he said. “All the things you see when you walk into a museum, I’ve sold many of those. 

“One of the dumbest things I ever did was give Andy Warhol’s self-portrait as a gift in 1975. It was only worth about $3,000,” Hall said. “It sold years later for $6.5 million. That’s how smart I was as an art dealer. In 1975 I didn’t feel like Andy Warhol was going to be anything but a passing fad.” 

What Fort Worth locals might remember best is the flight of the massive Calder Eagle from downtown, and Hall was right in the thick of it.

“When the Fort Worth National Bank went down into bankruptcy in the ’80s, the bank assets were bought out by another banking organization, but the building and all its assets were bought by a Canadian real estate company. They wanted to sell the Calder,” he said. “I called all the local museums and spoke with some of the wealthiest people in town.

“For $1 million, the sculpture could have stayed in Fort Worth. One collector here in town was willing to put up half the money if we could find someone to match. But the deadline passed, and they wanted it sold.”

Hall and his partner pulled together the money, bought Eagle and shipped it to a foundry in Connecticut to be restored. “When the bank originally bought it, they didn’t like the way it sat on the plaza, so they cut 2 feet off the legs,” he said. 

They found the legs in the basement, dug the 6-ton, 39-foot-tall steel sculpture out of 18 inches of concrete, and loaded it onto 18-wheelers. 

“A lot of people in Fort Worth were very angry,” Hall said. “They didn’t know who took the Calder out of town, but they were ready to lynch whoever did. My partner and I named our mythological company The Phoenix because of the bird that flew. When I wrote Same Kind of Different As Me, I came clean and confessed I was the one who did that.”

Eagle was on loan to the Philadelphia Museum of Art before landing permanently at the Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle.

“The sculpture could’ve stayed for $1 million, and now it’s probably worth $25 million to $30 million,” Hall said.

Art dealer Ron Hall '71 ('73 MBA) co-authored the bestseller Same Kind of Different as Me with Denver Moore. Courtesy of Ron Hall/photo by Billy Surface (Marc Montoya)

Art dealer Ron Hall ’71 (MBA ’73) co-authored the bestseller Same Kind of Different as Me with Denver Moore. Courtesy of Ron Hall/photo by Billy Surface (Marc Montoya)

Best-Selling Author

At Hall’s wife’s insistence, he started volunteering with her at Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County, a homeless shelter in Fort Worth. With his wife’s encouragement, he befriended a homeless man, Denver Moore.

When Debbie Hall was diagnosed with cancer in 1999, Hall closed his local gallery and turned all other operations over to his business partner in New York City and his son, Carson Hall ’99, so he could stay home and take care of her. She died in 2000.

“Debbie’s final words to me were, ‘Don’t give up on Denver. God is going to bless your friendship in a way you could never imagine,’ ” Hall recalls.

Moore moved in with Hall. In 2006, the two men published the story of their friendship in Same Kind of Different As Me, written with Lynn Vincent (Thomas Nelson). The book sold more than 2 million copies and spent 157 weeks on the New York Times best-seller list.

He and Moore gave 180 speeches in 2006 and even more the next year. “What we were trying to do at that point was to raise money to build a new Union Gospel Mission in Tarrant County, which is now the finest homeless mission in all of America.”

Hall estimates that he has given more than 1,000 speeches and helped nonprofits raise millions for the homeless. “When people hire me to come speak at their event, they’re expecting it will be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he said. “I’m always disappointed if it’s anything less than a quarter of a million. I feel like a failure.”

What Difference Do It Make?: Stories of Hope and Healing (Thomas Nelson) followed in 2010 and a children’s version in 2013. Hall recently completed a manuscript about the untold 10 years with Moore, who died in 2012.

Ron Hall '71 ('73 MBA) (right) and his wife Beth with actor Dijmon Hounsou on the set of the film Same Kind of Different As Me in Jackson, Mississippi.The film is adapted from the bestselling book co-written by Hall and Denver Moore, portrayed by Hounsou in the film. Photo courtesy of Ron Hall

Ron Hall ’71 (MBA ’73) (right) and his wife, Beth, with actor Djimon Hounsou on the set of the film Same Kind of Different As Me in Jackson, Mississippi. The film is adapted from the bestselling book co-written by Hall and Denver Moore, portrayed by Hounsou in the film. Photo courtesy of Ron Hall

Hall also has a manuscript for a book about his relationship with his father, whom he described as a misunderstood World War II hero. The working title is Same Kind of Sorry As Me. “He was sorry that he had not been a better father,” Hall said. “I was sorry I had not been a better son. We had to figure out a way we could put it back together, and we only had a year to do it because he had cancer and was 90 years old.”

Hall is finishing The Poopsie Chronicles, which he’s been writing on and off for four years. “Poopsie kind of fell to the wayside while I had projects that the publisher was a little more interested in,” he said. “According to the publisher, it goes against the brand of Same Kind of Different As Me. It’s kind of the rascal in me that they don’t want to reveal.

“You read Same Kind of Different As Me and come away with the idea that maybe I was an extraordinarily spiritual person instead of a guy who lived a story that was really a God-ordained story,” Hall said. “But when you read The Poopsie Chronicles, you realize I was just a normal guy out trying to make a living — doing what it took. Maybe sometimes doing more than what it took.”

Nonprofit Founder

Hall married Elizabeth Walker six years ago. In early 2017, the couple founded a nonprofit organization, the Same Kind of Different As Me Foundation (skodam.org). Walker attended TCU for two years before graduating from the University of North Texas.

“Beth runs the foundation — what we hope will become a foundation that provides emergency needs for homeless shelters, more specifically the smaller homeless shelters that do not have large bases of support,” Hall said. “My friend Denver used to say, ‘We’re all homeless, just working our way home.’

“We hope to put a new face on homelessness and have people begin to look at the homeless through God’s eyes and not through their own to see that we all are homeless, just working our way home,” Hall said. “If it wasn’t for the blessings of God, we would all be in that same shape.”

The film Same Kind of Different As Me is based on the 2006 nonfiction book by Ron Hall and Denver Moore.

Photos copyright 2017 Paramount Pictures, used by permission

Movie Producer

Hall hopes the new movie Same Kind of Different As Me, which is based on the book, helps change how people view the homeless. “I want people to walk away from this film with new eyes to see the homeless through the lens of God and to realize it’s not the color of our skin that divides our country. It’s the condition of our hearts,” he said. “If we get our hearts right, we will all come together.”

The road from best-selling book to completed film was long and bumpy. “It was two failed attempts with two other studios and producers,” Hall said. “Through multiple lawsuits and legal maneuverings, I got back control of my own life rights, which was very costly. I decided to write the screenplay myself and produce the movie myself.”

Hall formed SKODAM Films, and when Paramount Pictures called wanting to be involved in the project, he jumped at the chance. “They brought a lot of value to the project — was it going to be Ron Hall making his first movie or was it Paramount, one of the oldest and most successful movie companies in the world, as my partner? I didn’t have to dust off my old TCU MBA to make that decision.”

Ron Hall '71 ('73 MBA) holds the clapperboard on the set of the film Same Kind of Different As Me, adapted from the bestselling book he co-authored with Denver Moore. Photo courtesy of Ron Hall

Ron Hall ’71 (MBA ’73) holds the clapperboard on the set of the film Same Kind of Different As Me, adapted from the best-selling book he co-authored with Denver Moore. Photo courtesy of Ron Hall

The movie was delayed when a musicians union sued because SKODAM Films was using nonunion musicians to record the film’s score. “The judge threw the case out of court and said there wasn’t a basis for the lawsuit because SKODAM Films was under no obligation to hire union employees,” Hall said. “They were going after us, saying it was a Paramount.

“Well, Paramount was just an investor in my company and not the lead in the film, and we are a Texas company, so we had no obligation,” Hall said. “But it was still a long, drawn-out, costly lawsuit. We couldn’t finish the rest of our original music until we finished that.”

Hall has his eye on the bigger picture now. “The movie is something that hopefully will cause a rising tide for all people who work in homeless ministries because it’s a call to action,” he said. “I would question the heart of anyone walking out of our film and not wanting to do something to make a difference in their community or with one person.”

The movie, which stars Renée Zellweger, Djimon Hounsou and Greg Kinnear, is scheduled for national release Oct. 20. Brad Paisley wrote a song for the soundtrack — Stubborn Angels — and Pure Flix is promoting the film.

“He’s had a great impact on homelessness throughout the country as well as locally,” said Don Shisler, president and CEO of Union Gospel Mission of Tarrant County. “His book is kind of a love story, but it inspires people that they can deal with homeless issues and it makes homeless issues more personal to everyone.

“As far as the ongoing PR from the book, he may mention something about us in his speaking engagements, and with the movie now, it’s been invaluable.”

“I never expected to be involved in [the story] this long,” Hall said. “I thought I would just write a book, raise some money for Union Gospel Mission in Fort Worth and then just go about my life as an art dealer. And now I work harder than ever.”

Your comments are welcome

23 Comments

  1. My father was so moved by the book he bought many copies and handed them out. He also insisted each of family members read it. The last Christmas we had with him (the day he died of a heart attack) he sat at the table and made each one of us who hadn’t read it promise to read it. It was as though he knew he was dying and it meant that much to him. My daughter now works with the homeless in Austin. I couldn’t be more proud.

    I attended TCU from 1982-1984 and though I graduated from another school I still call TCU my alma mater.

  2. My wife and I just saw this movie this week! Though I had not previously read the book, my wife had. I had identified with it because it was based in Fort Worth, where I lived, and Ron Hall was a student at TCU, my alma mater, during the same time frame that I was there, and during which time I had become a Christian. What spoke to my heart from the movie was Denver Moore’s comments regarding what he termed “white folks’” practice of “catch and release” when fishing for sport! He didn’t want to be befriended by Ron and Debbie Hall just to be released back into the swamp from which he came just so that they could enjoy the sport of doing so! As a Christian, I don’t want to be guilty of leading others to Christ, that is, making baby Christians, only to abandon them on someone’s doorstep, instead of discipling them and becoming involved in their lives! God has called us to be fishers of men, but not to catch and release! Ron Hall’s friendship with Denver Hall is a testimony to us that God is in the business of restoring, not only lives, but also relationships, with God and with one one another!

  3. je suis ivoirien , je parle le français et je viens de voir le film . il m’a tellement ému que j’ai voulu vérifier la véracité de cette histoire. ce que je découvre me laisse sans voir franchement et apporte un boost à ma foi chrétienne parce que je comprends un peu plus ma mission sur cette terre. puisse le bon Dieu me donner la force et la capacité de voir les autres avec ses yeux afin de faire pour eux ce que j’aimerais que l’on fasse pour moi! amen

  4. I read this after our Pastor’s wife recommended it. It is so inspiring and encouraging to me as my husband and I have been ministering to a homeless man in our small suburb over the past 16 months. I see so much of us in this story and pray that God will use our Jonas to bless our entire homeless population in our small town and bless him with a home and income in the near future. Our church is beginning a homeless ministry in our small community. We face challenges of not having community resources as larger cities do, but we are believing that God will give us the resources, real estate and people to reach the people he places in front of us with the transforming love of Jesus.

  5. Wow:) The story behind this movie moved me in ways I can’t even describe. Debbie left behind a legacy that will endure for many, many years to come. God bless her soul.
    Blessings:)
    Suzi

  6. Wow, what an amazing journey, this movie moved me in so many ways! I never knew of this story until I discovered the movie and watched it tonight. God bless Debbie, her legacy will live on forever!

  7. This movie was and is inspirational on so many levels! Just knowing that there are people who still care for those who don’t Have means a lot. Everyone isn’t always trying to make a buck or look good. Sometimes, you meet people and don’t realize God put them in your path to bring you up not down…to catch and not release but to hold on to them. Be filled with God’s spirit and seek his kingdom diligently!! He’s still in the business of changing lives he never stopped we just give up too easily! #mustardseedfaith #Godslove #reallove

  8. I watched the movie right now and I’m really touched by it. I live in Brazil and during my teenager time I helped homeless people with my church mates. This years were amazing. Hear that histories and could be, unless by one night, a friend and partner of them already matters.

  9. Mr. Ron Hall , I watched the movie “Same kind of Different as Me “ over this past weekend on Netflix , was so moved by this movie that I had to have my husband watch it with me again . We currently live down in south Florida in Fort Pierce , my husband was raised in Jacksonville , Florida where I met him , we married in 1982 lived there up until 6yrs.ago. In Jacksonville they have a lot of shelters for the homeless , in this town there are NONE During the day by the downtown area you see some of the homeless gathered in a park, I believe on some days some of the local churches bring a meal , than in a couple of places around town on certain days there are meals served in a soup kitchen , I do know a place down here called Graceway Villeage on Wednesday and Sunday they serve a meal , from my understanding the majority of the homeless live around the area in tent cities , a business posted on FB some homeless youths showering behind his business , he started leaving out soaps, shampoo’s, and towels for them , I don’t know the full story of some other business’s started complaining about this , but he found out they were homeless youths , taking a shower for school , I believe a couple others started coming to shower for work , his comment on the post was “ Everyone deserves to shower , the comment made in the bathroom by the Actor too “Ron” about Dallas being with him at the country club in the bathroom , just brought that post to my mind . I’ve spoke to many in this area about no place for the homeless , so many are aware , I have served at the place I mentioned to you ,Graceway Village , they do have a clothes closet , and when I served there , the ones that come and have a meal on the days they serve they have a food pantry and I believe they get to pick a bag of food . Just wish there was something more for them here . I do have plans to mention to the Pastor of the church I am attending to watch your movie along with many others , it truly blessed my heart ❤️✝️

  10. I really loved the movie of Mrs Halls life. Is there any way to help the Homeless here in Sacramento??? Is this a program that can be established here?? They need to open all these empty homes and buildings that just sit year after year..

  11. God has truly blessed me. I just spent the last few hours watching this movie. I can say with tears in my eyes. I know I can do more. As a retired Fort Worth Police Officer of 29 years I have seen the great progress of Debbie and Ron Halls work. While rasising money and donating hundreds of turkey to the missions and shelters in Fort Worth for 20 years at Thanksgivings. And working the downtown areas on bike patrol, I befriended several of the homeless and looked at them like God looks at us. For some in my field I was too kind but to others I was the one they would call when help was needed to care for that person. I’m not special but I know God has a plan for all of us. I pray for the power to continue what God has planned for me. We are all good at something. Thank you Ron, Debbie and Denver.

  12. Just watched this movie. It was inspiring and memorable. Djimon Houndou did a great job and I love Greg Kinnear and Renee Zellweger. I cried.

  13. What can I do is always on my mind. This story stretched me to see what Jesus would want us to do. Thank you Lord for those that love you and encourage all us to be like you and to help us care for one another as you have. You gave and give the power of love and Lord and I praise you for this.

  14. Such a beautiful story. I just couldn’t stop crying. We have so much to be thankful for, yet we complain daily over such small things. What a beautiful vision Debbie had and shared of m our Heavenly Father. Denver’s story was heartbreaking .He shared so much knowledge from his personal experience. So many horrible things he lived through. I want to be a Debbie and a Denver in this world and in anyway possible help others. Even a simple smile could change a persons day. Thanks to all who made this film possible. My prayer is we all act upon the lesson we witnessed. Our world needs to truly see the heart of man, not the color of skin!

  15. I was so glad I did not watch at a movie theater. I cried long and hard thru the movie and after… and in tears still.

    I thought I have done much only to realize I’ve done little. I don’t want to boast of what I’ll do after watching the movie. I just pray that my work will match my heart.

  16. What an incredible story. So touching, inspiring and beautiful. I pray the Lord moves in our lives to do more to help those who are homeless. We are all working our way to a better home.

  17. I just watch the movie from Belgium and I am still crying. Very inspiring. Debbie is so inspiring may her soul continue to rest in peace. Denver is a man full of wisdom.

  18. Greetings from Cape Verde, West Africa!
    I saw this movie last month, among all options on Netflix but I lost it… I tried several times to find it out again, but only today I was able to see and watch it!
    We sure wish we could duplicate what Mr. Ron is doing in America over here… There is a such need, even more now!
    Thanks for inspiring all of us. May GOD continues to bless HIS legacy through your ministry to “the less of these!”

  19. We have watched this movie several times. We watched it again tonight with my husband’s sister. This is such an inspirational and fulfilling movie, we highly recommend it to anyone. It touches your heart so deeply, we all had a good cry.

  20. I love the story when I watched the movie, but I loved it more when I learned that it was really, a real story. God bless Deborah Hall, He took her, because He takes the good souls early. Blessings to Ron Hall as well, he has kept his wife legacy. What a lesson ! We do not need to have much to give much!

  21. Beautiful, touching movie!

  22. Beautiful, inspiring story. So wonderful that Ron continues to carry Debbie’s torch! That’s true love.

  23. I’m still crying and can’t stop // I’m without words except I think it made me feel a bit human again soon could let out a few of the tears I’ve carried around in buckets – I wanna “go home” all the time
    And ask GOD to help me here on earth
    Because I’m needing to bless others instead of being angry and sacred all the time
    Still cryin – Amazing true story of what we’re all here for

    “The only thing we keep forever
    Is what we give away ……
    We will never know whose eyes God is watching us out of – It’s not going to be who you think it is”
    And I’m forever changed by this film – TY Namaste
    I am so grateful

Leave a comment

Your email address will not be published.