From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Hal Kanter (born December 18, 1918) is a veteran writer, producer and director, principally for comedy actors such as Bob Hope, Jerry Lewis, and Elvis Presley (in Loving You and Blue Hawaii), for both feature films and television. Kanter helped Tennessee Williams turn the play by Williams into the film version of The Rose Tattoo. Since 1991, he has been regularly credited as a writer for the Academy Award broadcasts.