Torin Thatcher
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Torin Thatcher (15 January 1905 - 4 March 1981) was an English actor born in Bombay, British India, India), to English parents. He was an imposing, powerfully built figure noted for his flashy portrayals of screen villains.
He was educated in England at Bedford School and at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He worked as a schoolmaster before first appearing on the London stage in 1927 and then entering British films in 1934. He appeared in the 1937 Old Vic stage production of Hamlet, in which Laurence Olivier made his first appearance in the title role, opposite Vivien Leigh as Ophelia. During the Second World War, he served with the Royal Artillery and was demobilized with the rank of lieutenant colonel.
Thatcher appeared in classic British films of the late 1930s and 1940s, including Major Barbara (1941) and Great Expectations (1946), in which he played Bentley Drummle. He moved to Hollywood in the 1950s. He was constantly in demand, invariably lending his looming figure and baleful countenance to sinister or stern roles in popular costume thrillers such as The Crimson Pirate (1952), Blackbeard the Pirate (1952), The Robe (1953) (as the disapproving father of Richard Burton's character), The Black Shield of Falworth (1954), Helen of Troy (1956), Darby's Rangers (1958), and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958). He also appeared in the Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard 1962 remake of Mutiny on the Bounty.
He returned to the stage quite frequently, notably on Broadway, in such esteemed productions as Edward, My Son (1948), That Lady (1949) and Billy Budd (1951). In 1959, he portrayed Captain Keller in the award-winning play The Miracle Worker with Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke. All of these plays were filmed, but Thatcher did not appear in the movie versions.
Also a steady fixture on television, he appeared in such made-for-TV films as adaptations of A. J. Cronin's Beyond This Place (1957) and The Citadel (1960),Bonanza(1961), and Brenda Starr (1976). He also played the title role in a Philco Television Playhouse version of Othello and acted in a CBS production of Beyond This Place (1957).
Thatcher died of cancer on March 4, 1981, in Thousand Oaks, California, in the Los Angeles area.
Photos
Films (68)
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
1968 · Sir Turnbull
The King's Pirate
1967 · Captain Cullen
The Sweet and the Bitter
1967
Hawaii
1966 · Reverend Thorn
The Sandpiper
1965 · le juge Thompson
The Holy Terror
1965 · Dr. Poole
Hell of Borneo
1964 · Mr. Bellflower
Decision at Midnight
1963 · Southstream
Drums of Africa
1963 · Jack Cuortemayn
Mutiny on the Bounty
1962 · Staines
Jack the Giant Killer
1962 · Pendragon
The Canadians
1961 · Superintendent Walker
The Citadel
1960 · Sir Robert Abbey
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
1958 · Sokurah the Magician
Darby's Rangers
1958 · Sergeant McTavish
Witness for the Prosecution
1957 · Mr. Myers
Band of Angels
1957 · Capt. Canavan
Istanbul
1957 · Douglas Fielding
So Soon to Die
1957 · Inspector Galloway
The Deadly Riddle
1956 · The Red Knight
Helen of Troy
1956 · Ulysses
Diane
1956 · Louis - Count de Breze
Lady Godiva of Coventry
1955 · Lord Godwin
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
1955 · Humphrey Palmer-Jones
Bengal Brigade
1954 · Colonel Morrow
The Black Shield of Falworth
1954 · Sir James
Knock on Wood
1954 · Godfrey Langston
The Robe
1953 · Sen. Gallio
Houdini
1953 · Otto
The Desert Rats
1953 · Col. Barney White
Blackbeard, the Pirate
1952 · Sir Henry Morgan
The Crimson Pirate
1952 · Humble Bellows
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
1952 · Johnson
Affair in Trinidad
1952 · Inspector Smythe
The Black Rose
1950 · Harry
Now Barabbas
1949 · Customs Officer
Bonnie Prince Charlie
1948 · Colonel Ker
The Fallen Idol
1948 · Policeman
The End of the River
1947 · Lisboa
When The Bough Breaks
1947 · Adams
Jassy
1947 · Bob Wicks
The Man Within
1947 · Jailer
Great Expectations
1946 · Bentley Drummle
I See a Dark Stranger
1946 · Police Constable
The Captive Heart
1946 · Repatriation Official (uncredited)
The Next of Kin
1942 · German General
Saboteur
1942 · Man (uncredited)
Major Barbara
1941 · Todger Fairmile
Gasbags
1941 · SS Man
Saloon Bar
1940 · Mr. Garrod
The Case of the Frightened Lady
1940 · Jim Tilling, the Groundsman
Night Train to Munich
1940
Let George Do It!
1940 · U-Boat Commander
Law and Disorder
1940 · Karl Bergsen
Contraband
1940 · Sailor
The Lion Has Wings
1939 · Seaman Receiving Information About German Activity
The Kindled Flame
1939 · Festus
Old Mother Riley, MP
1939 · Jack Nelson
The Spy in Black
1939 · Submarine Officer
Climbing High
1938 · Jim Castle
The Challenge
1938 · Young Officer (uncredited)
Young and Innocent
1937 · Nobby's Lodging House Caretaker (uncredited)
Sabotage
1936 · Mr. Verloc's Visitor (uncredited)
Crime Over London
1936
The Man Who Could Work Miracles
1936 · Observer
The Common Round
1936 · Martin
Drake of England
1935
Red Wagon
1933 · Eddie Prince
Séries (32)
Petrocelli
1974
Search
1972
Night Gallery
1970 · Captain of the Lusitania (segment "Lone Survivor")
Land of the Giants
1968 · Dr. Berger
The Guns of Will Sonnett
1967
Mission: Impossible
1966 · Archbishop Djelvas, General Rados Adolph Gollan
The Time Tunnel
1966 · Dr. Everett Holland
Star Trek
1966 · Marplon
Get Smart
1965 · Dr. Braam
Lost in Space
1965 · The Space Trader
Profiles in Courage
1964 · Sewall, Cannon
Daniel Boone
1964 · President John Adams, Cyrus Blake / Enoch Blake
Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea
1964 · MacDougall
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
1963
The Great Adventure
1963 · General Howe, Colonel Lewis Washington
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
1962 · Alva Hardwicke
Thriller
1960 · Jeremy Teal
Adventures in Paradise
1959 · Michael Cameron
One Step Beyond
1959 · Earl of Culdane
The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen
1958 · King Bendigo
Peter Gunn
1958
DuPont Show of the Month
1957 · Rees Mathry
Perry Mason
1957 · Walter Frazer
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
1956 · Ab Richards
Telephone Time
1956
The 20th Century Fox Hour
1955 · Roger Newcombe
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1955 · Constable Johnson, Felix Edward Manbridge
Gunsmoke
1955 · John Tyson
The Millionaire
1955 · Max MacIntyre
Climax!
1954 · John Philippson, Fred Beresford
Hallmark Hall of Fame
1951 · Dr. Poole
The Philco Television Playhouse
1948 · Othello