Torin Thatcher
Acting
Born 1905-01-15
Died 1981-03-04
Bombay, British India, India
98 credits
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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.
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Filmography
— top 60 of 98
Acting
53 credits
Perry Mason
Star Trek
Mission: Impossible
The Alfred Hitchcock Hour
Get Smart
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre
The Philco Television Playhouse
Climax!
Daniel Boone
Thriller
Lost in Space
Gunsmoke
Night Gallery
The Time Tunnel
One Step Beyond
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Adventures in Paradise
Land of the Giants
The Millionaire
Witness for the Prosecution
The 20th Century Fox Hour
The Great Adventure
DuPont Show of the Month
Helen of Troy
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
Profiles in Courage
The Robe
Mutiny on the Bounty
The Further Adventures of Ellery Queen
Great Expectations
The Crimson Pirate
Saboteur
Istanbul
The Snows of Kilimanjaro
The Sandpiper
Young and Innocent
Affair in Trinidad
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Houdini
Hawaii
Lady Godiva of Coventry
Sabotage
Jack the Giant Killer
The Black Shield of Falworth
Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing
The Fallen Idol
The Desert Rats
Band of Angels
Diane
Knock on Wood
Blackbeard, the Pirate
The King's Pirate
Bengal Brigade
Other credits
7 credits
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre
Peter Gunn
Telephone Time
Petrocelli
The Guns of Will Sonnett
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Night Train to Munich
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