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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| # | Name | Character | Rating | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1968) | Sir Turnbull | - | - |
| 2 | Hawaii (1966) | Reverend Thorn | 3 | |
| 3 | The Sandpiper (1965) | le juge Thompson | - | - |
| 4 | Jack the Giant Killer (1962) | Pendragon | 6.5 | |
| 5 | Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) | Staines | 6.5 | |
| 6 | The Canadians (1961) | Superintendent Walker | - | - |
| 7 | The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) | Sokurah the Magician | 7.9 | |
| 8 | Band of Angels (1957) | Capt. Canavan | 5 | |
| 9 | Witness for the Prosecution (1957) | Mr. Myers | 8.1 | |
| 10 | Helen of Troy (1956) | Ulysses | - | - |
| 11 | Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955) | Humphrey Palmer-Jones | 5 | |
| 12 | Knock on Wood (1954) | Godfrey Langston | 6 | |
| 13 | The Robe (1953) | Sen. Gallio | - | - |
| 14 | Houdini (1953) | Otto | 7 | |
| 15 | The Desert Rats (1953) | Col. Barney White | - | - |
| 16 | The Crimson Pirate (1952) | Humble Bellows | 5.5 | |
| 17 | Affair in Trinidad (1952) | Inspector Smythe | 5 | |
| 18 | The Fallen Idol (1948) | Policeman | 6.5 | |
| 19 | The Captive Heart (1946) | Repatriation Official (uncredited) | 4 | |
| 20 | Great Expectations (1946) | Bentley Drummle | 6 | |
| 21 | Saboteur (1942) | Man (uncredited) | 7 | |
| 22 | Major Barbara (1941) | Todger Fairmile | 4 | |
| 23 | Contraband (1940) | Sailor | 6 | |
| 24 | Let George Do It! (1940) | U-Boat Commander | 6 | |
| 25 | Night Train to Munich (1940) | - | 5.5 | |
| 26 | Old Mother Riley, MP (1939) | Jack Nelson | 3 | |
| 27 | Sabotage (1937) | Mr. Verloc's Visitor (uncredited) | 7.3 | |
| 28 | Young and Innocent (1937) | Nobby's Lodging House Caretaker (uncredited) | 9 | |
| 29 | The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936) | Observer | 7 |

