Torin Thatcher
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Torin Thatcher (15 January 1905 - 4 March 1981) was an actor born in Mumbai (formerly Bombay), India to British 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 the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He worked as a schoolteacher before first appearing on the London stage in 1927 and then entering British films in 1934. During World War II he served with the Royal Artillery and achieved the rank of major.
He appeared in classic British films of the late 1930s and 1940s including Sabotage, Major Barbara, The Captive Heart, The Fallen Idol and Great Expectations, in which he played Bentley ("The Spider") Drummle. He moved to Hollywood in the 1950s where he was constantly in demand, invariably lending his looming figure and baleful countenance to sinister roles in popular costume thrillers such as The Crimson Pirate, Blackbeard the Pirate, The Robe, The Black Shield of Falworth, Helen of Troy and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. He also appeared in the Marlon Brando, 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. Also a steady fixture on TV, he appeared in such made-for-TV films as the Jack Palance version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Brenda Starr.
He died of cancer on March 4, 1981, in Thousand Oaks, California, in the Los Angeles area.
