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IMDbPro

Torin Thatcher(1905-1981)

  • Actor
  • Writer
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank
Torin Thatcher
Trailer for this love story
Play trailer3:21
The Sandpiper (1965)
7 Videos
31 Photos
Associated with gritty, flashy film villainy, veteran character actor Torin Herbert Erskine Thatcher was born in Bombay, India to British parents on January 15, 1905. The son of a police officer (who died when Torin was 10) and a voice/piano teacher, he was educated in England at the Bedford School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

A former schoolteacher, he appeared on the London stage, notably the Old Vic, in 1927 before entering British films in 1934. He would be notable for his stage prowess in the works of Shaw, Shakespeare, and the Greek tragedies. Among his earlier stage plays was a 1937 version of "Hamlet" which starred Laurence Olivier and Vivien Leigh. During World War II he served with the Royal Artillery and achieved the rank of lieutenant colonel. He was an extremely imposing, powerfully built specimen and it offered him a number of tough, commanding, often sinister roles over the years primarily in larger-than-life action sequences.

Thatcher began in minor roles and progressed to better ones in a number of classic British films in the late 1930s and 1940s as the years went on. They included Sabotage (1936), Dark Journey (1937), Night Train to Munich (1940), Major Barbara (1941), I See a Dark Stranger (1946), The Captive Heart (1946), Great Expectations (1946), as Bentley ("The Spider") Drummle, Jassy (1947) and The Fallen Idol (1948).

In Hollywood from the 1950s on, the actor's looming figure and baleful countenance were constantly in demand, gnashing his teeth in a slew of popular costumers such as The Crimson Pirate (1952), Blackbeard, the Pirate (1952) as reformed pirate Sir Henry Morgan, The Robe (1953), Helen of Troy (1956) as Ulysses, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) as the evil, shaven-domed magician Sokurah who shrinks the princess to miniature size, Witness for the Prosecution (1957) as the prosecuting attorney, The Miracle (1959) as the Duke of Wellington, the Marlon Brando/Trevor Howard remake of Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), and Hawaii (1966).

Thatcher 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 American TV from the mid-1950's on, Torin appeared in a number of quality TV anthologies ("Omnibus," "Playhouse 90, "Zane Grey Theatre") before making fairly steady guest appearances on such shows as "The Millionaire," "Ellery Queen," "Peter Gunn," "Wagon Train," "Bonanza," "Perry Mason," "The Real McCoys," "The Untouchables," "My THree Sons," "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea," "Perry Mason," "Get Smart," "Lost in Space," "Star Trek," "Gunsmoke," "Daniel Boone," "Mission: Impossible," "Night Gallery," "Search" and "Petrocelli." He also showed up in support in the TV movies The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1968) starring Jack Palance and Brenda Starr (1976), his final on-camera appearance, starring Jill St. John.

Diagnosed with cancer, Thatcher died on March 4, 1981, in Thousand Oaks, California (near Los Angeles). The widower of TV actress Rita Daniel, he was long married to second wife, Anne Le Borgne, at the time of his death.
BornJanuary 15, 1905
DiedMarch 4, 1981(76)
BornJanuary 15, 1905
DiedMarch 4, 1981(76)
IMDbProStarmeterSee rank

Photos31

Torin Thatcher in The Crimson Pirate (1952)
Torin Thatcher in The Crimson Pirate (1952)
Torin Thatcher in The Crimson Pirate (1952)
Torin Thatcher in One Step Beyond (1959)
Torin Thatcher in Jack the Giant Killer (1962)
Danny Kaye and Torin Thatcher in Knock on Wood (1954)
Marius Goring, Torin Thatcher, and Conrad Veidt in The Spy in Black (1939)
Walter Burke, Judi Meredith, and Torin Thatcher in Jack the Giant Killer (1962)
Walter Burke and Torin Thatcher in Jack the Giant Killer (1962)
Kerwin Mathews and Torin Thatcher in Jack the Giant Killer (1962)
Jack Hawkins, John Longden, Hector Ross, and Torin Thatcher in Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948)
Kerwin Mathews and Torin Thatcher in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)

Known for

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
Witness for the Prosecution
8.4
  • Mr. Myers
  • 1957
Richard Eyer, Dal McKennon, Kathryn Grant, Enzo Musumeci Greco, and Kerwin Mathews in The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958)
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
7.1
  • Sokurah the Magician
  • 1958
Robert Newton in Blackbeard, the Pirate (1952)
Blackbeard, the Pirate
6.0
  • Sir Henry Morgan
  • 1952
The Crimson Pirate (1952)
The Crimson Pirate
7.1
  • Humble Bellows
  • 1952

Credits

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IMDbPro

Actor

  • Brenda Starr (1976)
    Brenda Starr
    • Lassiter
    • TV Movie
    • 1976
  • Susan Howard, Barry Newman, and Albert Salmi in Petrocelli (1974)
    Petrocelli
    • George Baldwin
    • TV Series
    • 1975
  • Anthony Franciosa, Doug McClure, and Hugh O'Brian in Search (1972)
    Search
    • Stonestreet
    • TV Series
    • 1972
  • Rod Serling in Night Gallery (1969)
    Night Gallery
    • Captain of the Lusitania (segment "Lone Survivor")
    • TV Series
    • 1971
  • The Interns (1970)
    The Interns
    • Brother Anselm
    • TV Series
    • 1970
  • Stefan Arngrim, Gary Conway, Kurt Kasznar, Deanna Lund, Don Marshall, Don Matheson, and Heather Young in Land of the Giants (1968)
    Land of the Giants
    • Dr. Berger
    • TV Series
    • 1970
  • Barbara Bain, Martin Landau, Peter Graves, Peter Lupus, and Greg Morris in Mission: Impossible (1966)
    Mission: Impossible
    • Archbishop Djelvas
    • General Rados Adolph Gollan
    • TV Series
    • 1968–1969
  • Fess Parker in Daniel Boone (1964)
    Daniel Boone
    • Cyrus Blake
    • Enoch Blake
    • President John Adams
    • TV Series
    • 1967–1969
  • Walter Brennan and Dack Rambo in The Guns of Will Sonnett (1967)
    The Guns of Will Sonnett
    • Simeon Galt
    • TV Series
    • 1968
  • Jack Palance in The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1968)
    The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
    • Sir John Turnbull
    • TV Movie
    • 1968
  • Julie Gregg, George Montgomery, Liza Moreno, and Torin Thatcher in Hell of Borneo (1967)
    Hell of Borneo
    • Mr. Bellflower
    • 1967
  • Chuck Connors, Gerald Edwards, Ronald Howard, and Tom Nardini in Cowboy in Africa (1967)
    Cowboy in Africa
    • Hawkins
    • TV Series
    • 1967
  • The King's Pirate (1967)
    The King's Pirate
    • Captain Cullen
    • 1967
  • Savage Justice (1967)
    Savage Justice
    • Duncan MacRoy
    • 1967
  • Gunsmoke (1955)
    Gunsmoke
    • John Tyson
    • TV Series
    • 1967

Writer

  • Exercise Bowler
    • play (as T. Atkinson)
    • TV Movie
    • 1946

Videos7

Official Trailer
Trailer 2:21
Official Trailer
Trailer
Trailer 2:48
Trailer
Official Trailer
Trailer 3:18
Official Trailer
Knock on Wood
Trailer 2:19
Knock on Wood
Houdini
Trailer 2:17
Houdini
The Sandpiper
Trailer 3:21
The Sandpiper
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad
Trailer 1:40
The 7th Voyage of Sinbad

Personal details

Edit
  • Alternative names
    • T. Atkinson
  • Height
    • 6′ 1″ (1.85 m)
  • Born
    • January 15, 1905
    • Bombay, Bombay Presidency, British India
  • Died
    • March 4, 1981
    • Thousand Oaks, California, USA(cancer)
  • Spouses
      Anna Maria (LeBorgne) WolfeJune 12, 1952 - March 4, 1981 (his death)
  • Other works
    In 1946, co-wrote and performed in "Exercise Bowler" in London. This play was a creation of the Reunion Theatre Association, a group created to help rehabilitate British theatre actors who returned from World War 2. The play is about the reality of war and the challenges the characters face when they return to civilian life. Torin was also a co-founder of the Reunion Theatre Association.
  • Publicity listings
    • 5 Articles

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    The favorite villain of director Nathan Juran.
  • Trademark
      Deep, booming voice with a boisterous laugh

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