Torin Thatcher

Torin Herbert Erskine Thatcher (15 January 1905 – 4 March 1981) was an English actor who was noted for his flashy portrayals of screen villains.

Biography
Thatcher was born in Bombay, British India, to English parents Torin James Blair Thatcher, a police officer, and his wife Edith Rachel, a voice and piano teacher, younger daughter of the Hon. Justice Sir Herbert Batty, a puisne judge of the High Court of Bombay. He was educated in Britain 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. In 1935 he appeared in the historical play Mary Tudor. 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 demobilised 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 Marcellus), The Black Shield of Falworth (1954), Helen of Troy (1956), Darby's Rangers (1958) and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958). He was a formidable prosecutor in Witness for the Prosecution (1957) and 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 film 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). He appeared in programmes such as The Real McCoys, Thriller, Gunsmoke, Perry Mason, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Daniel Boone and Mission: Impossible. He was cast as the sly space trader in an episode of Lost in Space. Thatcher, if not for his distinguished career, has become recognised by several generations of fans of Star Trek: The Original Series from his performance as Marplon, secretly a member of the resistance in the episode "The Return of the Archons".

Thatcher died of cancer on 4 March 1981, in Thousand Oaks, California, USA.

Complete filmography

 * The Merchant of Venice (1927, Short) - Solanio
 * Red Wagon (1933) - Minor role (uncredited)
 * General John Regan (1933)
 * Irish Hearts (1934) - Dr. Hackey
 * Drake the Pirate (1935) (uncredited)
 * School for Stars (1935) - Guy Mannering
 * Barabbas (1935)
 * The Common Round (1936, Short) - Martin
 * The Man Who Could Work Miracles (1936) - Observer
 * Crime Over London (1936) - Mr. Finley (uncredited)
 * Sabotage (1936) - Yunct (uncredited)
 * Well Done, Henry (1936) - George Canford
 * Dark Journey (1937) - Strasser (uncredited)
 * The School for Scandal (1937, TV Movie)
 * Knight Without Armor (1937) - British Passport Official (uncredited)
 * Return of the Scarlet Pimpernel (1937) - Minor role (uncredited)
 * Young and Innocent (1937) - Nobby's Lodging House Caretaker (uncredited)
 * Broadway (1938, TV Movie)
 * Climbing High (1938) - Jim Castle
 * Too Dangerous to Live (1939) - Burton
 * The Day Is Gone (1939, TV Movie) - Ernest Webb
 * The Spy in Black (1939) - Submarine Officer
 * Old Mother Riley, MP (1939) - Jack Nelson
 * The Lion Has Wings (1939) - Seaman Receiving Information About German Activity
 * The Kindled Flame (1939, Short)
 * Contraband (1940) - Sailor (uncredited)
 * Law and Disorder (1940)
 * Let George Do It! (1940) - U-Boat Commander
 * Night Train to Munich (1940) - Minor Role (uncredited)
 * The Case of the Frightened Lady (1940) - Jim Tilling (uncredited)
 * Saloon Bar (1940) - Mr. Garrod (uncredited)
 * Gasbags (1941) - SS Man
 * Major Barbara (1941) - Todger Fairmile
 * The Next of Kin (1942) - German General
 * The Captive Heart (1946) - German officer at Medical Commission (uncredited)
 * I See a Dark Stranger (1946) - Police Constable
 * Exercise Bowler (1946, TV Movie)
 * The Middle Watch (1946, TV Movie) - Commander Baddeley
 * Androcles and the Lion (1946, TV Movie) - Ferrovius
 * Ten Minute Alibi (1946, TV Movie) - Philip Sevilla
 * Great Expectations (1946) - Bentley Drummle
 * The Man Within (1947) - Jailer
 * Jassy (1947) - Bob Wicks
 * When the Bough Breaks (1947) - Adams
 * The End of the River (1947) - Lisboa
 * The Fallen Idol (1948) - Policeman
 * Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948) - Col. Kor
 * Now Barabbas (1949) (uncredited)
 * The Black Rose (1950) - Harry (uncredited)
 * Affair in Trinidad (1952) - Inspector Smythe
 * The Crimson Pirate (1952) - Humble Bellows
 * The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952) - Johnson
 * Blackbeard the Pirate (1952) - Sir Henry Morgan
 * The Desert Rats (1953) - Col. Barney White
 * Houdini (1953) - Otto
 * The Robe (1953) - Senator Gallio
 * Knock on Wood (1954) - Godfrey Langston
 * The Black Shield of Falworth (1954) - Sir James
 * Bengal Brigade (1954) - Colonel Morrow
 * Love Is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955) - Humphrey Palmer-Jones
 * Lady Godiva of Coventry (1955) - Lord Godwin
 * Diane (1956) - Louis - Count de Breze
 * Helen of Troy (1956) - Ulysses
 * Istanbul (1957) - Douglas Fielding
 * Band of Angels (1957) - Capt. Canavan
 * Witness for the Prosecution (1957) - Mr. Myers
 * Darby's Rangers (1958) - Sgt. McTavish
 * The 7th Voyage of Sinbad (1958) - Sokurah the Magician
 * The Miracle (1959) - The Duke of Wellington
 * The Citadel (1960, TV Movie) - Sir Robert Abbey
 * The Canadians (1961) - Sergeant McGregor
 * Jack the Giant Killer (1962) - Pendragon
 * Mutiny on the Bounty (1962) - Staines (uncredited)
 * Drums of Africa (1963) - Jack Cuortemayn
 * Decision at Midnight (1963) - Southstream
 * The Holy Terror (1965, TV Movie) - Dr. Poole
 * The Sandpiper (1965) - Judge Thompson
 * Hawaii (1966) - Rev. Dr. Thorn
 * The Sweet and the Bitter (1967) - Duncan MacRoy
 * The King's Pirate (1967) - Captain Cullen
 * From Hell to Borneo (1967) - Mr. Bellflower
 * The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1968, TV Movie) - Sir John Turnbull
 * Brenda Starr (1976, TV Movie) - Lassiter