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Torin Thatcher was born on January 15, 1905 in Mumbai (Bombay), India. His first name is Irish and means “chief.”
His family was of the British military and as an adult he would serve in the Royal Artillery for six years during World War 2. Torin was educated at the Bedford School, a public boys’ school, located fifty miles north of London. He attended Bedford from 1913 to 1922. Prior to setting foot on stage he planned to become a schoolteacher. He continued his education at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London and also studied at the Maddermarket Theatre in Norwich. His early stage appearances were at the Playhouse in Oxford with Anmer Hall’s Repertory Company in “A Month In the Country.” He toured with Ernie Lotinga in “Sailors Don’t Care.” A Shakespearean trained actor at the Academy, he performed in the role of Traino in “The Taming of the Shrew” in London in 1927, with consecutive performances in “Hamlet” and more than 50 Shakespearean stage productions. Torin worked with the Old Vic Company from 1927 to 1929. He also appeared at the Festival Theatre in Cambridge from 1926 to 1927 and with the Macdona Players from 1929 to 1930, performing in many stage plays by George Bernard Shaw. While he portrayed the Ghost in “Hamlet” with Old Vic in 1937, he later doubled this role with that of Claudius, repeating these performances at Elsinore, Denmark. At the Westminster Theatre, Torin portrayed the title role in Hamlet and gave an outstanding performance. In 1940 he portrayed Henry Higgins in "Pygmalion" at the Intimate Theatre in London. At one point during his extensive theatre career, Torin worked in two different stage performances simultaneously. In 1938 when he was in "The Painted Smile" at the New Theatre in London, he would perform in the first act of the play, then leave for the Savoy Theatre to perform in the last two acts of "Power and the Glory."
In 1927 he made one synchronized sound film, “The Merchant of Venice”, a British short film, where he portrayed the character of Solanio (here he is on the far right, photo to the right) In 1937 he appeared in a series of revival stage performances at the Q Theatre. When World War 2 arrived, Torin enlisted in the British Army in July 1940 and commanded a battery at Dover from 1940 to 1942. He commanded a second battery at Gaspar Grande in the Caribbean from 1942 to 1944. In 1944 when Torin was stationed in Egypt, he continued acting, notably as Claudius in Hamlet on stage at the Opera House in Cairo, and appearing in Androcles and the Lion, also in 1944, at the Garrison Theatre in Cairo.
In the last two years of the war, 1944 and 1945, Torin was engaged at the G.H.Q., Middle East, where he attained the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. After being honorably discharged in October 1945, Torin returned to the stage as well as
continuing to make films.
His first major film was “Irish Hearts” in 1934, which was based on the novel by Johnson Abrahams. Torin's other first films include "General John Regan" in 1934, and "Drake of England", in 1935. Torin also appeared in Alfred Hitchcock’s film “Sabotage” in 1936, where he portrayed the character Yunct. Other early British film roles include the movies “But the Flesh Is Weak” in 1932, “The School for Scandal” 1937, “Dark Journey” in 1937, “Sidewalks of London in 1938”, and “The Common Round” in 1936, the last one being a religious documentary.
Physically, Torin stood 6’1” tall with an impressive, powerful physique, something that would benefit him in playing later villainous roles in “The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad” in 1958 and “Jack the Giant Killer” in 1962. In both of these movies he played evil magicians; Sokurah, and Pendragon, respectively. Torin’s performances in both of these films were outstanding and proved that he could carry the role of villain effectively. His facial expressions conveyed sinister wickedness as Pendragon and he knew how to use his voice to sound like a sinister force itself.
Torin’s gift for acting wasn’t confined to the silver screen along, for he made many appearances on television. These included appearances on Star Trek, The Perry Mason Show, Bonanza, Gunsmoke, Mission Impossible, Land of the Giants, and The Alfred Hitchcock Hour. In 1957 Torin received a Sylvania Award for best supporting actor in a television drama, The Dupont Show of the Month episode titled "Beyond This Place." His performance in this particular episode of a man released from almost 20 years of wrongful imprisonment earned him critical acclaim from television reviewers across the nation, including the New York Times.
Here in the United States as with England, Torin continued to work in theatre. One of his best roles on Broadway was his performance as Captain Keller in The Miracle Worker, the life story of Helen Keller. The performance ran from October 19, 1959 to July 1, 1961. Torin’s other Broadway performances include “Hidden Stranger”, “Write Me A Murder”, “The Firstborn”, “Billy Budd”, “That Lady”, and “Edward My Son.” Torin remains recognizable today for many of his roles through film and television. He is one of the founders of Society for Theatre Research (Great Britain) in 1947 and served as Vice Chairman for the Committee from its founding years.
In 1945 Torin co-founded the Reunion Theatre Association, created for the rehabilitation of ex-servicepersons in all branches of the theatre. Torin was a member of the Actors Equity Association in the United States, Canada, and Great Britian; the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists; Screen Actors Guild; National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He was also a member of the Savile and Arts Theatre Club, and his favorite roles were Macbeth and Brutus on the stage.
Torin was an incredibly versatile and highly prolific actor who has proved efficient not just in villainous roles but also in roles where he was the good guy. In the 1957 film Torin portrays the comforting, compassionate husband of a woman previously involved with a suspected diamond smuggler. In addition to the many films he made in the United States, he also made two documentaries, one on Sugar Ray Robinson in 1955, and another one on the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights in 1956. He was a rarity among the great theatre actors of his time in being able to make a transition from theatre to the silver screen with little difficulty, doing work in the theatre, television, and film in Great Britain and the United States, where he lived since the 1950's until his untimely death in 1981. In real life, Torin was an intelligent, thoughtful, generous, caring gentleman who loved gardening, reading, and travelling when he wasn’t working. He continued to work throughout the early 1970’s until his tragic death due to cancer in March 4, 1981. He was only 76 years old.