Hurd Hatfield
Encyclopedia
William Rukard Hurd Hatfield (December 7, 1917 – December 26, 1998) was an American
actor
.
, and was educated at Columbia University
before travelling to London
, England
where he studied drama
and began acting in theater. He returned to America for his film debut in Dragon Seed (1944).
, Akim Tamiroff
, Aline MacMahon
, Turhan Bey
) portrayed Chinese peasants, it was his second film, The Picture of Dorian Gray
(1945), that made him a star. As Oscar Wilde
's ageless anti-hero, Hatfield received widespread acclaim for his good looks as much as for his acting ability. However, the actor was ambivalent about the role and his performance. "The film didn't make me popular in Hollywood," he commented later. "It was too odd, too avant- garde, too ahead of its time. The decadence, the hints of bisexuality and so on, made me a leper! Nobody knew I had a sense of humour, and people wouldn't even have lunch with me."http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19981231/ai_n14197189/pg_2
His subsequent films, The Diary of a Chambermaid
(1946), The Beginning or the End
(1947), and The Unsuspected
(1947) were successful, but Hatfield's career began to lose momentum very quickly.
Hatfield's other films include Tarzan and the Slave Girl
(1950), King of Kings (as Pontius Pilate
) (1961), El Cid
(1961), Harlow
(1965), The Boston Strangler (1968), King David
(1985), Crimes of the Heart
(1986), and Her Alibi
(1989).
He also appeared frequently on television
and received an Emmy Award
nomination for the Hallmark Hall of Fame
videotaped play The Invincible Mr. Disraeli (1963). In 1957, he appeared in Beyond This Place
which was directed by Sidney Lumet
. Among Hatfield's many other television credits are three guest appearances on Murder, She Wrote
opposite his Picture of Dorian Gray costar, Angela Lansbury
, who had become a lifelong friend, and who also had a home in County Cork
. He also appeared in the second episode of 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea' entitled 'The City Beneath the Sea' as the villain.
In 1952, Mr. Hatfield appeared as Joseph
in Westinghouse Studio One 's The Nativity, with a full supporting cast and singing provided by the Robert Shaw Chorale
. This was, in some ways, a true television event, a rare commercial network staging of a fourteenth-century mystery play, adapted from the York and Chester plays. The program has since been issued on a made-to-order DVD.
In 1966, he appeared on the television series The Wild Wild West
in an episode
entitled "The Night of the Man-Eating House". In a twist on his Dorian role, his character starts as an old man who, upon entering a house inhabited by the ghost of his mother, is turned back into a youthful Confederate soldier. A second appearance in the third season episode "The Night of the Undead" had him portray the vengeful and mad Dr. Articulus.
In his later years, Hatfield was noted for his youthful appearance, and in interviews would joke about the picture he was hiding in his attic, in reference to Dorian Gray.
According to the magazine Film in Review, Hatfield was ambivalent about Dorian Gray, feeling that it had typecast him. "You know, I was never a great beauty in Gray," he is reported to have said, "and I never understood why I got the part and have spent my career regretting it."
, Hatfield lived at Ballinterry House Rathcormac, County Cork
, Ireland
from the early 1970s. A keen collector of antiques and art, he referred to Ballinterry House as a painting which he would never quite finish. He died peacefully in his sleep at the country home he loved so much of a heart attack
, aged 81, after having had Christmas dinner with friends.
Both his home, Ballinterry House and his collection were inherited by his long time close friend and colleague Maggie Williams, who maintained the historic Irish country home exactly as it was at the time of Hatfield's death. The house was sold at the end of 2006 and the entire contents of the 'Hurd Hatfield Collection' was sold at an auction on the premises 'Country House Antique & Fine Art Auction' in March 2007.
At the time of his death, Hatfield was writing his autobiography.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
.
Biography
The son of William Henry Hatfield (died 1954), an attorney who served as deputy attorney general for New York, and his wife, the former Adele Steele, Hatfield was born in New York CityNew York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, and was educated at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
before travelling to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
where he studied drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
and began acting in theater. He returned to America for his film debut in Dragon Seed (1944).
Career
Though Hatfield's first film was Dragon Seed (1944), in which he and his co-stars (Katharine HepburnKatharine Hepburn
Katharine Houghton Hepburn was an American actress of film, stage, and television. In a career that spanned 62 years as a leading lady, she was best known for playing strong-willed, sophisticated women in both dramas and comedies...
, Akim Tamiroff
Akim Tamiroff
Akim Mikhailovich Tamiroff was an Armenian actor. He won the first Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor.Tamiroff was born in Tiflis, Russian Empire , of Armenian ethnicity. He trained at the Moscow Art Theatre drama school. He arrived in the U.S. in 1923 on a tour with a troupe of actors...
, Aline MacMahon
Aline MacMahon
Aline MacMahon was an American actress. Her career began on stage in 1921. She worked extensively in film and television until her retirement in 1975. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Dragon Seed .-Early life:Aline Laveen MacMahon was born...
, Turhan Bey
Turhan Bey
Turhan Bey is an American actor of Turkish and Czech descent. Bey was active in Hollywood from 1941 to 1953. He was dubbed "The Turkish Delight" by his fans for his exotic handsome looks...
) portrayed Chinese peasants, it was his second film, The Picture of Dorian Gray
The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945 film)
The Picture of Dorian Gray is an American horror-drama film based on Oscar Wilde's 1891 novel of the same name. Released in March 1945 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, the film is directed by Albert Lewin and stars George Sanders as Lord Henry Wotton and Hurd Hatfield as Dorian Gray...
(1945), that made him a star. As Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s...
's ageless anti-hero, Hatfield received widespread acclaim for his good looks as much as for his acting ability. However, the actor was ambivalent about the role and his performance. "The film didn't make me popular in Hollywood," he commented later. "It was too odd, too avant- garde, too ahead of its time. The decadence, the hints of bisexuality and so on, made me a leper! Nobody knew I had a sense of humour, and people wouldn't even have lunch with me."http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_19981231/ai_n14197189/pg_2
His subsequent films, The Diary of a Chambermaid
The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946 film)
The Diary of a Chambermaid is a drama film about a newly-hired servant who severely disrupts a wealthy family. The film was based on the novel of the same name by Octave Mirbeau and the play Le journal d'une femme de Chambre by André Heuse, André de Lorde, and Thielly Nores, was directed by Jean...
(1946), The Beginning or the End
The Beginning or the End
The Beginning or the End is a 1947 film about the development of the atomic bomb in World War II.It was directed by Norman Taurog and starred Brian Donlevy and Hume Cronyn...
(1947), and The Unsuspected
The Unsuspected
The Unsuspected is a film noir starring Claude Rains, Audrey Totter, and Joan Caulfield. The black-and-white film was directed by Michael Curtiz, based on the novel written by Charlotte Armstrong, and released by Warner Brothers.- Plot :...
(1947) were successful, but Hatfield's career began to lose momentum very quickly.
Hatfield's other films include Tarzan and the Slave Girl
Tarzan and the Slave Girl
Tarzan and the Slave Girl is a 1950 film starring Lex Barker as Tarzan, Vanessa Brown as Jane, and Robert Alda as big game hunter Neil. It was directed by Lee Sholem...
(1950), King of Kings (as Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilatus , known in the English-speaking world as Pontius Pilate , was the fifth Prefect of the Roman province of Judaea, from AD 26–36. He is best known as the judge at Jesus' trial and the man who authorized the crucifixion of Jesus...
) (1961), El Cid
El Cid (film)
El Cid is a historical epic film, a romanticized story of the life of the Christian Castilian knight Don Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, called "El Cid" who in the 11th century fought the North African Almoravides and ultimately contributed to the unification of Spain.Made by Samuel Bronston Productions in...
(1961), Harlow
Harlow (film)
Harlow is a biographical film about the life of film star Jean Harlow. It stars Carroll Baker in the title role. It was released in 1965 by Paramount Pictures, shortly after another film with the same title and subject...
(1965), The Boston Strangler (1968), King David
King David (film)
King David is a 1985 film about the second king of Israel, David. It was filmed in 1984 in Matera and Craco, Italy. It was directed by Bruce Beresford and starred Richard Gere in the title role.-Cast:*Richard Gere as "David"*Edward Woodward as "Saul"...
(1985), Crimes of the Heart
Crimes of the Heart
Crimes of the Heart is a play by Beth Henley.-Synopsis:At the core of the tragic comedy are the three Magrath sisters, Meg, Babe, and Lenny, who reunite at Old Granddaddy's home in Hazlehurst, Mississippi after Babe shoots her abusive husband. The trio was raised in a dysfunctional family with a...
(1986), and Her Alibi
Her Alibi
Her Alibi is a 1989 American romantic comedy directed by Bruce Beresford, written by Charlie Peters, and starring Paulina Porizkova, Tom Selleck, and William Daniels.-Plot summary:...
(1989).
He also appeared frequently on television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and received an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
nomination for the Hallmark Hall of Fame
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011...
videotaped play The Invincible Mr. Disraeli (1963). In 1957, he appeared in Beyond This Place
Beyond This Place (1957)
Beyond This Place is a 1957 American television adaptation from A. J. Cronin's novel, Beyond This Place, which was originally published in 1953. It is not really a film, but a live production broadcast on television, and possibly preserved on kinescope. The show was directed by Sidney Lumet and...
which was directed by Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet
Sidney Lumet was an American director, producer and screenwriter with over 50 films to his credit. He was nominated for the Academy Award as Best Director for 12 Angry Men , Dog Day Afternoon , Network and The Verdict...
. Among Hatfield's many other television credits are three guest appearances on Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote
Murder, She Wrote is an American television mystery series starring Angela Lansbury as mystery writer and amateur detective Jessica Fletcher. The series aired for 12 seasons from 1984 to 1996 on the CBS network, with 264 episodes transmitted. It was followed by four TV films and a spin-off series,...
opposite his Picture of Dorian Gray costar, Angela Lansbury
Angela Lansbury
Angela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...
, who had become a lifelong friend, and who also had a home in County Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
. He also appeared in the second episode of 'Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea' entitled 'The City Beneath the Sea' as the villain.
In 1952, Mr. Hatfield appeared as Joseph
Saint Joseph
Saint Joseph is a figure in the Gospels, the husband of the Virgin Mary and the earthly father of Jesus Christ ....
in Westinghouse Studio One 's The Nativity, with a full supporting cast and singing provided by the Robert Shaw Chorale
Robert Shaw Chorale
The Robert Shaw Chorale was a professional chorus founded in New York City in 1948 by Robert Shaw, a Californian who had been drafted out of college a decade earlier by Fred Waring to conduct his Glee Club in radio broadcasts...
. This was, in some ways, a true television event, a rare commercial network staging of a fourteenth-century mystery play, adapted from the York and Chester plays. The program has since been issued on a made-to-order DVD.
In 1966, he appeared on the television series The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West
The Wild Wild West is an American television series that ran on CBS for four seasons from September 17, 1965 to April 4, 1969....
in an episode
Episode
An episode is a part of a dramatic work such as a serial television or radio program. An episode is a part of a sequence of a body of work, akin to a chapter of a book. The term sometimes applies to works based on other forms of mass media as well, as in Star Wars...
entitled "The Night of the Man-Eating House". In a twist on his Dorian role, his character starts as an old man who, upon entering a house inhabited by the ghost of his mother, is turned back into a youthful Confederate soldier. A second appearance in the third season episode "The Night of the Undead" had him portray the vengeful and mad Dr. Articulus.
In his later years, Hatfield was noted for his youthful appearance, and in interviews would joke about the picture he was hiding in his attic, in reference to Dorian Gray.
According to the magazine Film in Review, Hatfield was ambivalent about Dorian Gray, feeling that it had typecast him. "You know, I was never a great beauty in Gray," he is reported to have said, "and I never understood why I got the part and have spent my career regretting it."
Private life and death
Having been introduced to Ireland by his friend Angela LansburyAngela Lansbury
Angela Brigid Lansbury CBE is an English actress and singer in theatre, television and motion pictures, whose career has spanned eight decades and earned her more performance Tony Awards than any other individual , with five wins...
, Hatfield lived at Ballinterry House Rathcormac, County Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
, Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
from the early 1970s. A keen collector of antiques and art, he referred to Ballinterry House as a painting which he would never quite finish. He died peacefully in his sleep at the country home he loved so much of a heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
, aged 81, after having had Christmas dinner with friends.
Both his home, Ballinterry House and his collection were inherited by his long time close friend and colleague Maggie Williams, who maintained the historic Irish country home exactly as it was at the time of Hatfield's death. The house was sold at the end of 2006 and the entire contents of the 'Hurd Hatfield Collection' was sold at an auction on the premises 'Country House Antique & Fine Art Auction' in March 2007.
At the time of his death, Hatfield was writing his autobiography.