Roy Thinnes
Encyclopedia
Roy Thinnes is an American
television and film actor
best known for his portrayal of lonely hero David Vincent in the ABC
1967-68 television series The Invaders
. He also played Alfred Wentworth in the pilot episode of Law & Order
. He starred in the 1969 British science fiction film, Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (also known as Doppelgänger
)
, Illinois
, and was educated at Los Angeles City College
.
His first primetime role was as Ben Quick in the short-lived 1965-66 television series The Long Hot Summer, which ran on ABC. During its run he received around 1,500 letters a week from lovelorn women and appeared on the cover of TV Guide
(April 9–15, 1966 issue) for his one and only time to date.
Another short-lived series in which Thinnes starred was The Psychiatrist
, in the title role of the unconventional psychiatrist, Dr. James Whitman. The pilot for the series, a TV movie called The Psychiatrist: God Bless the Children (also known as The Psychiatrist: Children of the Lotus Eaters) co-starred Pete Duel
in the role of Casey Poe, a former drug addict and patient of Whitman. In 1963, he guest starred as David Dunlear in the episode "Something Crazy's Going On in the Back Room" of the NBC medical drama
about psychiatry
, The Eleventh Hour
. In 1964, he appeared twice in episodes "Murder by Scandal" and the "Lost Lady Blues" of the 13-episode CBS drama The Reporter
starring Harry Guardino
as journalist Danny Taylor of the fictitious New York Globe newspaper.
He appeared as intrepid writer and investigator of the supernatural David Norliss in 1973's The Norliss Tapes, a pilot for an unproduced TV series. He also played a suspicious schoolmaster in the TV movie Satan's School for Girls
with Kate Jackson
.
Thinnes was cast in Alfred Hitchcock
's 1976 film [Family Plot]] in the role of nefarious jeweler Arthur Adamson when Hitchcock's first choice, William Devane
, was unavailable. Thinnes had already shot several scenes for the film when Devane suddenly became available. Hitchcock fired Thinnes and re-shot all of his scenes. Thinnes confronted Hitchcock in a restaurant and asked the director why he was fired. Flabbergasted, Hitchcock simply looked at Thinnes until the actor left. Some shots of Thinnes as the character (from behind) remain in the film.
During the 1982-1983 season, Thinnes appeared as Nick Hogan in thirty-five episodes of the hit CBS
prime time
soap opera
Falcon Crest
starring Jane Wyman
. Thinnes thereafter played Roger Collins in the 1991 revival of TV's Dark Shadows
. He also appeared on General Hospital
as Phil Brewer from 1963 to 1966, on One Life to Live
as Alex Crown from 1984 to 1985, and as Sloan Carpenter from 1992 to 1995. He also played a lead role in "The Crystal Scarab", a first season episode of Poltergeist: The Legacy
in 1996. Thinnes was once considered by Paramount
for the part of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation
.
As well, Thinnes made two appearances in The X-Files
as Jeremiah Smith, an alien rebel with healing and shape-shifting abilities. His character initially appears in a two-part arc-narrative, the first of which closes Season Three ("Talitha Cumi
" [1996], and the second of which opens Season Four ("Herrenvolk
" [1996] ). Thinnes's second appearance was in Season Eight, Episode 14 ("This Is Not Happening
" [2001]).
Thinnes also appeared in the three-hour, 1995 TV mini-series The Invaders starring Scott Bakula
, in which he returned as a much older David Vincent.
Thinnes twice appeared on the ABC
soap opera One Life to Live
playing two different characters. From 1984-1985, he played the role of "Alex Crown" and from 1992–1995, he played the role of "Gen. Sloan Carpenter." During both of his stints on the show, his characters became a father-in-law to the same character, "Cassie Callison", then he died.
In 2005, Thinnes co-starred as Dr. Theophile Peyron in the movie "The Eyes Of Van Gogh." The film concerns Vincent Van Gogh (played by Alexander Barnett, who also wrote and directed) and his voluntary stay in an insane asylum. The movie focuses on Van Gogh's relationships with Dr. Peyron, as well as fellow Expressionist, Paul Gauguin, and his brother, Theo.
Thinnes recently provided audio commentary for the official The Invaders DVD releases.
from 1967 to 1984. In 1969, Loring gave birth to Christopher Dylan Thinnes. He married Stephanie Batailler in 2005, then 67 years old and his wife was 32 years old.
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United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
television and film 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...
best known for his portrayal of lonely hero David Vincent in the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
1967-68 television series The Invaders
The Invaders
The Invaders, a Quinn Martin Production , is an ABC science fiction television program created by Larry Cohen that ran in the United States for two seasons, from January 10, 1967 to March 26, 1968...
. He also played Alfred Wentworth in the pilot episode of Law & Order
Law & Order
Law & Order is an American police procedural and legal drama television series, created by Dick Wolf and part of the Law & Order franchise. It aired on NBC, and in syndication on various cable networks. Law & Order premiered on September 13, 1990, and completed its 20th and final season on May 24,...
. He starred in the 1969 British science fiction film, Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (also known as Doppelgänger
Doppelgänger (1969 film)
Doppelgänger is a 1969 British science-fiction film directed by Robert Parrish and starring Roy Thinnes, Ian Hendry, Lynn Loring and Patrick Wymark. Outside Europe, it is known as Journey to the Far Side of the Sun, which is now the more popular title...
)
Early life and career
Thinnes was born in ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, and was educated at Los Angeles City College
Los Angeles City College
Los Angeles City College, known as LACC, is a public community college in the East Hollywood section of Los Angeles, California. A part of the Los Angeles Community College District, it is located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard...
.
His first primetime role was as Ben Quick in the short-lived 1965-66 television series The Long Hot Summer, which ran on ABC. During its run he received around 1,500 letters a week from lovelorn women and appeared on the cover of TV Guide
TV Guide
TV Guide is a weekly American magazine with listings of TV shows.In addition to TV listings, the publication features television-related news, celebrity interviews, gossip and film reviews and crossword puzzles...
(April 9–15, 1966 issue) for his one and only time to date.
Another short-lived series in which Thinnes starred was The Psychiatrist
The Psychiatrist (TV series)
The Psychiatrist is an American television series about a young psychiatrist with unorthodox methods of helping his patients. Roy Thinnes played the title role of Dr. James Whitman. Luther Adler co-starred as Dr. Bernard Altman, the older psychiatrist with whom Whitman worked...
, in the title role of the unconventional psychiatrist, Dr. James Whitman. The pilot for the series, a TV movie called The Psychiatrist: God Bless the Children (also known as The Psychiatrist: Children of the Lotus Eaters) co-starred Pete Duel
Pete Duel
Pete Duel was an American actor, best known for his role in the television series Alias Smith and Jones.-Early life:Peter Ellstrom Deuel was born in Rochester, New York, and grew up in nearby Penfield....
in the role of Casey Poe, a former drug addict and patient of Whitman. In 1963, he guest starred as David Dunlear in the episode "Something Crazy's Going On in the Back Room" of the NBC medical drama
Medical drama
A medical drama is a television program, in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment.In the United States, most medical episodes are one hour long and, more often than not, are set in a hospital. Most current medical Dramatic programming go beyond the...
about psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
, The Eleventh Hour
The Eleventh Hour (1962 TV series)
The Eleventh Hour is an American medical drama about psychiatry starring Wendell Corey, Jack Ging, and Ralph Bellamy, which aired sixty-two new episodes plus selected rebroadcasts on NBC from October 3, 1962, to September 9, 1964.-Series premise:...
. In 1964, he appeared twice in episodes "Murder by Scandal" and the "Lost Lady Blues" of the 13-episode CBS drama The Reporter
The Reporter (TV series)
The Reporter is an American drama series that aired on CBS from September 25 to December 18, 1964. The series was created by Jerome Weidman and developed by executive producers Keefe Brasselle and John Simon.-Synopsis:...
starring Harry Guardino
Harry Guardino
Harry Guardino was an American actor whose career spanned from the early 1950s to the early 1990s. In 1964, he was cast in a short-lived CBS series entitled The Reporter, a drama about a hard-hitting investigative journalist named Danny Taylor. His principal co-star was Gary Merrill as city...
as journalist Danny Taylor of the fictitious New York Globe newspaper.
He appeared as intrepid writer and investigator of the supernatural David Norliss in 1973's The Norliss Tapes, a pilot for an unproduced TV series. He also played a suspicious schoolmaster in the TV movie Satan's School for Girls
Satan's School for Girls (1973 film)
Satan's School for Girls is a 1973 made-for-tv horror film directed by David Lowell Rich, and produced by Aaron Spelling. The film has been named as one of the most memorable TV movies of the 1970s.- Plot :...
with Kate Jackson
Kate Jackson
Kate Jackson is an American actress, director, and producer, perhaps best known for her role as Sabrina Duncan in the popular 1970s television series Charlie's Angels...
.
Thinnes was cast in Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
's 1976 film [Family Plot]] in the role of nefarious jeweler Arthur Adamson when Hitchcock's first choice, William Devane
William Devane
William Joseph Devane is an American film, television and theater actor.-Life and career:Devane was born in Albany, New York in 1937 or 1939 , the son of Joseph Devane, who was Franklin D. Roosevelt's chauffeur when he was Governor of New York...
, was unavailable. Thinnes had already shot several scenes for the film when Devane suddenly became available. Hitchcock fired Thinnes and re-shot all of his scenes. Thinnes confronted Hitchcock in a restaurant and asked the director why he was fired. Flabbergasted, Hitchcock simply looked at Thinnes until the actor left. Some shots of Thinnes as the character (from behind) remain in the film.
During the 1982-1983 season, Thinnes appeared as Nick Hogan in thirty-five episodes of the hit CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
prime time
Prime time
Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast programming during the middle of the evening for television programing.The term prime time is often defined in terms of a fixed time period—for example, from 19:00 to 22:00 or 20:00 to 23:00 Prime time or primetime is the block of broadcast...
soap opera
Soap opera
A soap opera, sometimes called "soap" for short, is an ongoing, episodic work of dramatic fiction presented in serial format on radio or as television programming. The name soap opera stems from the original dramatic serials broadcast on radio that had soap manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble,...
Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest
Falcon Crest is an American primetime television soap opera which aired on the CBS network for nine seasons, from December 4, 1981 to May 17, 1990. A total of 227 episodes were produced....
starring Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman
Jane Wyman was an American singer, dancer, and character actress of film and television. She began her film career in the 1930s, and was a prolific performer for two decades...
. Thinnes thereafter played Roger Collins in the 1991 revival of TV's Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows is a gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966 to April 2, 1971. The show was created by Dan Curtis. The story bible, which was written by Art Wallace, does not mention any supernatural elements...
. He also appeared on General Hospital
General Hospital
General Hospital is an American daytime television drama that is credited by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest-running American soap opera currently in production and the third longest running drama in television in American history after Guiding Light and As the World Turns....
as Phil Brewer from 1963 to 1966, on One Life to Live
One Life to Live
One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
as Alex Crown from 1984 to 1985, and as Sloan Carpenter from 1992 to 1995. He also played a lead role in "The Crystal Scarab", a first season episode of Poltergeist: The Legacy
Poltergeist: The Legacy
Poltergeist: The Legacy is a Canadian horror television series which ran from 1996 to 1999. The series tells the story of the members of a secret society known as the Legacy, and their efforts to protect humankind from occult dangers...
in 1996. Thinnes was once considered by Paramount
Paramount Television
Paramount Television was an American television production/distribution company that was active from January 1, 1968 to August 27, 2006.Its successor is CBS Television Studios, formerly CBS Paramount Television...
for the part of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation
Star Trek: The Next Generation is an American science fiction television series created by Gene Roddenberry as part of the Star Trek franchise. Roddenberry, Rick Berman, and Michael Piller served as executive producers at different times throughout the production...
.
As well, Thinnes made two appearances in The X-Files
The X-Files
The X-Files is an American science fiction television series and a part of The X-Files franchise, created by screenwriter Chris Carter. The program originally aired from to . The show was a hit for the Fox network, and its characters and slogans became popular culture touchstones in the 1990s...
as Jeremiah Smith, an alien rebel with healing and shape-shifting abilities. His character initially appears in a two-part arc-narrative, the first of which closes Season Three ("Talitha Cumi
Talitha Cumi (The X-Files)
"Talitha Cumi" is a 1996 episode of The X-Files television series. It was the final episode broadcast in the show's third season. "Talitha Cumi" involved the appearance of a mysterious man who can heal with his hands.- Plot :...
" [1996], and the second of which opens Season Four ("Herrenvolk
Herrenvolk (The X-Files)
"Herrenvolk" is the season four premiere of The X-Files. While Mulder and Jeremiah Smith attempt to uncover the truth, the Syndicate realizes that they have a traitor in their midst. "Herrenvolk" means "Master Race" in German.-Plot:...
" [1996] ). Thinnes's second appearance was in Season Eight, Episode 14 ("This Is Not Happening
This Is Not Happening
"This Is Not Happening" is the 175th episode and the fourteenth episode of the eighth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. The episode first aired in the United States and Canada on February 25, 2001 on the Fox Network, and subsequently aired in the United Kingdom...
" [2001]).
Thinnes also appeared in the three-hour, 1995 TV mini-series The Invaders starring Scott Bakula
Scott Bakula
Scott Stewart Bakula is an American actor, known for his role as Sam Beckett in the television series Quantum Leap, for which he won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Television Series Drama in 1991 and was nominated for four Emmy Awards. He also had a prominent role as Captain Jonathan...
, in which he returned as a much older David Vincent.
Thinnes twice appeared on the ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
soap opera One Life to Live
One Life to Live
One Life to Live is an American soap opera which debuted on July 15, 1968 and has been broadcast on the ABC television network. Created by Agnes Nixon, the series was the first daytime drama to primarily feature racially and socioeconomically diverse characters and consistently emphasize social...
playing two different characters. From 1984-1985, he played the role of "Alex Crown" and from 1992–1995, he played the role of "Gen. Sloan Carpenter." During both of his stints on the show, his characters became a father-in-law to the same character, "Cassie Callison", then he died.
In 2005, Thinnes co-starred as Dr. Theophile Peyron in the movie "The Eyes Of Van Gogh." The film concerns Vincent Van Gogh (played by Alexander Barnett, who also wrote and directed) and his voluntary stay in an insane asylum. The movie focuses on Van Gogh's relationships with Dr. Peyron, as well as fellow Expressionist, Paul Gauguin, and his brother, Theo.
Thinnes recently provided audio commentary for the official The Invaders DVD releases.
Personal life
Thinnes was married to actress Lynn LoringLynn Loring
Lynn Loring is an American actress and producer.She first started acting at the age of seven, playing the role of Patti Barron on the soap opera Search for Tomorrow. She played the role until 1961, when she graduated from high school and explored other opportunities...
from 1967 to 1984. In 1969, Loring gave birth to Christopher Dylan Thinnes. He married Stephanie Batailler in 2005, then 67 years old and his wife was 32 years old.
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External links
- theeyesofvangogh.com
- Roy Thinnes in The Long Hot Summer (1965–66) http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Long+Hot+Summer+Roy+Thinnes&aq=f