Hurd Hatfield Movies

Michael Chekhov and George Shdanoff were Russian expatriates who came to Hollywood and became two of the best known and most influential acting coaches in the film industry; Chekhov was nominated for an Academy Award for his work in Spellbound, and as a teacher he and his associate Shdanoff helped guide the careers of Leslie Caron, Patricia Neal, Gregory Peck, Rex Harrison, Marilyn Monroe and Clint Eastwood. From Russia to Hollywood provides a glimpse into their lives and careers as Chekhov flees Russia for Germany after the Communist government expresses its displeasure with his productions for the Moscow Art Theater (Stanislavsky considered Chekhov a genius, but the government considered him ideologically unsound). When the Nazis began to rise to power, Chekhov relocated to the United States, where he taught acting when not busy with his own career on the stage and screen. Here, several of Chekhov and Shdanoff's better known students discuss their work and how their teachings effected a generation of Hollywood actors. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Jerry Orbach returns as hard-boiled Boston private eye Harry McGraw, who once again teams up with Jessica Fletcher (Angela Lansbury) to solve a murder. This time the victim is a popular actor, who had agreed to serve as one of the auctioneers accepting bids for a torrid diary written by a onetime sex symbol. Not only is the author of the diary under suspicion, but so are several others who'd been a part of her tragic past, obliging Jessica to burrow through the sizeable suspect list so that Harry can make a pinch. Watch for Angela Lansbury's former Picture of Dorian Gray costar Hurd Hatfield--not to mention Jean VanderPyl, the longtime voice of cartoondom's Wilma Flintstone! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Police officer Len Gittings (Walter McGinn) is suspected of accidentally shooting a fellow cop in a drug raid. In his efforts to uncover the truth, Kojak (Telly Savalas) is unaware (at least at first) that Gittings had been trying to protect his drug-addict girlfriend Claire (Lynn Redgrave) during the raid. . .and that Claire herself may have pulled the trigger. In addition to guest star Lynn Redgrave, this episode boasts early TV appearances by Morgan Fairchild (Falcon Crest), Dan Hedaya (Party of Five) and Irene Cara (Fame). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Author William F. Nolan and producer/director Dan (Dark Shadows) Curtis combined forces for the made-for-TV The Norliss Tapes. Roy Thinnes stars as Dan Norliss, an investigative reporter specializing the supernatural. Norliss' tapes consist of his observations when tracking down a report about a "walking dead man." As it happens, the tapes seem to be all that is left of Norliss, who has completely disappeared. The Norliss Tapes was the pilot for a series which failed to secure a network slot (perhaps no one wanted a program with a nonexistent hero!). An earlier failed attempt by Curtis to build a series around a paranormal investigator resulted in the 1969 pilot In the Dead of Night. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The FBI and the Reds are both on the prowl for traitorous scientist Frederic Scott (Richard Kiley). While on assignment for the spy ring to whom he has sold out, Scott suddenly dashes off to parts unknown in search of his estranged wife Margaret (Marian McCargo). This clash of priorities threatens to prove fatal for both the traitor and his wife. Featured in the cast is Hurd Hatfield, best remembered for his saturnine portrayal of the title character in the 1945 film version of The Picture of Dorian Gray. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Boston Strangler adopts the split-screen technique then in vogue (see also The Thomas Crown Affair) to relate the true story of self-confessed mass murderer Albert DeSalvo. Adapted by Edward Anhalt from the book by Gerold Frank, the film covers the years 1962 to 1964, during which time a dozen women were raped and murdered in the Boston area. State-appointed officer John Bottomly (Henry Fonda) arrests as many known sex offenders as he can get his hands on in hopes of finding a clue as to the Boston Strangler's identity. As these things often happen, the police come across the necessary evidence through pure luck. Well-played by Tony Curtis (whose makeup is startling), DeSalvo himself does not appear until an hour into the film. When caught, the schizophrenic DeSalvo insists that he knows nothing of the murders. Under interrogation and hypnosis, his homicidal impulses are exposed. Meticulously cast, The Boston Strangler offers excellent vignettes by Sally Kellerman as the Strangler's only surviving victim and by Hurd Hatfield as an erudite sex pervert. When Boston Strangler was first shown on TV in 1974, a voice-over coda was added, noting that Albert DeSalvo was stabbed to death in prison on November 26, 1973, and that many experts were convinced that he was not the killer but that his confessions were the product of a delusional mind. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Jack Landau directed this 1966 televised production of Tennessee Williams' fantastical one-act play. In it, Martin Sheen stars as Kilroy, an American GI who finds himself in the surreal landscape of a fictitious Latin American nation where he interacts with several characters who have fallen into meaningless and destitute lives. The play also features performances by Tom Aldredge, Michael Baseleon, Albert Dekker, Hurd Hatfield, Kazimir Kokich, and Lotte Lenya. ~ Matthew Tobey, All Movie Guide

Often described as a French New Wave film made in Hollywood, Arthur Penn's 1965 art movie enters the unsettlingly paranoid world of a nightclub comic on the run from the Mob. Having fooled around with the wrong blonde and gambled himself into an unpayable debt, an entertainer (Warren Beatty) flees to Chicago, where he hides out and changes his name to Mickey One. He hooks up with Jenny (Alexandra Stewart) and Castle (Hurd Hatfield), the owner of the nightclub Xanadu, but he cannot shake the paralyzing conviction that he's being pursued no matter where he is. After being beaten by unknown assailants, Mickey finally decides that escape is impossible, so he might as well just do his thing. ~ Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide

The Seaview is assigned a mission in the Aegian Sea, to investigate a series of research ship disasters, and an attempt to destroy the sub. Captain Crane (David Hedison) goes undercover in a small seaside village and finds that someone is prepared to kill anyone who asks (or answers) too many questions. He and Nelson (Richard Basehart) follow the trail to Zeraff (Hurd Hatfield), a mad inventor who has built a huge and powerfully armed undersea installation and plans to rule the world, even if it means destroying a good portion of it in the process. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide

One major film star referred to director Nicholas Ray as a "loser," because of Ray's alleged willingness to let his more temperamental actors walk all over him. Evidently, Ray had a very compliant and cooperative cast in King of Kings, inasmuch as the film emerged as one of the most disciplined Biblical epics ever made. Jeffrey Hunter is cast as Jesus Christ, delivering a wholly credible performance in this most taxing of roles (never mind the wags who referred to the film as "I Was a Teenage Jesus"). Siobhan McKenna is a radiant if somewhat overaged Mary; Hurd Hatfield offers a properly preening Pontius Pilate; Rip Torn portrays Judas more for the tragedy than the treachery; Robert Ryan (a personal favorite of Ray's) is one of the best John the Baptists you're ever likely to see; and Harry Guardino convincingly interprets Barabbas as a firebrand political extremist. The only false note in the casting is the MGM-dictated selection of teenaged Brigid Bazlen as Salome. The best aspect of the film is its handling of the days after the Resurrection; the "Jesus sightings" are offered as secondhand information, so as to retain some of the mystery inherent in the Scriptures. King of Kings was previously filmed in 1927 by Cecil B. DeMille, with a middle-aged H.B. Warner as Jesus. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The Left Handed Gun was adapted by Gore Vidal from his own TV play, The Death of Billy the Kid. 33-year-old Paul Newman stars as 21-year-old William Bonney, the hotheaded gunslinger known as Billy the Kid. Avoiding the usual Hollywood glamourization of this controversial character, Newman portays Bonney pretty much as he was: an illiterate, homicidal cretin. Treated with kindness for the first time in his life by rancher Tunstall (Colin Keith-Johnston), Bonney becomes devoted to the rancher; in fact, it is virtually a love affair. Soon after, however, Tunstall is killed, prompting Bonney to go on a murderous spree. In the end, Bonney must face down the other important father-figure in his life, Pat Garrett (John Dehner). In case anyone should miss the Freudian subtext in The Left Handed Gun, the closeups of Bonney fondling his six-shooter will make things crystal clear. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This second presentation of the classic dramatic anthology Du Pont Show of the Month is a lavishly mounted adaptation of Mark Twain's historical novel The Prince and the Pauper. Although virtually every film version of this work has either cast twin boys in the roles of young Prince Edward and his ragamuffin lookalike Tom Canty, or has employed split-screen photography to convey the impression that one child actor is actually two different people, this production aired live and was unable to recruit twins at such short notice. Thus, Rex Thompson, best known for his portrayal of Prince Chulanlongkorn in The King and I, plays Edward, while the remarkably similar-looking Johnny Washbrook, previously the star of the TV series My Friend Flicka, plays Tom. Twain's familiar plot remains intact, with the royal Edward and the peasant Tom trading places, leading to all manner of complications for the high- and lowborn citizens of 16th century England. Heading what was advertised as "a cast of 60" is Christopher Plummer as Sir Miles Herndon, who while seeking revenge against the brother who betrayed him befriends the incognito Prince Edward; Hurd Hatfield as that evil sibling, Sir John; Rosemary Harris as the brothers' mutual sweetheart Lady Edith; and Sir Cedric Hardwycke as the scheming Earl of Hartford, who knows that the youngster claiming to be the Prince of England isn't anything of the kind. Also seen is a very young Patty Duke as Edward's sister Princess Elizabeth. "he Prince and the Pauper" was adapted for television by Leslie Slote, who spent much of the 1950s fronting for fellow writers who had been blacklisted. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide