Hurd Hatfield (December 7, 1917 – December 26, 1998) was an American actor.
Born William Rukard Hurd Hatfield in New York, New York, Hatfield 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). His second film The Picture of Dorian Gray is arguably the film he is best remembered for. As Oscar Wilde's ageless hero, Hatfield received widespread acclaim for his good looks as much as for his acting ability. 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.
His 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 made-for-television movie The Invincible Mr. Disraeli (1963). Among his many television credits are three guest appearances on Murder, She Wrote opposite his The Picture of Dorian Gray costar Angela Lansbury, who had become a lifelong friend.
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.
Hatfield lived in Ireland from the early 1970s, and he died in Monkstown, County Cork of a heart attack in his sleep, shortly after hosting a dinner party for a group of his house guests.
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