American actor, writer and producer
Richard Lawrence Hatch
(May 21, 1945 ? February 7, 2017) was an American actor, writer, and producer. Hatch began his career as a stage actor before moving on to television work in the 1970s. Hatch is best known for his role as
Captain Apollo
in the original
Battlestar Galactica
television series. He is also widely known for his role as
Tom Zarek
in the reimagined
Battlestar Galactica
.
Early life
[
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]
Hatch was born on May 21, 1945, in
Santa Monica, California
, to John Raymond Hatch and Elizabeth Hatch (
nee
White). He grew up with four siblings.
[2]
While in high school, he aspired to become an athlete in
pole vaulting
, and only had a passing interest in acting, as he considered himself too shy and insecure. The
assassination of President Kennedy
in 1963, while Hatch had just started college, turned him towards acting; he had been enrolled in a required oral interpretation course at the time, and following the assassination, presented an article written about Kennedy upon which he said: "As I began to read this article, I got so affected by what I was saying that I forgot myself. I was expressing feelings and emotions I tended to keep locked inside of myself."
[2]
Career
[
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]
Early work
[
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]
Hatch began his theatrical career with the
Los Angeles
Repertory Theater, as well as shows in Chicago and
Off-Broadway
.
[3]
Television
[
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]
Hatch began working in television in 1970 when he starred as Philip Brent in the daytime
soap opera
All My Children
, a role he played for two years. In the following years, he made guest appearances in prime time series such as
Cannon
;
Nakia
;
Barnaby Jones
;
The Rookies
,
Hawaii Five-O
; and
The Waltons
; as well as appearing in several made-for-TV movies such as
F. Scott Fitzgerald and 'The Last of the Belles'
(1974) with
Susan Sarandon
;
The Hatfields and the McCoys
(1975) with
Jack Palance
;
Addie and the King of Hearts
(1976) with
Jason Robards
; and the 1978 television movie
Deadman's Curve
,
in which he portrayed
Jan Berry
of the musical duo
Jan and Dean
, alongside
Bruce Davison
as
Dean Torrence
.
[4]
In 1976, Hatch gained his first major television role as Inspector Dan Robbins on the detective series
The Streets of San Francisco
,
as the replacement for
Michael Douglas
, who had played Inspector Steve Keller in the series, but had resigned from the cast that year.
[5]
Though the role was for only one season, Hatch won Germany's
Bravo Youth Magazine
Award for the role.
[6]
Following this, he had a recurring role on the series
Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
,
also for one season in 1977.
In 1978, Hatch gained a starring role in
Glen A. Larson
's sci-fi series,
Battlestar Galactica
(1978), which aired for a single season before its high cost motivated its cancellation by
ABC-TV
. Hatch was nominated for a
Golden Globe Award
for the role.
[5]
[6]
However, because Hatch held out for more money in the series' toy merchandising
with
Mattel
, his character was conspicuously absent in its
action figure
line, although Apollo would appear in subsequent revival
Battlestar Galactica
toylines over the decades.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Hatch made guest appearances on such series as
Hotel
;
Murder, She Wrote
;
The Love Boat
(romantically opposite 20-year-old
Teri Hatcher
in her first on-screen speaking role);
Fantasy Island
;
Baywatch
;
Dynasty
;
and
MacGyver
.
[7]
In 1990, Hatch returned to daytime soap operas and appeared on
Santa Barbara
,
originating the character Steven Slade.
[8]
In 2013, Hatch made a guest appearance in an adult-oriented episode of
The Eric Andre Show
on
Cartoon Network
's
Adult Swim
.
Films
[
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]
Hatch made several low-key theatrical film releases, including
Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen
(1981)
[9]
and
Prisoners of the Lost Universe
(1983).
[10]
An abridged version of the pilot episode of
Battlestar Galactica
was released in cinemas, initially overseas and then for a limited run in the U.S., as was a sequel film,
Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack,
which was also made from episodes of the series.
[11]
[12]
He starred with
Leif Garrett
in
Party Line
(1988) and with
Arte Johnson
in
Second Chance
(1996).
Battlestar Galactica
revival attempt
[
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]
In the 1990s, Hatch attempted to revive
Battlestar Galactica.
He began writing novels based on the series, and also wrote, co-directed and executive-produced a trailer called
Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming
in the hopes of enticing
Universal Studios
? the rights holders for the franchise ? into producing a new series. Hatch's series would have been a direct continuation of the original 1978 series, and would have ignored the events of the failed spin-off
Galactica 1980
,
in which Hatch had not appeared. Original actors
John Colicos
(Baltar),
Terry Carter
(Colonel Tigh) and
Jack Stauffer
(Bojay) appeared in the trailer with Hatch. Though the trailer won acclaim at science-fiction conventions, Universal was not interested in Hatch's vision for the revival of
Battlestar Galactica,
and instead opted for a
remake
rather than the sequel for which Hatch had campaigned. Hatch, who had reportedly remortgaged his own house to produce the trailer, was bitterly disappointed by this turn of events and was highly critical of the prospective new series.
[13]
In 2004, he stated to Sci-Fi Pulse that he had felt resentment over the failure of his planned
Galactica
continuation and was left "exhausted and sick... I had, over the past several years, bonded deeply with the original characters and story... writing the novels and the comic books and really campaigning to bring back the show."
[14]
Battlestar Galactica
re-imagining
[
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]
Despite his resentment, Hatch developed a respect for
Ronald D. Moore
, the remake show's head writer and producer, when Moore appeared as a featured guest at Galacticon (the
Battlestar Galactica
25th anniversary convention, hosted by Hatch) and answered questions posed by a hostile audience.
[14]
Later, in 2004, Hatch was offered a recurring role in the new
Battlestar Galactica
series, which he accepted. He portrayed
Tom Zarek
, a terrorist turned politician who spent twenty years in prison for blowing up a government building. After Zarek's death, Hatch commented that "never did I play this character as a villain nor did I think he was one and I still feel that way," and that he considered the character to be a principled figure who is driven to violence after being "blocked in every way possible" by Roslin and Adama.
[15]
"Zarek, Adama and Roslin all wanted power for the same reason, to make a positive difference."
[15]
Other work
[
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]
Alongside his attempts to revive the original
Battlestar Galactica
, Hatch created a trailer for his own
space opera
entitled
The Great War of Magellan
.
[16]
Hatch appeared in
InAlienable
,
a 2008 science-fiction film written and produced by
Walter Koenig
. In 2011, Hatch worked on a new reality TV series called
Who the Frak?
, which he created and appeared in as himself. The series was touted as "the world's first social network reality drama." In 2012?13, Hatch appeared in the
web series
The Silicon Assassin Project
. In 2013, he ventured into the
Steampunk
genre, starring in the short film
Cowboys & Engines
alongside
Malcolm McDowell
and
Walter Koenig
.
[17]
In 2014, he played the Klingon Commander Kharn in the
Star Trek
fan film
Prelude To Axanar
and was to appear in the subsequent fan production
Star Trek: Axanar
in 2015,
[18]
though legal issues with
Paramount Pictures
prevented the project from being completed.
Writing
[
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]
With various co-authors, Hatch wrote a series of seven
tie-in
novels set in the original
Battlestar Galactica
universe.
[19]
The series included:
- Armageddon
, published August 1, 1997,
[20]
- Warhawk
, published September 1, 1998
[21]
- Resurrection
, published July 1, 2001
[22]
- Rebellion
, published July 1, 2002,
[23]
- Paradis
, published July 1, 2003,
[24]
- Destiny
, published June 29, 2004,
[25]
- Redemption
, published November 25, 2005.
[26]
Armageddon
and
Warhawk
were both written with Christopher Golden.
Resurrection
was written with Stan Timmons.
Rebellion
was written with Alan Rodgers.
Paradis
,
Destiny
, and
Redemption
were all written with
Brad Linaweaver
.
Death
[
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]
Hatch died on February 7, 2017, of
pancreatic cancer
while he was under hospice care in
Los Angeles
, at age 71.
[3]
[27]
Final film
[
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]
In his final film performance, Hatch played director Haskell Edwards in the film
Diminuendo
which wrapped a few months before he learned of his pancreatic cancer. Hatch was able to see a rough cut of the film before he died,
[28]
and a work-in-progress screening was held as a memorial shortly after his death.
Diminuendo
had its world premiere at the 20th Annual
Sarasota Film Festival
on April 20, 2018.
[29]
Filmography
[
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]
Film
[
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]
- Best Friends
(1975) - Jesse
- Deadman's Curve
(1978, TV Biography) - Jan Berry of Jan and Dean
- Battlestar Galactica
(1978) - Captain Apollo
- The Hustler of Muscle Beach
(1980, TV Movie (ABC)) - Nick Demec
- Living Legend: The King of Rock and Roll
(1980)
- Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen
(1981) - Lee Chan, Jr.
- Prisoners of the Lost Universe
(1983) - Dan
- Terror on London Bridge
(1985) - Hoffman
- Last Platoon
(1988) - Sgt. Chet Costa
- Party Line
(1988) - Dan
- Ghetto Blaster
(1989) - Travis
- Leathernecks
(1989) - Lieutenant Caldwell
- Dark Bar
(1989) - Marco
- Mal d'Africa
(1990) - Tony La Palma
- Delta Force Commando II: Priority Red One
(1990) - Delta Force Leader Brett Haskell
- Renaissance
(1994) - Tristan Anderson
- Second Chance
(1996) - Mitch
- Iron Thunder
(1998) - Nelson
- Battlestar Galactica: The Second Coming
(1999, Short) - Commander Apollo
- The Ghost
(2001) - Edward
- Unseen Evil
(2001) - Dr. Peter Jensen
- Big Shots
(2001) - Casting Director
- The Rain Makers
(2005) - Wyatt
- InAlienable
(2008) - Dr. Eric Norris
- The Little Match Makers
(2011) - Officer Candy
- Season of Darkness
(2012) - Dr. Shaker
- Dead by Friday
(2012) - Father Anthony
- Prelude to Axanar
(2014, Short) - Commander Kharn
- Alongside Night
(2014) - The Silicon Assassin
- Chatter
(2015) - Nate Terry
- The Enchanted Cottage
(2016) - Mr. Bradshaw
- Surge of Power: Revenge of the Sequel
(2016) - Himself
- Asylum of Darkness
(2017) - Dr. Shaker
- The Pod
(2017) - Mike Gibson
- Diminuendo
(2018) - Haskell Edwards
Television
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]
- All My Children
(1970?1972) as Phil Brent (Erica Kane's second husband)
- The Sixth Sense - Gallows in the Wind
(1972) as Owen Preston
- Room 222
(1972) Season 3 Episode 22 "The Quitter" as Donnie LeRoi
- Barnaby Jones
(1973) Season 1 Episode 5 "Perchance to Kill" as Eric Garvin
- Kung Fu
(1973) "Sun and Cloud Shadow" as David
- The Waltons
(1974 and 1975) as Wade Walton
- Cannon
(1975) 5x05 "The Victim as Allen Farrell", 5x13 "The Star 1" and "The Star 2" as Terry Kane
- The Rookies
(1975) Season 3 Episode 22 "A Deadly Image" as Vic Dorsey
- Addie and the King of Hearts
(1976) as Mr. Davenport
- The Streets of San Francisco
(1976?1977) Season 5, all 24 episodes, as Inspector Dan Robbins
- Jan and Dean
(1978) as Jan Berry
- T. J. Hooker
(1985) as Robert Marshall
- Hawaii Five-O
(1973 and 1975)
- Battlestar Galactica
(1978-79 TV series), all 21 episodes, as Captain Apollo
- Murder, She Wrote
(1984) Season 1 Episode 2 "Deadly Lady" as Terry Jones
- The Love Boat
, S6 E7 as Roger Lewis in "Too Many Dads" (1982); S8 E23, "Vicki's Gentleman Caller", "Partners to the End, "The Perfect Arrangement" (1985) as Tom Whitlaw; and Season 9 Episode 8.
- MacGyver
(1986) Season 2 Episode 10 "Three for the Road" as Michael Talbot
- Battlestar Galactica
(2004?2009) Season 1?4, 22 episodes, as Tom Zarek
- The Eric Andre Show
(2013) as himself
- Blade of Honor
(2017), five episodes as Admiral DiCarrek
References
[
edit
]
- ^
"Richard Hatch Biography, Bio, Son, Actor, Battlestar Galactica, Net Worth"
.
Dodoodad
. December 18, 2017.
- ^
a
b
Mele, Christopher (February 7, 2017).
"Richard Hatch, Who Starred in 'Battlestar Galactica,' Dies at 71"
.
The New York Times
. Retrieved
February 8,
2017
.
- ^
a
b
Feldman, Kate (February 7, 2017).
"Richard Hatch, 'Battlestar Galactica' star, dead at 71"
.
New York Daily News
. Retrieved
February 7,
2017
.
- ^
Deadman's Curve (1978)
at
Rotten Tomatoes
- ^
a
b
Couch, Aaron (February 7, 2017).
"Richard Hatch, 'Battlestar Galactica' Star, Dies at 71"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
. Retrieved
February 8,
2017
.
- ^
a
b
"RichardHatch.com: Home of Richard Hatch"
. Richard Hatch Enterprises, Su-Shann Productions. 2003. Archived from
the original
on August 15, 2011
. Retrieved
August 23,
2011
.
- ^
Lee, Laruance (February 7, 2017).
"Richard Hatch, 'Battlestar Galactica' Actor, Dies at 71"
.
Variety
. Retrieved
February 8,
2017
.
- ^
"
'Battlestar Galactica' actor Richard Hatch dies at 71"
.
Los Angeles Times
.
Associated Press
. February 7, 2017
. Retrieved
February 8,
2017
.
- ^
Charlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen
at
Rotten Tomatoes
- ^
Prisoners of the Lost Universe
at
Rotten Tomatoes
- ^
Battlestar Galactica
at
Rotten Tomatoes
- ^
Mission Galactica: The Cylon Attack
at
Rotten Tomatoes
- ^
Liptak, Andrew (February 7, 2017).
"Battlestar Galactica actor Richard Hatch has died"
.
The Verge
. Retrieved
February 8,
2017
.
- ^
a
b
Cullen, Ian (October 28, 2004).
"Hatch Talks About His New Role & His Future Plans"
.
SciFiPulse.com
. Retrieved
March 10,
2015
.
- ^
a
b
Ryan, Maureen (February 9, 2009).
"Richard Hatch speaks out about 'Battlestar Galactica's' Tom Zarek"
.
Chicago Tribune
. Retrieved
March 10,
2015
.
- ^
"The Great War of Magellan"
.
greatwarofmagellan.com
. Retrieved
February 8,
2017
.
- ^
Schleicher, Stephen (July 15, 2013).
"SDCC '13: Cowboys and Engines debuts trailer at convention"
.
MajorSpoilers.com
. Retrieved
March 10,
2015
.
- ^
Profile
Archived
August 7, 2015, at the
Wayback Machine
, startrekaxanar.com; accessed July 7, 2015.
- ^
"Richard's Books"
.
RichardHatch.com
. Retrieved
February 8,
2017
.
- ^
Hatch, Richard; Golden, Christopher (1998).
Battlestar Galactica: Armageddon
. New York: Pocket Books.
ISBN
978-0671011918
.
- ^
Hatch, Richard; Golden, Christopher (1998).
Battlestar Galactica: Warhawk
. New York: Pocket Books.
ISBN
978-0671011901
.
- ^
Hatch, Richard; Timmons, Stan (2003).
Resurrection
. New York: Ibooks.
ISBN
978-0743458627
.
- ^
Hatch, Richard; Rodgers, Alan (2002).
Rebellion
. New York: Ibooks.
ISBN
978-0743445030
.
- ^
Hatch, Richard; Linaweaver, Brad (2003).
Battlestar Galactica: Paradis
. New York: Ibooks.
ISBN
978-0743474412
.
- ^
Hatch, Richard; Linaweaver, Brad (2004).
Destiny
. New York: Ibooks.
ISBN
978-0743486859
.
- ^
Hatch, Richard; Linaweaver, Brad (2005).
Battlestar Galactica: Redemption
. New York: IBooks.
ISBN
978-1596871199
.
- ^
Waters, Bill (February 7, 2017).
"Updated: Richard Hatch, Star Of Battlestar Galactica, Dies At 71"
. Bleeding Cool News and Rumors. Archived from
the original
on February 7, 2017.
- ^
Couch, Aaron (February 10, 2017).
"Richard Hatch's Last Director on His Unflinching Commitment and Seeing Their Film in His Final Days"
.
The Hollywood Reporter
. Retrieved
May 16,
2018
.
- ^
"Sarasota Film Festival (2018)"
. Archived from
the original
on May 31, 2018
. Retrieved
May 16,
2018
.
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