Torin Thatcher (15 January, 1905 - 4 March, 1981) was a British actor born in Bombay, British India (now Mumbai, India), to British parents. He was an imposing, powerfully built figure noted for his flashy portrayals of screen villains.

He was educated in England at Bedford School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He worked as a schoolteacher before first appearing on the London stage in 1927 and then entering British films in 1934. He appeared in the 1937 Old Vic stage production of Hamlet, in which Laurence Olivier made his first appearance in the title role, opposite Vivien Leigh as Ophelia. During World War II he served with the Royal Artillery and achieved the rank of major.

He appeared in classic British films of the late 1930s and 1940s including Sabotage, Major Barbara, The Captive Heart, The Fallen Idol and Great Expectations, in which he played Bentley Drummle. He moved to Hollywood in the 1950s where he was constantly in demand, invariably lending his looming figure and baleful countenance to sinister or stern roles in popular costume thrillers such as The Crimson Pirate, Blackbeard the Pirate, The Robe (1953) (as Richard Burton's disapproving father), The Black Shield of Falworth, Helen of Troy, Darby's Rangers (1958 film), and The 7th Voyage of Sinbad. He also appeared in the Marlon Brando - Trevor Howard 1962 remake of Mutiny on the Bounty.

He returned to the stage quite frequently, notably on Broadway, in such esteemed productions as Edward, My Son (1948), That Lady (1949) and Billy Budd (1951). In 1959 he portrayed Captain Keller in the award-winning play The Miracle Worker with Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke. All of these plays were filmed, but Thatcher did not appear in the movie versions.

Also a steady fixture on TV, he appeared in such made-for-TV films as the Jack Palance version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, and Brenda Starr. He also played the title role in a Philco Television Playhouse version of Othello and acted in a CBS production of Beyond This Place (1957).

He died of cancer on March 4, 1981, in Thousand Oaks, California, in the Los Angeles area.

Associated with gritty, flashy film villainy, veteran character actor Torin Thatcher was born in Bombay, India to British parents on January 15, 1905, and was educated in England at the Bedford School and the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. A former schoolteacher, he appeared on the London stage in 1927 before entering British films in 1934. During World War II he served with the Royal Artillery and achieved the rank of major. He was an extremely imposing, powerfully built specimen and it offered him a number of tough, commanding, often sinister roles over the years primarily in larger-than-life action sequences. He made a number of classic British films in the late 1930s and 1940s including Sabotage (1936), Major Barbara (1941), Captive Heart, The (1946), Great Expectations (1946), in which he played Bentley ("The Spider") Drummle, and Fallen Idol, The (1948). In Hollywood from the 1950s on, his looming figure and baleful countenance were constantly in demand, gnashing his teeth in a slew of popular costumers such as Crimson Pirate, The (1952), Blackbeard, the Pirate (1952) as reformed pirate Sir Henry Morgan, Robe, The (1953), Helen of Troy (1956) as Ulysses, 7th Voyage of Sinbad, The (1958) as the evil, shaven-domed magician Sokurah who shrinks the princess to miniature size, Witness for the Prosecution (1957) as the prosecuting attorney, Miracle, The (1959) as the Duke of Wellington, the Marlon Brando/'Trevor Howard' remake of Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), and Hawaii (1966). Thatcher returned to the stage quite frequently, notably on Broadway, in such esteemed productions as "Edward, My Son" (1948), "That Lady" (1949) and "Billy Budd" (1951). In 1959 he portrayed Captain Keller in the award-winning play "The Miracle Worker" with Anne Bancroft (I) and Patty Duke. Also a steady fixture on TV, he appeared in such made-for-TV films as the Jack Palance version of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and "Brenda Starr." Thatcher died of cancer on March 4, 1981, in the near-by Los Angeles area.