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Richard Hatch | |
|---|---|
 Hatch in a publicity photo forThe Streets of San Francisco (1977) | |
| Born | Richard Lawrence Hatch (1945-05-21)May 21, 1945 Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Died | February 7, 2017(2017-02-07) (aged 71) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 1970–2017 |
| Known for | Battlestar Galactica The Streets of San Francisco All My Children Battlestar Galactica (2004 TV series) |
| Spouse | Jo Marie Distante[1] |
| Children | 1 |
| Website | richardhatch |
Richard Lawrence Hatch (May 21, 1945 – February 7, 2017) was an American actor and writer. He began his career as a stage actor before moving on to television work in the 1970s. Hatch is best known for his roles asCaptain Apollo in the originalBattlestar Galactica television series andTom Zarek in thereimagined series.
Hatch was born on May 21, 1945, inSanta Monica, California, to John Raymond Hatch and Elizabeth Hatch (née White). He grew up with four siblings.[2] While in high school, he aspired to become an athlete inpole vaulting, and only had a passing interest in acting, as he considered himself too shy and insecure. Theassassination 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]
Hatch began his theatrical career with theLos Angeles Repertory Theater, as well as shows in Chicago andOff-Broadway.[3]
Hatch began working in television in 1970 when he starred as Philip Brent in the daytimesoap operaAll My Children, a role he played for two years. In the following years, he made guest appearances in prime time series such asCannon;Nakia;Barnaby Jones;The Rookies,Hawaii Five-O; andThe Waltons; as well as appearing in several made-for-TV movies such asF. Scott Fitzgerald and 'The Last of the Belles' (1974) withSusan Sarandon;The Hatfields and the McCoys (1975) withJack Palance; ‘The Waltons’ (1975);Addie and the King of Hearts (1976) withJason Robards; and the 1978 television movieDeadman's Curve, in which he portrayedJan Berry of the musical duoJan and Dean, alongsideBruce Davison asDean Torrence.[4]
In 1976, Hatch gained his first major television role as Inspector Dan Robbins on the detective seriesThe Streets of San Francisco, as the replacement forMichael 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'sBravo Youth Magazine Award for the role.[6] Following this, he had a recurring role on the seriesMary Hartman, Mary Hartman, also for one season in 1977.
In 1978, Hatch gained a starring role inGlen A. Larson's sci-fi series,Battlestar Galactica (1978), which aired for a single season before its high cost motivated its cancellation byABC-TV. Hatch was nominated for aGolden Globe Award for the role.[5][6] However, because Hatch held out for more money in the series' toy merchandisingwithMattel, his character was conspicuously absent in itsaction figure line, although Apollo would appear in subsequent revivalBattlestar Galactica toylines over the decades.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Hatch made guest appearances on such series asHotel;Murder, She Wrote;The Love Boat (romantically opposite 20-year-oldTeri Hatcher in her first on-screen speaking role);Fantasy Island;Baywatch;Dynasty; andMacGyver.[7] In 1990, Hatch returned to daytime soap operas and appeared onSanta Barbara, originating the character Steven Slade.[8]
In 2013, Hatch made a guest appearance in an adult-oriented episode ofThe Eric Andre Show onCartoon Network'sAdult Swim.
Hatch made several low-key theatrical film releases, includingCharlie Chan and the Curse of the Dragon Queen (1981)[9] andPrisoners of the Lost Universe (1983).[10] An abridged version of the pilot episode ofBattlestar 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 withLeif Garrett inParty Line (1988) and withArte Johnson inSecond Chance (1996).
In the 1990s, Hatch attempted to reviveBattlestar Galactica. He began writing novels based on the series, and also wrote, co-directed and executive-produced a trailer calledBattlestar Galactica: The Second Coming in the hopes of enticingUniversal 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-offGalactica 1980, in which Hatch had not appeared. Original actorsJohn Colicos (Baltar),Terry Carter (Colonel Tigh) andJack 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 ofBattlestar Galactica, and instead opted for aremake 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 plannedGalactica 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]
Despite his resentment, Hatch developed a respect forRonald D. Moore, the remake show's head writer and producer, when Moore appeared as a featured guest at Galacticon (theBattlestar 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 newBattlestar Galactica series, which he accepted. He portrayedTom 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]
Alongside his attempts to revive the originalBattlestar Galactica, Hatch created a trailer for his ownspace opera entitledThe Great War of Magellan.[16]
Hatch appeared inInAlienable, a 2008 science-fiction film written and produced byWalter Koenig. In 2011, Hatch worked on a new reality TV series calledWho 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 theweb seriesThe Silicon Assassin Project. In 2013, he ventured into theSteampunk genre, starring in the short filmCowboys & Engines alongsideMalcolm McDowell andWalter Koenig.[17] In 2014, he played the Klingon Commander Kharn in theStar Trek fan filmPrelude To Axanar and was to appear in the subsequent fan productionStar Trek: Axanar in 2015,[18] though legal issues withParamount Pictures prevented the project from being completed.
With various co-authors, Hatch wrote a series of seventie-in novels set in the originalBattlestar Galactica universe.[19] The series included:
Armageddon andWarhawk were both written with Christopher Golden.Resurrection was written with Stan Timmons.Rebellion was written with Alan Rodgers.Paradis,Destiny, andRedemption were all written withBrad Linaweaver.
Hatch died on February 7, 2017, ofpancreatic cancer while he was under hospice care inLos Angeles, at age 71.[3][27]
In his final film performance, Hatch played director Haskell Edwards in the filmDiminuendo 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 AnnualSarasota Film Festival on April 20, 2018.[29]
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