Hurd Hatfield was an American actor who rose to fame for his portrayal of the ageless anti-hero in the 1945 film The Picture of Dorian Gray. He was also known for his roles in The Diary of a Chambermaid, King of Kings, El Cid, and The Boston Strangler. But how did he die and what was his cause of death?
Early Life and Career
Hurd Hatfield was born William Rukard Hurd Hatfield on December 7, 1917, in New York City. His father was a lawyer who served as deputy attorney general for New York, and his mother was a socialite. He attended Columbia University, then moved to London, England, where he studied drama and began acting in theatre.
He returned to America for his film debut in Dragon Seed (1944), in which he and his co-stars (Katharine Hepburn, Akim Tamiroff, Aline MacMahon, Turhan Bey) portrayed Chinese peasants. His second film, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1945), made him a star. As Oscar Wilde’s immortal character, Hatfield received widespread acclaim for his dark good looks as much as for his acting ability.
However, the actor was ambivalent about the role and his performance. “The film didn’t make me popular in Hollywood,” he commented later. “It was too odd, too avant-garde, too ahead of its time. The decadence, the hints of bisexuality and so on, made me a leper! Nobody knew I had a sense of humour, and people wouldn’t even have lunch with me.”
His follow-up films, The Diary of a Chambermaid (1946), The Beginning or the End (1947), and The Unsuspected (1947), were successful, but Joan of Arc (1948) was a critical and financial failure. Hatfield’s film career began to lose momentum very quickly in the 1950s, and he returned to the stage. He appeared in several Shakespeare plays, as well as in Venus Observed, The Invincible Mr. Disraeli, and Much Ado About Nothing.
Later Years and Death
Hatfield cut back on performing in the 1970s. His later movies included King David (1985) and Her Alibi (1989). He appeared frequently on television and received an Emmy Award nomination for the Hallmark Hall of Fame videotaped play The Invincible Mr. Disraeli (1963). He also appeared as the villain in the second episode of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, titled “The City Beneath the Sea”. He appeared in Alfred Hitchcock Presents in “None Are So Blind”, which first aired October 28, 1956.
He never married and had no children. He lived in Ireland for many years, where he owned a large country house in Rathcormac, County Cork. He was a lifelong friend of Angela Lansbury, who also had a home in County Cork. He died peacefully in his sleep of a heart attack at the country home he loved so much, aged 81, after having had Christmas dinner with friends
He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in his garden. He left behind a legacy of memorable performances and a reputation for being a handsome, narcissistic, and mysterious actor.
