Richard Hatch (actor)

Richard Hatch
Hatch in a publicity photo for The 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.
Cause of death	Pancreatic cancer
Occupation	Actor, writer, producer
Years active	1970–2015
Website	Official website

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.

Hatch led an effort to revive the series. However, his vision was ultimately passed over in favor of Ronald D. Moore's re-imagined Battlestar Galactica in which Hatch guest starred as Tom Zarek.

Hatch was born on May 21, 1945 in Santa Monica, California. While in high school, he'd been aspiring 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."

Hatch began his theatrical career with the Los Angeles Repertory Theater, as well as shows in Chicago and Off-Broadway.

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. For some years, he then made guest appearances in primetime series such as Cannon, Nakia, Barnaby Jones, Hawaii Five-O, and The Waltons, as well as appearing in several made-for-TV movies such as The Hatfields and the McCoys with Jack Palance, Addie and the King of Hearts with Jason Robards, Last of the Belles with Susan Sarandon, and the 1978 TV movie Deadman's Curve in which he portrayed Jan Berry of the musical duo Jan and Dean.