A. Hamid Arief

Abdul Hamid Arief
A. Hamid Arief in c. 1960
Born	(1924-11-25)25 November 1924 Batavia, Dutch East Indies
Died	20 December 1992(1992-12-20) (aged 68) Jakarta, Indonesia
Nationality	Indonesian
Occupation	Actor

Abdul Hamid Arief (25 November 1924 – 20 December 1992), most commonly credited as A. Hamid Arief, was an Indonesian actor who appeared in over a hundred and twenty films. Born in Batavia, Dutch East Indies, he started his acting career in theatre before migrating to film with 1948's Anggrek Bulan (Moon Orchid). His first starring role, and the one for which he first gained recognition, was as the title character in Pangeran Hamid (Prince Hamid, 1953). Over subsequent decades he was a productive film actor, often appearing in four or five films a year. He also acted in several television series.

Arief was born in Batavia, Dutch East Indies, on 25 November 1924. He completed his education up to the junior high school level. He began his acting career with Djamaluddin Malik's travelling troupe Pantjawarna, later migrating to Bintang Surabaja, a travelling theatre troupe headed by Fred Young. By 1948 he had reached Batavia—renamed Jakarta during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies (1942–1945)—and been cast in the South Pacific Film Corporation's Anggrek Bulan (Moon Orchid, 1948). In this film, which was directed by Andjar Asmara, Arief played a young man who must be protected from the predations of the "moon orchid", a beautiful yet dangerous young woman.

In 1949, Arief acted in four further films for the South Pacific Film Corporation, including Usmar Ismail's debut film Tjitra (Image). Soon afterwards he migrated to Fred Young's film company, also named Bintang Surabaja. Arief appeared in numerous films for the company, including Bintang Surabaja 1951 (Star of Surabaya 1951, 1950) and Selamat Berdjuang, Masku! (Fight Well, My Brother!, 1951). He also acted in films by the National Film Company (Inspektur Rachman, 1950) and Djamaluddin Malik's Persari. His star-making role, however, came with Pangeran Hamid (Prince Hamid, 1953), produced by Chok Chin Hsien's Golden Arrow Productions. In this film, he played a young prince named Hamid who retakes the throne after being driven out by a usurper.