
Murray Hamilton
Actor · 1923 – 1986 · Washington, North Carolina, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Murray Hamilton (March 24, 1923 – September 1, 1986) was an American actor. He is best known for his role as Mayor Larry Vaughn in the 1975 film "Jaws" and its sequels, "Jaws 2" and "Jaws: The Revenge". Hamilton also starred in several other well-known films such as "The Graduate", "The Hustler" and "The Amityville Horror". He had a long career in both film and TV and appeared in over 70 films and TV series. Early life Hamilton was born in Washington, North Carolina. He displayed an early interest in performing during his days at Washington High School just before America's entry into World War II. Bad hearing kept him from enlisting, so he moved to New York City as a 19-year-old to find a career on stage. Career In an early role, he performed on stage with Henry Fonda in the wartime story Mister Roberts as a replacement for David Wayne, playing Ensign Pulver. In 1960, he was onstage again with Fonda in Critic's Choice; Howard Taubman of The New York Times called him "properly obnoxious as the director". Hamilton was teamed once more with Fonda in 1968 for the drama film The Boston Strangler. Hamilton's best-known performance is as Larry Vaughn, the mayor of Amity, in the Steven Spielberg thriller Jaws (1975). Hamilton reprised the role in the sequel, Jaws 2 in 1978. He had agreed to reprise the role again in Jaws: The Revenge, but died in 1986, before production began. He was just 63 years old. Hamilton complained in a newspaper article about being typecast, stating "After I was first cast as a heavy on The Untouchables, I couldn't ever persuade them [producers] that I could also do something else." While comic roles were rare for Hamilton during his Hollywood career, he had one opposite Andy Griffith in the 1958 military comedy No Time for Sergeants, as well as an appearance in Steven Spielberg's raucous comedy 1941, released in 1979. He also appeared in a comedic guest spot on Mama's Family in the second-season episode "Mama Cries Uncle" as Uncle Roy. He was more often cast in dramatic works, such as the science-fiction drama Seconds (1966), which starred Rock Hudson. In his most high-profile performances, Hamilton appeared with Paul Newman in The Hustler (1961), playing Findley, a wealthy billiards player who gambles for high stakes, and with Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate (1967) as Mr. Robinson, husband of the seductress Mrs. Robinson. In 1975, Hamilton appeared again with Newman in The Drowning Pool. He also worked with Robert Redford in a pair of films, The Way We Were (1973) and Brubaker (1980). In early 1982 he appeared as a judge presiding over an impromptu court case on an episode of Bret Maverick. Death Hamilton died of lung cancer at age 63, and is interred at Oakdale Cemetery in his native Washington, North Carolina. He and his wife, Terri DeMarco Hamilton (of The DeMarco Sisters), had a son, David. CLR
Movies24
Movie7.7HorrorThrillerWhen the seaside community of Amity finds itself under attack by a dangerous great white shark, the town's chief of police, a young marine biologist, and a grizzled shark hunter embark on a desperate quest to kill the beast before it strikes again.
Jaws
1975 · 11K votes
Movie7.6DramaRomanceA disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.
The Graduate
1967 · 3.8K votes
Movie6.0HorrorThrillerPolice chief Brody must protect the citizens of Amity after a second monstrous shark begins terrorizing the waters.
Jaws 2
1978 · 2.2K votes
Movie7.0DramaRomanceOpposites attract when, during their college days, Katie Morosky, a politically active Jew, meets Hubbell Gardiner, a feckless WASP. Years later, in the wake of World War II, they meet once again and, despite their obvious differences, attempt to make their love for each other work.
The Way We Were
1973 · 530 votes
Movie7.8CrimeDramaSemi-retired Michigan lawyer Paul Biegler takes the case of Army Lt. Manion, who murdered a local innkeeper after his wife claimed that he raped her. Over the course of an extensive trial, Biegler parries with District Attorney Lodwick and out-of-town prosecutor Claude Dancer to set his client free, but his case rests on the victim's mysterious business partner, who's hiding a dark secret.
Anatomy of a Murder
1959 · 1.2K votes
Movie6.3HorrorGeorge Lutz, his wife Kathy, and their three children have just moved into a beautiful, and improbably cheap, Victorian mansion nestled in the sleepy coastal town of Amityville, Long Island. However, their dream home is concealing a horrific past and soon each member of the Lutz family is plagued with increasingly strange and violent visions and impulses.
The Amityville Horror
1979 · 1.1K votes
Movie7.5DocumentaryThe authorized documentary celebrating the film that redefined Hollywood, 50 years after its premiere. Featuring rare archival footage and interviews with acclaimed Hollywood directors alongside Steven Spielberg, top shark scientists, and conservationists, the film uncovers the behind-the-scenes chaos and how the film launched the summer blockbuster, inspired a new wave of filmmakers, and paved the way for shark conservation that continues today.
Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story
2025 · 64 votes
Movie5.8ComedyWarIn the days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, panic grips California, where a military officer leads a mob chasing a Japanese sub.
1941
1979 · 736 votes
Movie7.7DramaRomanceFast Eddie Felson is a small-time pool hustler with a lot of talent but a self-destructive attitude. His bravado causes him to challenge the legendary Minnesota Fats to a high-stakes match.
The Hustler
1961 · 1.1K votes
Movie7.1CrimeDramaThe new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.
Brubaker
1980 · 530 votes
Movie7.4Science FictionThrillerAn unhappy middle-aged banker agrees to a procedure that will fake his death and give him a completely new look and identity; one that comes with its own price.
Seconds
1966 · 454 votes
Movie6.4ComedyRomanceAn Italian socialite on the run signs on as housekeeper for a widower with three children.
Houseboat
1958 · 201 votes
Movie6.5DramaHistoryA young Catholic priest from Boston confronts bigotry, Nazism, and his own personal conflicts as he rises to the office of cardinal.
The Cardinal
1963 · 54 votes
Movie6.7DramaHistoryIn 1927, Charles Lindbergh struggles to finance and design an airplane that will make his New York to Paris flight the first solo transatlantic crossing.
The Spirit of St. Louis
1957 · 150 votes
Movie5.1AdventureScience FictionFollowing World War III, four survivors at a desert military installation attempt to drive across the desolate wasteland of America to Albany, where they hope more survivors are living, using a specially built vehicles to protect themselves against the freakish weather, mutated plant and animal life, and other dangers encountered along the way.
Damnation Alley
1977 · 119 votes
Movie4.3FantasyDramaBound together by a desire to play "Mazes and Monsters," Robbie and his four college classmates decide to move the board game into the local cavern. Robbie loses his mind, and the line between reality and fantasy fuse into a harrowing nightmare.
Mazes and Monsters
1982 · 107 votes
Movie5.9RomanceComedyA group of travelers from the United States race through seven European countries in 18 days.
If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium
1969 · 37 votes
Movie6.3ThrillerMysteryHarper is brought to Louisiana to investigate an attempted blackmail scheme. He soon finds out that it involves an old flame of his and her daughter. He eventually finds himself caught in a power struggle between the matriarch of the family and a greedy oil baron, who wants their property. Poor Harper! Things are not as straight-forward as they initially appeared.
The Drowning Pool
1975 · 143 votes
Movie6.6DramaCrimeBoston is being terrorized by a series of seemingly random murders of women. Based on the true story, the film follows the investigators path through several leads before introducing the Strangler as a character. It is seen almost exclusively from the point of view of the investigators who have very few clues to build a case upon.
The Boston Strangler
1968 · 258 votes
Movie6.2DramaCrimeA dedicated FBI agent recalls the agency's battles against the Klan, organized crime and Communist spies.
The FBI Story
1959 · 45 votes
Movie6.6ComedyThrillerChristopher Gill is a psychotic killer who uses various disguises to trick and strangle his victims. Moe Brummel is a single and harassed New York City police detective who starts to get phone calls from the strangler and builds a strange alliance as a result. Kate Palmer is a swinging, hip tour guide who witnesses the strangler leaving her dead neighbor's apartment and sets her sights on the detective. Moe's live-in mother wishes her son would be a successful Jewish doctor like his big brother.
No Way to Treat a Lady
1968 · 62 votes
Movie5.7ComedyRomanceA young insecure college sportsman is in trouble. He wants to marry his very straightforward girlfriend, but has no money. When he is offered a bribe to fix a game, he is torn even more about the matter.
Tall Story
1960 · 16 votes
Movie5.2CrimeMysteryA killer is brutally attacking several tenants that live in a high rise apartment building in New York City.
Too Scared to Scream
1984 · 25 votes
Movie6.2DramaBiographical film based loosely on the life of 1920s stage star Jeanne Eagels.
Jeanne Eagels
1957 · 15 votes
Series24
TV7.7MysteryDramaThe cases of master criminal defense attorney Perry Mason and his staff who handled the most difficult of cases in the aid of the innocent.
Perry Mason
1957 · 139 votes
TV7.5MysteryCrimeAn unassuming mystery writer turned sleuth uses her professional insight to help solve real-life homicide cases.
Murder, She Wrote
1984 · 471 votes
TV5.7DramaThe story of a young intern in a large metropolitan hospital trying to learn his profession, deal with the problems of his patients, and win the respect of the senior doctor in his specialty, internal medicine.
Dr. Kildare
1961 · 19 votes
TV7.3Action & AdventureDramaRichard Kimble is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death penalty. En route to death row, Kimble's train derails and crashes, allowing him to escape and begin a cross-country search for the real killer, a "one-armed man". At the same time, Dr. Kimble is hounded by the authorities, most notably dogged by Police Lieutenant Philip Gerard.
The Fugitive
1963 · 63 votes
TV7.6Action & AdventureCrimeMission: Impossible is an American television series that was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicles the missions of a team of secret government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force. In the first season, the team is led by Dan Briggs, played by Steven Hill; Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, takes charge for the remaining seasons. A hallmark of the series shows Briggs or Phelps receiving his instructions on a recording that then self-destructs, followed by the theme music composed by Lalo Schifrin. The series aired on the CBS network from September 1966 to March 1973, then returned to television for two seasons on ABC, from 1988 to 1990, retaining only Graves in the cast. It later inspired a popular series of theatrical motion pictures starring Tom Cruise, beginning in 1996.
Mission: Impossible
1966 · 320 votes
TV7.3WesternAction & AdventureHave Gun – Will Travel is an American Western television series that aired on CBS from 1957 through 1963. It was rated number three or number four in the Nielsen ratings every year of its first four seasons. It was one of the few television shows to spawn a successful radio version. The radio series debuted November 23, 1958. The television show is presently shown on the Encore-Western channel. Have Gun – Will Travel was created by Sam Rolfe and Herb Meadow and produced by Frank Pierson, Don Ingalls, Robert Sparks, and Julian Claman. There were 225 episodes of the TV series, 24 written by Gene Roddenberry. Other contributors included Bruce Geller, Harry Julian Fink, Don Brinkley and Irving Wallace. Andrew McLaglen directed 101 episodes and 19 were directed by series star Richard Boone.
Have Gun, Will Travel
1957 · 44 votes
TV7.0ComedyDramaAlice is an American sitcom television series that ran from August 31, 1976 to March 19, 1985 on CBS. The series is based on the 1974 film Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore. The show stars Linda Lavin in the title role, a widow who moves with her young son to start her life over again, and finds a job working at a roadside diner on the outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona. Most of the episodes revolve around events at Mel's Diner.
Alice
1976 · 63 votes
TV5.4DramaAn American radio–television anthology series, created in 1947 by Canadian director Fletcher Markle, who came to CBS from the CBC. Studio One, presented by Westinghouse, was one of the first of the anthology TV programs. The episodes were often abridged remakes of movies from years gone by and many future well-known television and movie actors appeared in the productions.
Studio One
1948 · 13 votes
TV8.5Sci-Fi & FantasyMysteryAn anthology series containing drama, psychological thriller, fantasy, science fiction, suspense, and/or horror, often concluding with a macabre or unexpected twist.
The Twilight Zone
1959 · 1.1K votes
TV5.6CrimeDramaThe F.B.I. is an American television series that was broadcast on ABC from 1965 to 1974. It was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company, and the characters almost always drove Ford vehicles in the series. Alcoa was co-sponsor of Season One only.
The F.B.I.
1965 · 25 votes
TV7.6ComedyFour Southern Florida seniors share a house, their dreams, and a whole lot of cheesecake. Bright, promiscuous, clueless and hilarious, these lovely, mismatched ladies form the perfect circle of friends.
The Golden Girls
1985 · 412 votes
TV6.7DramaAction & AdventureCannon is a CBS detective television series produced by Quinn Martin which aired from March 26, 1971 to March 3, 1976. The primary protagonist is the title character, private detective Frank Cannon, played by William Conrad. He also appeared on two episodes of Barnaby Jones. Cannon is the first Quinn Martin-produced series to be aired on a network other than ABC. A "revival" television film, The Return of Frank Cannon, was aired on November 1, 1980. In total, there were 124 episodes.
Cannon
1971 · 41 votes
TV5.7DramaCrimeNaked City is a police drama series which aired from 1958 to 1963 on the ABC television network. It was inspired by the 1948 motion picture of the same name, and mimics its dramatic “semi-documentary” format. In 1997, the episode “Sweet Prince of Delancey Street” was ranked #93 on TV Guide’s “100 Greatest Episodes of All Time”.
Naked City
1958 · 13 votes
TV6.3DramaThe Defenders is an American courtroom drama series . It starred E. G. Marshall and Robert Reed as father-and-son defense attorneys who specialized in legally complex cases, with defendants such as neo-Nazis, conscientious objectors, civil rights demonstrators, a schoolteacher fired for being an atheist, an author accused of pornography, and a physician charged in a mercy killing.
The Defenders
1961 · 11 votes
TV7.8MysteryDramaA television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock featuring dramas, thrillers, and mysteries.
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
1955 · 265 votes
TV6.7DramaCrimeAfter discovering that his late father has gone through most of the family fortune, Tod Stiles hits the title trans-America highway in his Corvette in search of adventure with friend Buz Murdock, a survivor of New York's mean streets. The two work odd jobs as they meet and interact with colorful characters and find themselves plunged into one situation after another, some of them romantic, some of them very dangerous. Later, Linc Case, a Vietnam war hero trying to find himself, takes over as Tod's travel companion.
Route 66
1960 · 20 votes
TV7.1DramaRun for Your Life is an American television drama series starring Ben Gazzara as a man with only a short time to live. It ran on NBC from 1965 to 1968. The series was created by Roy Huggins, who had previously explored the "man on the move" concept with The Fugitive.
Run for Your Life
1965 · 7 votes
TV6.6DramaThe Philco Television Playhouse is an American anthology series that was broadcast live on NBC from 1948 to 1955. Produced by Fred Coe, the series was sponsored by Philco. It was one of the most respected dramatic shows of the Golden Age of Television, winning a 1954 Peabody Award and receiving eight Emmy nominations between 1951 and 1956.
The Philco Television Playhouse
1948 · 8 votes
TV7.1CrimeDramaBarnaby Jones is a television detective series starring Buddy Ebsen and Lee Meriwether as father- and daughter-in-law who run a private detective firm in Los Angeles. The show ran on CBS from January 28, 1973 to April 3, 1980, beginning as a midseason replacement. William Conrad guest starred as Frank Cannon of Cannon on the first episode of Barnaby Jones, "Requiem for a Son" and the two series had a two-part crossover episode in 1975, "The Deadly Conspiracy".
Barnaby Jones
1973 · 31 votes
TV6.3DramaCrimeMatt Houston is an American crime drama series that aired on ABC from 1982 to 1985. Created by Lawrence Gordon, the series was produced by Aaron Spelling.
Matt Houston
1982 · 28 votes
TV6.4DramaMedical Center is a medical drama series which aired on CBS from 1969 to 1976. It was produced by MGM Television.
Medical Center
1969 · 14 votes
TV7.3CrimeDramaA bald, lollipop sucking police detective with a fiery righteous attitude battles crime in New York City.
Kojak
1973 · 154 votes
TV6.7WesternAction & AdventureGunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman MacDonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television.
Gunsmoke
1955 · 119 votes
TV6.8Action & AdventureSci-Fi & FantasyThe Invaders, alien beings from a dying planet. Their destination: the Earth. Their purpose: to make it their world. David Vincent has seen them, for him it began one lost night on a lonely country road, looking for a shortcut that he never found. It began with a closed deserted diner, and a man too long without sleep to continue his journey. It began with the landing of a craft from another galaxy. Now, David Vincent knows that the Invaders are here, that they have taken human form. Somehow he must convince a disbelieving world that the nightmare has already begun.
The Invaders
1967 · 62 votes