Aitken Hutchison (24 November 1948 – 9 August 2021) was a Scottish actor.
Life and career
Hutchison played roles in many episodes of ''
Play for Today
''Play for Today'' is a British television anthology drama series, produced by the BBC and transmitted on BBC1 from 1970 to 1984. During the run, more than three hundred programmes, featuring original television plays, and adaptations of stage ...
'' from 1970 to 1980, such as in "
Just a Boys' Game
''Just a Boys' Game'' is a 1979 '' Play for Today'' written by Peter McDougall and directed by John Mackenzie.
It features Frankie Miller, Gregor Fisher, Ken Hutchison, Hector Nicol, Jean Taylor Smith, Katherine Stark, Barry Malone, Michae ...
". Hutchison played Norman Scutt in the
Sam Peckinpah
David Samuel Peckinpah (; February 21, 1925 – December 28, 1984) was an American film director and screenwriter. His 1969 Western epic '' The Wild Bunch'' received an Academy Award nomination and was ranked No. 80 on the American Film Institut ...
film ''
Straw Dogs'' (1971) where he was the most shady in the group of nefarious local thugs antagonizing
Dustin Hoffman
Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. As one of the key actors in the formation of New Hollywood, Hoffman is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. He is th ...
's character and especially his ingenue wife played by
Susan George. Fellow actress
Sally Thomsett
Sally Thomsett (born 3 April 1950) is an English actress who starred as Phyllis in the film ''The Railway Children'' (1970) and played Jo in the TV sitcom ''Man About the House'' (1973–1976). She also appeared as Janice in the film '' Straw D ...
described Hutchison as "A fun-loving rogue."
Hutchison co-starred with
Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...
in one of his few protagonist roles in ''
The Wrath of God
''The Wrath of God'' is a 1972 American Western film directed by Ralph Nelson and starring Robert Mitchum, Frank Langella, Rita Hayworth and Victor Buono. Filmed in Mexico, it is based on the 1971 novel by Jack Higgins writing as James Graham.
...
'' (1972) where ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' observed the performance of "the fine Ken Hutchison". In 1975, he appeared as Vincent Vaughn in an episode of the police drama ''
The Sweeney
''The Sweeney'' is a 1970s British television police drama focusing on two members of the Flying Squad, a branch of the Metropolitan Police specialising in tackling armed robbery and violent crime in London. It stars John Thaw as Detective Ins ...
'' entitled "Stay Lucky, Eh?" This was followed in 1978 when he appeared in the second of the big screen spin offs ''
Sweeney 2
''Sweeney 2'' is a 1978 British action crime drama film. It was made as a sequel to the successful 1977 film '' Sweeney!.'' Both films are an extension of the popular British ITV television series '' The Sweeney'' (1975–78). Some of the actio ...
'' as Hill, the leader of an uncompromising gang of armed robbers.
In 1980, he appeared as Brickett in the episode "
National Pelmet
This episode list gives brief descriptions and some other details of the episodes of the ITV television series ''Minder'', set in contemporary London.
The earliest episodes focus on Terry McCann (Dennis Waterman), a former professional boxer ...
", the series 2 opener of the TV drama ''
Minder
A minder is the person assigned to guide or escort a visitor, or to provide protection to somebody, or to otherwise assist or take care of something, i.e. a person who " minds".
Government-appointed persons to accompany foreign visitors are of ...
''. He played a supporting role in the 1981 historical miniseries ''
Masada
Masada ( he, מְצָדָה ', "fortress") is an ancient fortification in the Southern District of Israel situated on top of an isolated rock plateau, akin to a mesa. It is located on the eastern edge of the Judaean Desert, overlooking the Dea ...
'', starring
Peter O'Toole
Peter Seamus O'Toole (; 2 August 1932 – 14 December 2013) was a British stage and film actor. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and began working in the theatre, gaining recognition as a Shakespearean actor at the Bristol Old Vic ...
. He had a minor role as a police sergeant in the Oscar winning motion picture ''
Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (; ; 2 October 1869 – 30 January 1948), popularly known as Mahatma Gandhi, was an Indian lawyer, anti-colonial nationalist Quote: "... marks Gandhi as a hybrid cosmopolitan figure who transformed ... anti- ...
'' (1982). He appeared as the lead villain's henchman in the 1985 medieval fantasy film ''
Ladyhawke'' directed by
Richard Donner
Richard Donner (born Richard Donald Schwartzberg; April 24, 1930 – July 5, 2021) was an American filmmaker whose notable works included some of the most financially-successful films during the New Hollywood era. According to film historian M ...
.
Hutchison was the titular Mac Murphy in the ITV children's drama ''
Murphy's Mob
''Murphy's Mob'' is a British children's television series, created and written by Brian Finch which was produced and directed by David Foster for Central Independent Television, and screened in the UK on ITV for four series between 1 March 198 ...
'' in which he played the manager of fictional Third Division football club Dunmore United. The series ran from 1982 to 1985.
From 1990 to 1999, he appeared in multiple roles in the British police television series ''
The Bill
''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983.
The programme focused on ...
''. In 1991, he starred as the protagonist's father in the movie ''
Blonde Fist
''Blonde Fist'' (or ''Blond Fist'') is a 1991 sports film directed by Frank Clarke and starring Margi Clarke as the protagonist Ronnie O'Dowd, who finds female boxing as an alternative to her domestic problems. The film received a mixed reception ...
''. In 1993, he had a starring role as a private tutor of a gifted young man in the film ''As an Eilean''.
Hutchison died on 9 August 2021, at the age of 72.
Selected filmography
* ''
Groupie Girl
''Groupie Girl'' is a 1970 British drama film about the rock music scene, directed by Derek Ford and starring Esme Johns, Donald Sumpter and the band Opal Butterfly. The film was written by Ford and former groupie Suzanne Mercer.
Ford later c ...
'' (1970) as Colin
* ''
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, and ...
'' (1970) as Plebeian (uncredited)
* ''
Straw Dogs'' (1971) as Norman Scutt
* ''
The Wrath of God
''The Wrath of God'' is a 1972 American Western film directed by Ralph Nelson and starring Robert Mitchum, Frank Langella, Rita Hayworth and Victor Buono. Filmed in Mexico, it is based on the 1971 novel by Jack Higgins writing as James Graham.
...
'' (1972) as Emmet Keogh
* ''
Deadly Strangers
''Deadly Strangers'' is a 1975 British psychological thriller film directed by Sidney Hayers and starring Hayley Mills, Simon Ward and Sterling Hayden.
Plot
An unseen dangerous patient escapes Greenwood Mental Hospital killing or injuring two ...
'' (1975) as Jim Nicholls
* ''
Space:1999'' The Séance Spectre (1976) as Sanderson
* ''
Sweeney 2
''Sweeney 2'' is a 1978 British action crime drama film. It was made as a sequel to the successful 1977 film '' Sweeney!.'' Both films are an extension of the popular British ITV television series '' The Sweeney'' (1975–78). Some of the actio ...
'' (1978) as Hill
* ''
Wuthering Heights
''Wuthering Heights'' is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name Ellis Bell. It concerns two families of the landed gentry living on the West Yorkshire moorland, moors, the Earnshaws and the Lintons, and their tur ...
'' (1978) (
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...