Bernie Hamilton

Acting

Bernie Hamilton

Born 1928-06-12 · East Los Angeles, California, USA

Solid character actor that for various reasons never became a star. He is perhaps best known for his role as the tough police captain in the hit 1970s television series, "Starsky and Hutch." Other notable credits include Luis Buñuel's English-language film, "The Young One" (1960) where he plays a jazz musician who flees a lynch mob, and "One Potato, Two Potato" (1964), where he got a chance to show a softer side as a man fighting to obtain parental rights of his stepdaughter.

Acting credits

The Young One poster
7.0

A jazz musician seeks refuge from a lynch mob on a remote island, where he meets a hostile game warden and the young object of his attentions.

The Young One

1960

Carmen Jones poster
6.2

In this musical set in an all-Black army camp, civilian parachute maker and "hot bundle" Carmen Jones is desired by many of the men. Naturally, she wants Joe, who's engaged to sweet Cindy Lou and about to go into pilot training for the Korean War.

Carmen Jones

1954

The Organization poster
6.3

After a group of young revolutionaries break into a company's corporate headquarters and steal $5,000,000 worth of heroin to keep it off the street, they call on San Francisco Police Lieutenant Virgil Tibbs for assistance.

The Organization

1971

The Swimmer poster
7.4

A man spends a summer day swimming home via all the pools in his quiet suburban neighborhood.

The Swimmer

1968

Congo Crossing poster
5.5

Congotanga, West Africa, has no extradition laws; the government is controlled by foreign gangsters, headed by Carl Rittner. The latest plane from Europe carries lovely Louise Whitman, fleeing a French murder charge, and Mannering, who pays resident hit man O'Connell to kill her. Through a chain of circumstances Louise, O'Connell, and heroic surveyor David Carr end up alone in the jungle on Carr's mission to determine the true border of Congotanga... in which Rittner is keenly interested.

Congo Crossing

1956

Full Moon High poster
4.4

After a trip to Romania, popular high school quarterback Tony Walker becomes a werewolf, and struggles to come to terms with his hirsute situation.

Full Moon High

1981

Bright Victory poster
7.1

A soldier blinded in war returns home and attempts to adjust to civilian life.

Bright Victory

1951

Stranger on the Run poster
5.7

A drifter finds himself wrongly accused of murder by a power-crazed sheriff. The sheriff gives him a horse, some supplies, and a one-hour head start into the desert before sending his murderous posse after him.

Stranger on the Run

1967

Scream Blacula Scream poster
5.9

After an aging voodoo priestess dies, her arrogant son Willis Daniel's believes he is next in line to lead. He is outraged when Lisa, his mother's adopted apprentice is chosen as the leader. Willis seeks revenge by reviving the African prince Blacula — but soon finds that he cannot control him.

Scream Blacula Scream

1973

The Devil at 4 O'Clock poster
6.3

A crusty, eccentric priest recruits three reluctant convicts to help him rescue a children's leper colony from a Pacific island menaced by a smoldering volcano.

The Devil at 4 O'Clock

1961

The Lost Man poster
4.3

A gang of black militants plots to rob a factory to finance their "revolutionary struggle."

The Lost Man

1969

Captain Sindbad poster
4.9

After completing his voyages Sindbad the Sailor and his hearty crew have come home to find a palace coup d'etat has occurred and his home city is being run by a brutal dictator played by Pedro Armendariz. He's got designs on the beautiful young princess, Heidi Bruhl both lustful and political.

Captain Sindbad

1963

Up Periscope poster
6.3

Lieutenant Braden discovers that Sally, the woman he's been falling in love with, has actually been checking out his qualifications to be a U.S. Navy frogman. He must put his personal life behind him after being assigned to be smuggled into a Japanese-held island via submarine to photograph radio codes.

Up Periscope

1959

Kismet poster
5.6

A silver-tongued poet and self-proclaimed "King of the Beggars" searches old Baghdad for a rich bachelor to marry his dreamy daughter, Marsinah. Along the way, he poses as the renowned sorcerer Hajj and gets in and out of scrapes with an elderly thief, a dim-witted wazir, and his wife. Meanwhile, his daughter develops feelings for a handsome caliph.

Kismet

1955

The Losers poster
4.8

Some bikers are hired by the CIA during the Vietnam War to rescue a captured agent from the clutches of the Red Chinese army. After a round of drinking, fighting, and whoring around, the cycle gang, led by Big Bill Smith, fix up their Yamahas with machine guns, grenades and armor plating, and storm the enemy camp.

The Losers

1970

Let No Man Write My Epitaph poster
5.9

Nick Romano lives in a poor tenement building on the south side of Chicago with his well-meaning but drug-addicted mother, Nellie. She encourages him to pursue his piano-playing talent in hopes that it will bring him a better life. Nellie's neighbors, like the alcoholic ex-lawyer who secretly loves her, help her in keeping Nick away from Louie, the resident drug dealer. But a chance meeting between Nick and Louie could change things forever.

Let No Man Write My Epitaph

1960

The Jackie Robinson Story poster
6.3

Biography of Jackie Robinson, the first black major league baseball player in the 20th century. Traces his career in the negro leagues and the major leagues.

The Jackie Robinson Story

1950

Underworld U.S.A. poster
7.1

A bitter young man sets out to get back at the gangsters who murdered his father.

Underworld U.S.A.

1961

Bucktown poster
5.8

Duke Johnson visits a small Southern town, intent on burying his brother. After the funeral, he learns that he must stay for 60 days, for the estate to be processed. A few locals convince Duke to reopen his late brother's nightclub, and soon the local redneck policemen are intimidating Duke with threats of violence. Duke refuses to pay the bribes they demand, so then he and his lady friend Aretha are threatened and attacked by the crooked cops. Rather than take them on himself, Duke calls on his old pal Roy. Roy brings a few buddies to Bucktown, and they bring justice to the small town. With the redneck cops out of the way, Duke lets his guard down. Then the situation gets out of hand again. Finally, Duke must settle the score himself.

Bucktown

1975

Sullivan's Empire poster
7.0

Three grown brothers journey to Brazil to rescue their plane-wrecked father who has been kidnapped by a revolutionary guerrilla.

Sullivan's Empire

1967

Cry Tough poster
6.1

After getting out of prison, a Latino criminal tries to go straight.

Cry Tough

1959

Synanon poster
7.3

A dramatization of the goings on at a drug rehabilitation home. Filmed at the original Synanon House in Santa Monica, California.

Synanon

1965

The Girl He Left Behind poster
4.5

A young man is drafted and goes through the rigors of basic training, ultimately discovering the experience is also character-building. Director David Butler's 1956 film stars '50s teen favorites Tab Hunter and Natalie Wood, with supporting roles played by Jim Backus, Jessie Royce Landis, Murray Hamilton, Henry Jones, James Garner, Alan King, Ernestine Wade, David Janssen and Raymond Bailey.

The Girl He Left Behind

1956

One Potato, Two Potato poster
6.9

Study of interracial marriage in the 1960s. A white divorcée falls in love with and marries an African-American man. When her ex-husband sues for custody of her child, arguing that a mixed household is an improper place to raise the girl, the new husband fights for his parental rights in court, fighting against a judge who represents the prejudices of the era.

One Potato, Two Potato

1964