Known for Acting
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
Born
March 24, 1923
Died
September 1, 1986 (age 63)
Birthplace
Washington, North Carolina, USA
Filmography
65 films, 58 shows


Jaws @ 50: The Definitive Inside Story
2025 · 1h 28m
country: United States
The 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.


James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
1987 · 1h 27m
country: United States
Documentary about James Stewart's long career as an actor and positive personal life.


The Last Days of Patton
1986 · 2h 26m
country: United States
Gen. George S. Patton now works a desk job for the U.S. military after World War II. In the midst of dealing with the difficulty of adapting to his dramatic change of lifestyle, Patton is involved in an auto wreck that leaves him in critical condition. While his body fails him, Patton introspectively reminisces about his relationship with his spouse, Beatrice; his childhood; and his days on the WWI battlefields.


Whoops Apocalypse
1986 · 1h 33m
country: United Kingdom
When a small British owned island in the Caribbean is invaded and the world's most dangerous terrorist kidnaps a member of the Royal family, the countdown to World War 3 begins. If anyone can prevent the oncoming apocalypse it's the American President, but her closest ally the British Prime Minister appears to have gone stark raving mad.


Too Scared to Scream
1984 · 1h 40m
country: United States
A killer is brutally attacking several tenants that live in a high rise apartment building in New York City.


Summer Girl
1983 · 1h 36m
country: United States
When seductive young Cinni comes to babysit for a troubled couple, she's after more than extra spending money. Starting with the kids and working around to the husband, evil Cinni plots to take over a young mother's life--ruthlessly dealing with anyone who gets in her way.


Mazes and Monsters
1982 · 1h 40m
country: United States
Bound 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.


Hysterical
1982 · 1h 30m
country: United States
Frederic Lansing is a writer who hopes to find inspiration while vacationing in Hellview, Oregon; however, the lighthouse in which he's staying is haunted by the ghost of Venetia, who had killed herself 100 years ago and now wants to use Lansing as a vessel for her dead husband, Captain Howdy. When Howdy's ghost starts killing people, two bumbling scientists are brought in to investigate the history of the lighthouse and solve the case.


All the Way Home
1981 · 1h 43m
country: Unknown
A wife and mother in 1915 Tennessee copes with the loss of her husband and the necessity of raising their children alone.


Brubaker
1980 · 2h 11m
country: United States
The new warden of a small prison farm in Arkansas tries to clean it up of corruption after initially posing as an inmate.


Swan Song
1980 · 1h 40m
country: United States
Sun Valley provides the backdrop to this story of a downhill ski racer who seeks to make a comeback after being branded a loser and the ski bunny who helps him regain his self-respect.


1941
1979 · 1h 58m
country: United States
In the days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, panic grips California, where a military officer leads a mob chasing a Japanese sub.


The Amityville Horror
1979 · 1h 58m
country: United States
George 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.


A Last Cry for Help
1979 · 1h 38m
country: United States
Sharon appears to be a normal 17-year-old girl with good grades, many friends, and a wonderful personality - hardly someone you think would be considering suicide. But her home life is constrained by the pressures and expectations of her parents. She slowly spirals downward, her mother at one point telling her that she has no business being unhappy. So, she gulps down a bottle of sleeping pills. She is saved, but for how long?


Donovan's Kid
1979 · 2h
country: United States
Timothy Donovan, a con-man, returns to San Francisco to see his wife and daughter. Realizing his family is under the control of his wife's domineering uncle, Timothy Donovan teams up with a fellow con-man to free them.


Jaws 2
1978 · 1h 57m
country: United States
Police chief Brody must protect the citizens of Amity after a second monstrous shark begins terrorizing the waters.


Casey's Shadow
1978 · 1h 57m
country: United States
Young Casey comes from a family of racehorse trainers, and his best friend, a foal called Casey's Shadow, may just be a champion.


Killer on Board
1977 · 2h
country: United States
The passengers on a cruise ship are seized by panic when a deadly virus begins killing off passengers and crew.


Damnation Alley
1977 · 1h 31m
country: United States
Following 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.


Murder at the World Series
1977 · 1h 40m
country: United States
A disturbed young man threatens violence at the World Series after failing to make the Houston Astros.


The Drowning Pool
1975 · 1h 49m
country: United States
Harper 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.


Jaws
1975 · 2h 4m
country: United States
When 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.


After the Fall
1974 · 2h 8m
country: United States
Adaptation of Arthur Miller's semi-autobiographical play about Quentin, a Jewish intellectual from New York who must reexamine his life and his troubled relationship with Holga.


The Way We Were
1973 · 1h 58m
country: United States
Opposites 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.


Murdock's Gang
1973 · 1h 14m
country: Unknown
After serving a prison term, a flamboyant attorney becomes a private eye with a staff of ex-cons.


Incident on a Dark Street
1973 · 1h 36m
country: United States
A small-time hood is murdered just as he is about to blow the whistle on an organized crime ring.


Deadly Harvest
1972 · 1h 11m
country: United States
An Iron Curtain defector who has been living for years as a California winegrower learns that Soviet agents are stalking him.


The Failing of Raymond
1971 · 1h 13m
country: United States
On the day before she retires, a teacher discovers that a student she had flunked ten years previously is out to kill her.


The Harness
1971 · 1h 40m
country: United States
A gentle John Steinbeck tale from 1938 about a farmer who is dominated by his ailing wife until a free-minded young woman turns up at his ranch with her eight-year-old son.


A Tattered Web
1971 · 1h 16m
country: United States
A detective discovers his son-in-law is cheating on his wife. He confronts the other woman and accidentally kills her, then tries to pin the crime on a local derelict.


Cannon
1971 · 1h 38m
country: United States
In this pilot film to the TV series, Cannon investigates the murder of a war buddy to clear the man's wife of suspicion in his death.


If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Belgium
1969 · 1h 45m
country: United States
A group of travelers from the United States race through seven European countries in 18 days.


The Brotherhood
1968 · 1h 36m
country: United States
The son of a powerful Mafia don comes home from his army service in Vietnam and wants to lead his own life, but family tradition, intrigues and powerplays involving his older brother dictate otherwise, and he finds himself being slowly drawn back into that world.


Danger Has Two Faces
1968 · 1h 29m
country: United States
A U.S. spy and East German police duke it out in a battle of wits, fisticuffs and killing. The spy assumes the ID of a wealthy look-alike that the commies kill. But will his wife spill the beans in this Cold War espionage thriller?


The Boston Strangler
1968 · 1h 56m
country: United States
Boston 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.


No Way to Treat a Lady
1968 · 1h 48m
country: United States
Christopher 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.


Sergeant Ryker
1968 · 1h 25m
country: United States
During the Korean War Sergeant Paul Ryker is accused of defecting to Communist China and then returning to his unit as a spy. He's court-martialed and sentenced to death but his attorney believes Ryker's innocent and asks for a new trial.


The Graduate
1967 · 1h 47m
country: United States
A disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.


A Bell for Adano
1967 · 1h 30m
country: United States
A U.S. army officer, the military governor of an Italian town during World War II, tries to reintroduce democracy, but his efforts are hindered by his commanding general. Placing his career in jeopardy, the governor decides to replace the town's bell, which had been looted by the Fascists.


Seconds
1966 · 1h 47m
country: United States
An 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.


An American Dream
1966 · 1h 43m
country: United States
Stephen Rojack is a decorated war vet who has now found success as an outspoken television personality. During a vicious argument with his wife, Deborah, Stephen snaps and pushes her from his high-rise apartment to her death. He manages to convince the authorities that she killed herself, then reignites an old affair with singer Cherry McMahon -- which doesn't sit well with her jealous mobster boyfriend, Nicky.


Inherit the Wind
1965 · 1h 30m
country: United States
A young man, Bert Cates, is arrested in a small Bible Belt town for teaching the theory of Evolution in the public school. Two of the finest legal minds in the U.S. are called to the trial: Henry Drummond for the defense, and Matthew Harrison Brady for the prosecution. The trial proceeds on three levels, the guilt or innocence of Cates, the issue of the Bible vs. Darwin, and finally, the personal confrontation between Drummond and Brady.


The Cardinal
1963 · 3h 5m
country: United States
A young Catholic priest from Boston confronts bigotry, Nazism, and his own personal conflicts as he rises to the office of cardinal.


13 Frightened Girls
1963 · 1h 29m
country: United States
While attending a Swiss school for diplomats' daughters, the teenage daughter of the American ambassador uses her access to various embassies to engage in espionage.


Papa's Delicate Condition
1963 · 1h 38m
country: United States
A jolly, family-oriented railroad superintendent tries to get his act together when his love for the bottle starts to alienate him from his wife and oldest daughter. His younger daughter, however, still remains unflinchingly loyal to him, and they share many fun misadventures over the course of the movie.
The Farmer's Daughter
The Farmer's Daughter
1962 · 1h
country: United States
Young Swedish-American Katrin "Katie" Holstrom leaves her family farm in Minnesota, headed for nursing school. After her tuition money runs out, she is forced to take a job as a maid in the home of Congressman Glenn Morley. Holstrom endears herself to the genteel Morley, and begins to show a surprising aptitude for politics herself. She launches a campaign for Congress, and, as right-wing reactionaries plot against her, a romance develops.


The Hustler
1961 · 2h 14m
country: United States
Fast 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.
Escape to Sonoita
Escape to Sonoita
1960 · 30m
country: United States
Two kidnappers think they have made their escape when they hijack a tanker in the dry desert, leaving the occupants and a female victim behind to die.


Tall Story
1960 · 1h 29m
country: United States
A 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.


The FBI Story
1959 · 2h 29m
country: United States
A dedicated FBI agent recalls the agency's battles against the Klan, organized crime and Communist spies.


Anatomy of a Murder
1959 · 2h 41m
country: United States
Semi-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.


Houseboat
1958 · 1h 50m
country: United States
An Italian socialite on the run signs on as housekeeper for a widower with three children.


No Time for Sergeants
1958 · 1h 59m
country: United States
Georgia farm boy Will Stockdale is about to bust with pride. He’s been drafted. Will’s ready. But is Uncle Sam ready for Will?


Too Much, Too Soon
1958 · 2h 1m
country: United States
The daughter of iconic actor John Barrymore is reunited with her father after a ten year estrangement and engages in his self-destructive lifestyle.


Darby's Rangers
1958 · 2h 1m
country: United States
Stationed in Scotland, Maj. William Darby and the men under his command are trained by British commandos, becoming the U.S. Army's 1st Ranger Battalion. Their drilling period is rigorous, but the men find time to romance local women before being deployed to fight the Nazis. U.S. forces battle from French North Africa to Italy, but when a surprise attack decimates the 1st and 3rd Battalions at the Battle of Cisterna, Darby and the 4th Battalion must come to their aid.


Jeanne Eagels
1957 · 1h 49m
country: United States
Biographical film based loosely on the life of 1920s stage star Jeanne Eagels.


The Spirit of St. Louis
1957 · 2h 15m
country: United States
In 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 Big Slide
1956 · 1h 30m
country: Unknown
A down-and-out vaudeville comedian, Buddy McCoy, becomes a successful silent movie star, but experiences tragedy in his personal life. May Marley is an alcoholic friend who Buddy tries to help.


The Girl He Left Behind
1956 · 1h 43m
country: United States
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.


Toward the Unknown
1956 · 1h 55m
country: United States
Tortured into a false confession while a POW in Korea, Major Lincoln Bond returns to active service as a test pilot. Determined to clear his name, Bond battles a hard-nosed base commander, prejudiced officers and his own insecurities.


The Whistle at Eaton Falls
1951 · 1h 36m
country: United States
A newly promoted plant supervisor finds himself in the position of having to announce a layoff of his fellow workers.


Bright Victory
1951 · 1h 37m
country: United States
A soldier blinded in war returns home and attempts to adjust to civilian life.


Something for the Boys
1944 · 1h 38m
country: United States
The oddly-assorted Hart cousins: revue singer Blossom, con man Harry, and machinist Chiquita (who gets radio through her teeth!), inherit southern plantation Magnolia Manor, which alas proves to be a "termite trap" and tax liability. Fortunately, Sgt. Rocky Fulton from a nearby army camp appears with a plan to convert the place to a hotel for army wives; but to pay bills until then, they decide to put on a show. Of course, romantic and military complications intervene...


Reckless Age
1944 · 1h
country: United States
Linda Wadsworth rebels against her millionaire grandfather, J. H. Wadsworth, and runs away from home. Unknown to Mr. Wadsworth, she gets a job at one of his many five-and-ten-cents stores as a clerk.


Song of the Open Road
1944 · 1h 33m
country: United States
A beautiful child star tires of life in the spotlight and so disguises herself and sneaks off to join a Civilian Conservation Corps camp to work with normal kids. It doesn't take her long to discover that being "normal" isn't easy as it looks. When a crop is in danger of being ruined because there are not enough people to harvest it, the girl employs some of her famous colleagues to lend a hand. Songs include: "Too Much in Love," "Here It Is Monday," "Delightfully Dangerous," "Hawaiian War Chant" and "Notre Dame."