# Murray Hamilton
**Murray Hamilton** (George Murray Hamilton; March 24, 1923 – September 1, 1986) was an American stage, film, and television character actor best remembered as Mayor Larry Vaughn in [Steven Spielberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-spielberg)'s *Jaws* (1975) and as Mr. Robinson, the husband of [Anne Bancroft](https://www.edgepedia.org/anne-bancroft)'s seductive [Mrs. Robinson](https://www.edgepedia.org/mrs-robinson), in *The Graduate* (1967).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0358069/bio/) A prolific Broadway performer before his screen career, he earned a Tony Award nomination for *Absence of a Cello* in 1965 and appeared in more than 100 television shows over a career that ran from 1945 until his death.[2](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/murray-hamilton-43913) • [1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0358069/bio/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born / died | March 24, 1923, Washington, North Carolina; September 1, 1986, Washington, North Carolina, of lung cancer, aged 63[2](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/murray-hamilton-43913) • [3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-09-03-me-13235-story.html) |
| Signature roles | Mr. Robinson in *The Graduate* (1967); Mayor Larry Vaughn in *Jaws* (1975) and *Jaws 2* (1978)[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0358069/bio/) |
| Broadway debut | *Strange Fruit*, 1945, as a mill hand[2](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/murray-hamilton-43913) |
| Tony nomination | Best Featured Actor in a Play, 1965, for *Absence of a Cello* (as Otis Clifton)[2](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/murray-hamilton-43913) |
| Other notable films | *Anatomy of a Murder* (1959), *The Hustler* (1961), *Seconds* (1966), *The Way We Were* (1973), *The Amityville Horror* (1979)[4](https://www.ancientfaces.com/person/murray-hamilton-birth-1923-death-1986/192798253) |
| Final role | General Hobart "Hap" Gay in the 1986 television film *The Last Days of Patton*[5](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/murray-hamilton/) |
| Family | Married singer Terri DeMarco on June 10, 1953; one son, David[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0358069/bio/) |
## Stage career
Hamilton came from Washington, North Carolina, where he became interested in acting while in high school, and he moved to New York City to pursue a stage career.[5](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/murray-hamilton/) His Broadway debut came in 1945 in *Strange Fruit*, in the small part of a mill hand.[2](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/murray-hamilton-43913) Over the next quarter century he accumulated a steady run of Broadway credits: *The Chase* (1952), *Stockade* (1954), *Critic's Choice* (1960), *Mary, Mary* (1961, joining as a replacement), *The Heroine* (1963), *Absence of a Cello* (1964), and *Forty Carats* (1968).[2](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/murray-hamilton-43913)
**Recognition on Broadway.** In *Mister Roberts* he began as the Shore Patrol Officer and later replaced another actor as Ensign Pulver, performing opposite [Henry Fonda](https://www.edgepedia.org/henry-fonda).[2](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/murray-hamilton-43913) New York Times critics took note of his work: Brooks Atkinson, reviewing *Stockade* in 1954, wrote that "Murray Hamilton is an ideal Prewitt. Modest in manner, pleasant of voice, he has a steel-like spirit that brings Prewitt honestly to life," and Howard Taubman later called him "properly obnoxious as the director" in *Critic's Choice* opposite Fonda.[4](https://www.ancientfaces.com/person/murray-hamilton-birth-1923-death-1986/192798253) His role as Otis Clifton in *Absence of a Cello* brought a 1965 Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play.[2](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/murray-hamilton-43913)
## Film and television
Hamilton began appearing in films as a credited screen actor from 1951, starting with a small role in *Reckless Age*, followed by *The Whistle at Eaton Falls* and *Bright Victory*; his television debut came the same year on *The Billy Rose Show*.[5](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/murray-hamilton/) He alternated film work with guest-starring roles, and by the end of his life had appeared in more than 100 television shows.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0358069/bio/)
His screen type was broad. IMDb's biography describes a performer "never anything less than completely convincing in any role he took on, from priests to gangsters, soldiers to politicians, ordinary men to aliens," who "particularly excelled at hard-edged, street-wise tough guys on either side of the law."[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0358069/bio/) Representative roles include [James Stewart](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-stewart)'s ill-fated colleague in *The FBI Story* (1959), the bartender Alphonse Paquette who testifies in *Anatomy of a Murder* (1959), the wealthy gambler Findley opposite [Paul Newman](https://www.edgepedia.org/paul-newman) in *The Hustler* (1961), Charlie Evans in the science-fiction drama *Seconds* (1966), Detective Frank McAfee in *The Boston Strangler* (1968), Brooks Carpenter in *The Way We Were* (1973), Kilbourne in *The Drowning Pool* (1975), Father Ryan in *The Amityville Horror* (1979), and John Deach in *Brubaker* (1980).[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0358069/bio/) • [4](https://www.ancientfaces.com/person/murray-hamilton-birth-1923-death-1986/192798253) • [5](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/murray-hamilton/)
Television supplied some of his most-remembered appearances. In 1959 he played Mr. Death in "One for the Angels," an early episode of [Rod Serling](https://www.edgepedia.org/rod-serling)'s *The Twilight Zone*, sweet-talked into delay by [Ed Wynn](https://www.edgepedia.org/ed-wynn)'s salesman.[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0358069/bio/) Later work included a recurring guest part as [Blanche Devereaux](https://www.edgepedia.org/blanche-devereaux)'s father, "Big Daddy" Hollingsworth, on *The Golden Girls* in 1985 and 1986, and parts in *Murder, She Wrote*, *Mama's Family*, *The Cheap Detective*, and the miniseries *Rich Man, Poor Man*.[5](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/murray-hamilton/) • [3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-09-03-me-13235-story.html)
## The Graduate and Jaws
Two roles fixed Hamilton in movie memory. In [Mike Nichols](https://www.edgepedia.org/mike-nichols)'s *The Graduate* (1967) he played Mr. Robinson, the husband of Bancroft's Mrs. Robinson. According to IMDb, he replaced [Gene Hackman](https://www.edgepedia.org/gene-hackman) in the part, and contemporary critic Bosley Crowther wrote in *The New York Times* that Hamilton was "piercing ... a seemingly self-indulgent type who is sharply revealed as bewildered and wounded in one fine, funny scene."[1](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0358069/bio/) • [6](https://apnews.com/article/a76fbe0cd6594393acaeea1c2710706d)
**Mayor Larry Vaughn.** In *Jaws* (1975) Hamilton played the mayor of the resort town Amity, who, afraid that a shark panic will destroy the island's Fourth of July tourism boom, presses the medical examiner to call a shark death a boating accident and refuses to close the beaches.[7](https://www.tcm.com/articles/615780/the-essentials-jaws) His lines became part of the film's meaning: "Amity is a summer town," Vaughn says, "We need summer dollars," and later, smiling for the cameras, "As you can see, it's a beautiful day and the beaches are open."[8](https://apnews.com/article/a2490a06da79660a19de4ac2bb4bd710) The Associated Press's fiftieth-anniversary retrospective argued that the mayor, in his pinstripe suit, functions as the film's real villain, repeatedly cited as a parable of commerce placed above public safety.[8](https://apnews.com/article/a2490a06da79660a19de4ac2bb4bd710) One retrospective analysis notes that Vaughn is on screen for only about 11 minutes, all in the first half of the film, yet the portrayal remains among its most-cited performances.[9](https://thedailyjaws.com/blog/vote-vaughn) Hamilton reprised the role in *Jaws 2* (1978), directed by Jeannot Szwarc.[10](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55193-JAWS)
Spielberg cast him again in the comedy *1941* (1979), as Claude Crumn.[5](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/murray-hamilton/)
## Typecasting and later years
Hamilton spoke openly about the limits of typecasting. He complained in a newspaper interview: "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."[4](https://www.ancientfaces.com/person/murray-hamilton-birth-1923-death-1986/192798253) Comic roles were comparatively rare in his film career, though they included [Andy Griffith](https://www.edgepedia.org/andy-griffith)'s 1958 military comedy *No Time for Sergeants* and Spielberg's *1941*.[4](https://www.ancientfaces.com/person/murray-hamilton-birth-1923-death-1986/192798253)
His death came while he was still working. Hamilton had been battling lung cancer for several months and, by his agent's account, worked almost until the end; he had been scheduled to return to *The Golden Girls* as [Rue McClanahan](https://www.edgepedia.org/rue-mcclanahan)'s father in another segment when he died on September 1, 1986, at Beaufort County Hospital in Washington, North Carolina.[3](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-09-03-me-13235-story.html) As his illness made film roles harder to find, his friend [George C. Scott](https://www.edgepedia.org/george-c-scott) helped secure him the part of General Hobart "Hap" Gay in the television film *The Last Days of Patton* (1986), his final screen role.[4](https://www.ancientfaces.com/person/murray-hamilton-birth-1923-death-1986/192798253) He is interred at Oakdale Cemetery in his hometown.[4](https://www.ancientfaces.com/person/murray-hamilton-birth-1923-death-1986/192798253)
## References
1. [Murray Hamilton – Biography, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0358069/bio/)
2. [Murray Hamilton – Broadway Cast & Staff, IBDB](https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/murray-hamilton-43913)
3. [Murray Hamilton, 63, Veteran Actor of Film and Television, Dies, Los Angeles Times (Sept. 3, 1986)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-09-03-me-13235-story.html)
4. [Murray Hamilton (1923–1986), AncientFaces](https://www.ancientfaces.com/person/murray-hamilton-birth-1923-death-1986/192798253)
5. [Murray Hamilton – Actor, TV Insider](https://www.tvinsider.com/people/murray-hamilton/)
6. [Gene Hackman obituary, Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/a76fbe0cd6594393acaeea1c2710706d)
7. [The Essentials – Jaws, Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/615780/the-essentials-jaws)
8. ['Jaws' changed movies forever, but Hollywood could still learn from it, Associated Press (2025)](https://apnews.com/article/a2490a06da79660a19de4ac2bb4bd710)
9. [Vote Vaughn, The Daily Jaws](https://thedailyjaws.com/blog/vote-vaughn)
10. [Jaws – AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/55193-JAWS)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Film people and crafts › Film actors and performers › Character actors, B-movie and genre-circuit performers › American performers, early era*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license