Richard Hatch, who won legions of fans for his portrayal of Captain Apollo on the original 1970sBattlestar Galacticasci-fi TV series,passed awayearlier today at the age of 71. The late actor had been suffering from pancreatic cancer, and had been placed into hospice care just a few weeks ago. We have a number of Twitter tributes that have surfaced this afternoon as word of this sci-fi legend’s death began to spread.
Numerous reports emerged earlier today about Hatch’s death, withTMZconfirming through family sources that the actor had died. FilmmakerAlec Peters, who directedRichard Hatchin the 2014Star Trekfan filmPrelude to Axanar, also confirmedHatchhad died, news that comes just weeks after Richard was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Here’s what Peters had to say about thelate actor’s death in a statement on Axanar Productions' Facebook.
“It is with great sadness that I report to allAxanarfans that Richard Hatch has passed away. 3 weeks ago I found out he had stage 4Pancreatic Cancer. We knew he had little time left, but this is quite more sudden than we thought.Richardwas in good spirits when I visited him 2 weeks ago. He knew his time was short, but was comforted by the fact that his son would be taken care of.Richardwas a dear friend and a staunch supporter ofAxanar. Kharn was literally one of his favorite roles from his 50+ year acting career. We will all miss him a great deal.”
Richard Hatchwas born July 21, 2025 in Santa Monica, California, where he started practicing the piano at the young age of eight. By the time he was a teenager, he knew he wanted to become a performer. He attended Harbor College in San Pedro, California before joining a repertory company in 1967, which brought him to New York City. His first TV role was inAll My Childrenwith a guest-starring role on thesoap operain 1971, which lead to a bunch of guest-starring spots in shows such asAlias Smith and Jones,Young Dr. Kildare,Kung Fu,Barnaby JonesandHawaii Five-Obefore his first major role as Inspector Dan Robbins in the final season ofThe Streets of San Franciscofrom 1976 to 1977. The next year, he landed the role that would change his career forever, Captain Apollo onBattlestar Galactica.
AlthoughBattlestar Galacticaonly aired for one season, between 1978 and 1979, the show gained a huge cult following. 20 years later,Richard Hatchreturned to write and direct the fan filmBattlestar Galactica: The Second Coming, where he returned as Captain Apollo and brought back all of the surviving cast members from the original show. When the series was rebooted byRonald D. Moorein 2003, Richard Hatch became the only actor to star in both shows. His portrayal of Tom Zarek on the rebooted series won him a new legion of fans, appearing in 22 episodes throughout the show’s four-season run. The beloved actor issurvived byhis sonPaul Hatch. Take a look at the tributes that started coming in on Twitter after news ofRichard Hatch’s death spread online.
