A. Hamid Arief

Abdul Hamid Arief (25 November 1924 – 20 December 1992) was an Indonesian actor who appeared in more than 120 films. Born in Batavia, Dutch East Indies, he started his acting career in theatre before migrating to film with 1948's Anggrek Bulan (Moon Orchid). His first starring role, and the one from which he first gained recognition, was as the title character in Pangeran Hamid (Prince Hamid, 1953). Over subsequent decades he was a productive film actor, often appearing in four or five films a year. He also acted in various television series. Biography Arief was born in Batavia, Dutch East Indies, on 25 November 1924. He completed his education up to junior high school level. He began his acting career with Djamaluddin Malik's travelling troupe at Pantjawarna, later migrating to Bintang Surabaja which was a travelling theatre troupe headed by Fred Young. By 1948 he had reached Batavia, which was renamed Jakarta during the Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies (1942–1945) and has been cast in the South Pacific Film Corporation's Anggrek Bulan (Moon Orchid, 1948). In this film, directed by Andjar Asmara, Arief played a young man who must be protected from the predations of the "moon orchid", a beautiful yet dangerous young woman. In 1949, Arief acted in four more films for the South Pacific Film Corporation, including Usmar Ismail's debut film Tjitra (Image). Soon afterwards he migrated to Fred Young's film company, also named Bintang Surabaja. Arief appeared in numerous films for the company, including Bintang Surabaja 1951 (Star of Surabaya 1951, 1950) and Selamat Berdjuang, Masku! (Fight Well, My Brother!, 1951). He also acted in films by the National Film Company (Inspektur Rachman, 1950) and Djamaluddin Malik's Persari. His star-making role, however, came with Pangeran Hamid (Prince Hamid, 1953), produced by Chok Chin Hsien's Golden Arrow Productions. In this film, he played a young prince named Hamid who retakes the throne after being driven out by a usurper. After his contract with Golden Arrow ended in 1955, Arief became a free agent. He remained highly productive and acted for numerous companies, despite the slump the filmmaking industry underwent in the early 1969s. Beginning with 1965's Matjan Kemajoran (Tiger of Kemajoran), Arief took on a number of roles as characters of European descent.