A. Hamid Arief

Arief was born in Batavia, Dutch East Indies, on 25 November 1924.[1] 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).[2] 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.[3]

In 1949, Arief acted in four more films for the South Pacific Film Corporation,[4] including Usmar Ismail's debut film Tjitra (Image).[5] 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).[4] He also acted in films by the National Film Company (Inspektur Rachman, 1950) and Djamaluddin Malik's Persari.[6] His star-making role, however, came with Pangeran Hamid (Prince Hamid, 1953), produced by Chok Chin Hsien's Golden Arrow Productions.[2][7] In this film, he played a young prince named Hamid who retakes the throne after being driven out by a usurper.[8]

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.[7] Beginning with 1965's Matjan Kemajoran (Tiger of Kemajoran), Arief took on a number of roles as characters of European descent. Later roles of this type included the Englishman Edward William in Samiun dan Dasima (Samiun and Dasima, 1970) and the villainous Dutch colonial policeman Heyne Scott in the Si Pitung series, consisting of Si Pitung (1970), Banteng Betawi (Bull of Betawi, 1971), Pembalasan si Pitung (Revenge of Si Pitung, 1977), and Si Pitung Beraksi Kembali (Si Pitung Takes Action, 1981).[2][4][7]

Overall, Arief appeared in more than sixty films in the 1970s.[4] During this period he also became active on television, acting in the skit show Komedia Jakarta (Comedy of Jakarta). Misbach Yusa Biran, in his 1979 directory of Indonesian film actors, quotes Arief as saying "I actually do not have any talent for comedy. I am more interested in dramatic stories".[lower-alpha 1][2]

Arief continued acting in the first years of the 1980s, making his final feature film, Pengorbanan (Sacrifice) in 1982. However, he did not quit acting, appearing in the TVRI television series Rumah Masa Depan (House of the Future, 1984–1986, 1989). In 1988 he received a Surjosoemanto Award from the National Film Council for his dedication to the art. Arief died in Jakarta on 20 December 1992.[7]

During his 34-year career, Arief appeared in more than 120 films. He also produced a single film, Kembalilah Mama (Return, Mama, 1977).[4]

• A. Hamid Arief at IMDb