Alex Hyde-White (born 30 January 1959) is an American film and television actor. In 1978, he signed with Universal Pictures as one of the last "contract players" in Hollywood, in a group that included Lindsay Wagner, Andrew Stevens, Gretchen Corbett and Sharon Gless.
Early life :
Hyde-White was born in London, the son of Ethel M. (née Korenman), a stage manager who acted under the name Ethel Drew, and actor Wilfrid Hyde-White. Known as Punch to friends, he grew up in Palm Springs, California, attending Palm Springs High School and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. for one year after which he left to pursue an acting career.
Career :
Under contract to Universal Pictures at age 18, his first television job was one line – "leave my mother alone" – spoken to star Jack Klugman on the television series Quincy M.E. He recurred in several episodes, each time as a different character and also made numerous appearances in Battlestar Galactica and later Buck Rogers in the 25th Century which also featured his father Wilfrid. The only time both father and son appeared on screen together was on The Merv Griffin Show in 1980. A clip from that show is featured in his film Three Days of Hamlet.
In 1994 he played the Marvel Comics superhero Reed Richards, a.k.a. Mister Fantastic, in a motion picture adaptation of Marvel's flagship comics series The Fantastic Four. The film was low budget and made by certain parties in order to retain the film rights to the property; it was never released. Bootleg copies of the film made the rounds, and the film has acquired its own following. Hyde-White is regarded by many comics fans[who?] as the best embodiment of the character so far, who has since been played by Ioan Gruffudd, Miles Teller and John Krasinski.
Through his production company TMG, named after his mentor, Washington attorney Steven Martindale, he produced the 2002 independent romantic drama Pursuit of Happiness, which starred Frank Whaley, Annabeth Gish, Adam Baldwin and featured Jean Stapleton in a cameo as the advertising agency's owner. Stapleton's son John Putch was the director. Putch had directed Alex previously in Deep Water and in Murder 101 for Hallmark. Alex has worked with Steven Spielberg three times, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade as Young Henry Jones, Sr. and Catch Me If You Can as Dick Kesner, the divorce lawyer, and “Tintin”. But he's probably most recognized as the charming Polo-playing son of Ralph Bellamy in the blockbuster hit Pretty Woman, whose company is being taken-over by Richard Gere: Alex's friendship with Julia Roberts' character is the first time Gere gets noticeably jealous, bring their romance to another level.
