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Jeffrey Hunter (November 25, 1926 - May 27, 1969)
was a film and television actor. He was born Henry
Herman McKinnies, Jr. in New Orleans, Louisiana,
and raised in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he began
acting in local theater and radio in his early
teens. He served stateside in the United States
Navy in World War II, then studied drama at
Northwestern University.

In 1950, while a graduate student in radio at the
University of California, Los Angeles and
appearing in a college play, he was spotted by
talent scouts and offered a two-year motion
picture contract by 20th Century Fox that was
eventually extended to 1959. He made his Hollywood
debut in Fourteen Hours (1951), had star billing
by Red Skies of Montana (1952), and first billing
in Sailor of the King (1953). 

Hunter's handsome looks and gentle manner recalled
two earlier Fox stars, Tyrone Power and the young
Henry Fonda. A loan-out to co-star with John Wayne
in the title roles of the now-classic western The
Searchers (movie)|The Searchers (1956) began the
first of three pictures he made with director John
Ford, followed by The Last Hurrah (1958) and
Sergeant Rutledge (1960).

Ford also recommended Hunter to director Nicholas
Ray for the role of Jesus in the biblical King of
Kings (movie)|King of Kings (1961), a difficult
part met by critical reaction that ranged from
praise to ridicule. Among an all-star cast in the
World War II battle epic The Longest Day (1962),
he provided the climactic heroic act of breaching
the defense wall atop Normandy's Omaha Beach.

Having guest starred on television dramas since
the mid-1950s, Hunter was now offered a two-year
contract by Warner Bros. that included starring as
a circuit-riding Texas lawyer in the NBC series
Temple Houston (1963-64), which Hunter's
production company co-produced. 

Although Temple Houston did not survive its first
season, NBC offered him the lead role of Captain
Christopher Pike in the pilot episode (The Cage)
of a new science fiction series, Star Trek. His
pensive take on the role was in contrast to the
more idiosyncratic style of William Shatner, who
took the part after Hunter, deciding to
concentrate on motion pictures such as Brainstorm
(1965 movie)|Brainstorm, declined to film a second
Star Trek pilot requested by NBC in 1965. But
Hunter was soon filming the pilot for yet another
NBC series, the espionage thriller Journey Into
Fear, which the network failed to pick up.

With the demise of the studio contract system in
the early 1960s and the out-sourcing of much
feature production, Hunter like many other leading
men of the 1950s had to find work in B-pictures
produced in Europe, Hong Kong, and Mexico, with
the occasional television guest part in Hollywood.


In May 1969, shortly after marrying actress Emily
McLaughlin, he suffered a cerebrovascular
accident|stroke while at home, causing a fall and
a skull fracture. He died the following day from
his injuries and was interred in the Glen Haven
Memorial Park cemetery in Sylmar, California. 

Hunter's two previous marriages included actress
Barbara Rush in the early 1950s.

==External links==
*http://www.jeffreyhuntermovies.com/ A Tribute to
Jeffrey Hunter