43 Facts About Jeffrey Hunter

On television, Hunter is known for his 1965 role as Captain Christopher Pike in the original pilot episode of Star Trek: The Original Series.

Jeffrey Hunter was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Edith Lois and Henry Herman McKinnies.

Jeffrey Hunter was involved in school sports and began acting in local theater and radio in his early teens.

Jeffrey Hunter completed a naval radar course at the Radio Technical School and was assigned to Communications Division, Headquarters of the Ninth Naval District in Great Lakes, Illinois.

In college, Jeffrey Hunter appeared in two NU stage productions, including Ruth Gordon's Years Ago.

Jeffrey Hunter acted with the NU Theatre summer-stock company at Eagles Mere, Pennsylvania, in 1947, appearing in Too Many Husbands, The Late George Apley, Payment Deferred, The Merchant of Venice, and Fata Morgana.

Jeffrey Hunter did radio work with the NU Radio Workshop and Radio Guild, and worked summers with the NBC Radio Institute in Chicago.

Jeffrey Hunter graduated from NU on August 26,1949, then moved to the University of California at Los Angeles to get his master's degree in radio.

Jeffrey Hunter had a two-minute scene in Call Me Mister and was a "campus Casanova" in a Jeanne Crain drama, Take Care of My Little Girl, directed by Jean Negulesco.

Jeffrey Hunter then was given a bigger part in the all-male war movie The Frogmen for director Lewis Milestone, supporting Richard Widmark and Dana Andrews; among his fellow support players was Robert Wagner, another young actor under contract to Fox at the time.

Jeffrey Hunter had a more conventional male juvenile lead in Belles on Their Toes, a sequel to Cheaper by the Dozen, which reunited him with Crain.

Sailor of the King was a minor success, as was a Western Jeffrey Hunter made with Mitzi Gaynor, Three Young Texans.

Jeffrey Hunter then played an Indian chief in the Western, White Feather, essentially supporting Robert Wagner.

Jeffrey Hunter was lent to United Artists along with fellow Fox contract players Wagner and Joanne Woodward for A Kiss Before Dying.

Jeffrey Hunter's career was revitalized when he successfully lobbied John Ford to cast him as the second lead in The Searchers, supporting John Wayne.

Jeffrey Hunter supported Robert Ryan in a Western, The Proud Ones.

Jeffrey Hunter went over to Universal Studios and supported another older star, Fred MacMurray, in another Western, Gun for a Coward, in a role originally meant for James Dean.

Back at Fox, Jeffrey Hunter was reunited with Wagner as the James brothers in The True Story of Jesse James, directed by Nicholas Ray ; it was mildly popular, although considered a critical disappointment.

In October 1957, Jeffrey Hunter started shooting for his role in the Universal film If I Should Die, but collapsed following his first day on the set, and was replaced by George Nader.

Jeffrey Hunter was off the screen for 14 months while ill with what was diagnosed as hepatitis.

Jeffrey Hunter had a cameo as himself in the Pat Boone musical at Fox, Mardi Gras.

Jeffrey Hunter then made a war film, In Love and War, co-starring with several other Fox signees such as Wagner.

Jeffrey Hunter formed a production company, Mexico Films, and made a film in Mexico, The Holy City, The Sacred City.

Jeffrey Hunter was in an urban thriller, Key Witness, directed by Phil Karlson.

Jeffrey Hunter's next film was with Karlson; he played Guy Gabaldon in the Allied Artists film Hell to Eternity, which was a hit at the box office.

When Jeffrey Hunter returned to Hollywood, he deliberately selected parts that were different, such as that of a psychopathic killer in an episode of Checkmate and as the lead in a heist thriller Man-Trap, directed by actor Edmond O'Brien.

At Universal, Jeffrey Hunter starred in No Man Is an Island, the story of George Ray Tweed.

Jeffrey Hunter joined an all-star cast in the Fox World War II battle epic The Longest Day.

Jeffrey Hunter provided a climactic heroic moment playing a sergeant who is killed while leading a successful attempt to breach the defense wall atop Omaha Beach in Normandy.

Jeffrey Hunter traveled to Italy to make Gold for the Caesars with director Andre de Toth.

Jeffrey Hunter was set to costar with Spencer Tracy and James Stewart in The Long Flight when he received an offer to appear in a television show.

Temple Houston did not survive beyond 26 weeks, and in 1964, Jeffrey Hunter accepted the lead role of Captain Christopher Pike in "The Cage", the first pilot episode of Star Trek, completed in early 1965.

Jeffrey Hunter declined to appear in a second Star Trek pilot requested by NBC in 1965 in order to concentrate on film roles.

Later in 1965, Jeffrey Hunter filmed the pilot for another NBC series, the espionage thriller Journey into Fear, which the network rejected.

Jeffrey Hunter's films included the William Conrad thriller Brainstorm, the Western Murieta, the spy film Dimension 5, the Hong Kong-filmed but unreleased Strange Portrait and A Witch Without a Broom, a comedy fantasy set in Spain.

Jeffrey Hunter appeared in Custer of the West, shot in Spain.

In Hollywood, Jeffrey Hunter supported Bob Hope in The Private Navy of Sgt.

Jeffrey Hunter returned to low-budget films such as Find a Place to Die, a spaghetti Western, although in the lead role.

From 1957 to 1967, Jeffrey Hunter was married to model Dusty Bartlett.

Jeffrey Hunter adopted her son Steele, and the couple had two other children, Todd and Scott.

Jeffrey Hunter was found unconscious and taken to Valley Presbyterian Hospital, where he underwent brain surgery.

Jeffrey Hunter died at about 9:30 the following morning at the age of 42.

Jeffrey Hunter was interred at Glen Haven Memorial Park in Sylmar.