On television, Hunter is known for his 1965 role as Captain Christopher Pike in the original pilot episode of Star Trek and the later use of that footage in the episode "The Menagerie".
47 Facts About Jeffrey Hunter
2.
Jeffrey Hunter was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of Edith Lois and Henry Herman McKinnies.
3.
Jeffrey Hunter was very involved in school sports, and began acting in local theater and radio in his early teens.
4.
Jeffrey Hunter worked for station WTMJ-FM and the Children's Theatre of the Air, sponsored by the Wauwatosa School Board.
5.
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.
6.
Jeffrey Hunter did not see any battle duty, due to a broken arch-bone suffered in a high-school football injury.
7.
In college, Jeffrey Hunter appeared in two NU stage productions, including Ruth Gordon's Years Ago.
8.
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.
9.
Jeffrey Hunter did radio work with the NU Radio Workshop and Radio Guild, and worked summers with the NBC Radio Institute in Chicago.
10.
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.
11.
Jeffrey Hunter was then a "campus Casanova" in a Jeanne Crain drama, Take Care of My Little Girl, directed by Jean Negulesco.
12.
Fan response to these appearances was positive, and Jeffrey Hunter moved into leading roles with Red Skies of Montana, billed third in a film about smokejumpers with Richard Widmark.
13.
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.
14.
Sailor of the King was a minor success, as was a Western Jeffrey Hunter made with Mitzi Gaynor, Three Young Texans.
15.
Jeffrey Hunter then played an Indian chief in the Western, White Feather, essentially supporting Robert Wagner.
16.
Jeffrey Hunter was lent to United Artists along with fellow Fox contract players Wagner and Joanne Woodward for A Kiss Before Dying.
17.
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.
18.
Jeffrey Hunter supported Robert Ryan in a Western, The Proud Ones.
19.
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.
20.
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.
21.
Jeffrey Hunter was one of several leads in Fox's look at young people, No Down Payment - not a big hit, but the early work for director Martin Ritt received some critical acclaim.
22.
Jeffrey Hunter was meant to make a movie for Universal, If I Should Die, but collapsed on his return from Europe; he was replaced by George Nader.
23.
Jeffrey Hunter was off the screen for 14 months while ill with what was diagnosed as hepatitis.
24.
Jeffrey Hunter had a cameo as himself in the Pat Boone musical at Fox, Mardi Gras.
25.
Jeffrey Hunter then made a war film, In Love and War, co-starring with several other Fox signees such as Wagner.
26.
Jeffrey Hunter formed a production company, Mexico Films, and made a film in Mexico, The Holy City, The Sacred City.
27.
Jeffrey Hunter was in an urban thriller, Key Witness, directed by Phil Karlson.
28.
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.
29.
Jeffrey Hunter's youthful matinee-idol looks resulted in the film being derided as I Was a Teenage Jesus, despite the actor's age at the time.
30.
When Jeffrey Hunter returned to Hollywood, he deliberately selected parts that were different - a psychopathic killer in an episode of Checkmate, and as the lead in a heist thriller Man-Trap, directed by actor Edmond O'Brien.
31.
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.
32.
Jeffrey Hunter headed to Italy to make Gold for the Caesars with director Andre DeToth.
33.
Jeffrey Hunter was set to co-star with Spencer Tracy and James Stewart in The Long Flight when he received an offer to appear in a TV show.
34.
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.
35.
Jeffrey Hunter declined to film a second Star Trek pilot requested by NBC in 1965, and decided to concentrate on motion pictures.
36.
The character of Pike made a reappearance in this episode, but Jeffrey Hunter was neither affordable nor available to reprise his role, so a different actor was used, explained by having Pike disfigured.
37.
Later that year, Jeffrey Hunter filmed the pilot for another NBC series, the espionage thriller Journey into Fear, which the network did not pick up.
38.
Jeffrey Hunter's films included Brainstorm, a thriller directed by William Conrad; Murieta, a Western shot in Spain; Dimension 5, a spy film; the Hong Kong-shot Strange Portrait, which was never released; and A Witch without a Broom, a comedy fantasy set in Spain.
39.
Jeffrey Hunter guest-starred on Insight, Daniel Boone, and The FBI.
40.
Jeffrey Hunter had a better part in Custer of the West, shot in Spain, supporting Robert Shaw in the title role; Jeffrey Hunter played Frederick Benteen.
41.
Jeffrey Hunter returned to low-budget films; Find a Place to Die was a spaghetti Western, although Hunter at least had the lead.
42.
From 1957 to 1967, Jeffrey Hunter was married to model Dusty Bartlett.
43.
Jeffrey Hunter adopted her son, Steele, and the couple had two other children, Todd and Scott.
44.
Jeffrey Hunter fell, knocked over a planter, and struck his head on the banister, fracturing his skull.
45.
Jeffrey Hunter was found unconscious by Frank Bellow, an actor and a friend of Hunter's, who came for a visit, and taken to Valley Presbyterian Hospital, where he underwent brain surgery.
46.
Jeffrey Hunter died at about 9:30 the following morning at the age of 42.
47.
Jeffrey Hunter was interred at Glen Haven Memorial Park, in Sylmar, California.