A Tribute to Jeffrey Hunter

JEFFREY HUNTER FEATURED PHOTO:

Did you know that Jeff guest-starred twice in the long-running TV series, The F.B.I.?  Besides acting in The F.B.I.’s very first episode in 1965, he also appeared in the 1968 episode, The Enemies. In that episode,  Jeff plays a badly-wounded spy, bleeding heavily, who reaches out to an old Army buddy for help.  Of course, the F.B.I. is hunting for him, too!

Jeffrey Hunter Enjoyed a Wide-Ranging Career in Movies…

Born Hank McKinnies, Jeff was a fine actor whose film career spanned a wide range of roles:

• a college frat-boy in Take Care of My Little Girl as well as a cavalry officer with a conscience in Custer of the West;
• a brilliant scientist who drives himself insane in Brainstorm and also a high-tech spy in Dimension 5;
• a dashing prince of Baghdad in Princess of the Nile;
• World War II heroes: real-life ones in Hell to Eternity and The Longest Day, and fictional ones, in Sailor of the King and In Love and War;
• cowboys in the Old West – in Gun for a Coward and several other films – as well as American Indian warriors in White Feather and Seven Cities of Gold.

Also, Jeff acted opposite some of the greatest screen actors of his day: most notably in two John Ford movies:  John Wayne in the influential The Searchers, and Spencer Tracy in The Last Hurrah.

…And in Radio and TV!

In many 1950’s radio dramas, Jeff showed off his college training as a radio actor. In addition, he guest-starred regularly on TV series, especially during the 1960’s – including a role as a serial killer (!) on the very first episode of the popular long-running series The FBI. Most notably, during NBC-TV’s 1963-64 season, he starred in and co-produced his own series, Temple Houston, playing a frontier lawyer in the Old West.

And then there was Star Trek….

Jeffrey Hunter’s Most Important TV Role was in Star Trek

Many of Jeff’s fans first discovered him as the iconic Captain Christopher Pike of the starship USS Enterprise.  Although Jeff only portrayed Pike in Star Trek’s first-ever pilot episode, The Cage, Pike was actually introduced to the public in the two-part episode The Menagerie.  In this episode, which aired in Star Trek The Original Series’ first season, extensive footage from The Cage played a central role in the story.  The Cage itself was not shown to the public until the 1980s.

Since the Original Series, Pike’s character has remained a favorite of many Star Trek fans!  So much so, that Christopher Pike has been brought to life again by two other excellent actors in recent years –  Bruce Greenwood, in the Kelvin timeline series of Star Trek movies, and more recently Anson Mount, on Paramount Plus’s two streaming series Star Trek: Discovery and the still-in-production Star Trek: Strange New Worlds..

 

What was Jeffrey Hunter’s Most Unforgettable Role? How About…

We dedicate this website with love and gratitude to Jeffrey Hunter, whose work as an actor, and whose untimely death in 1969, touched the lives of so many.