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| Star Trek's First Captain: Jeffrey Hunter The Menagerie (story & photos!) Part 1 Part 2 Part 3from "The Star Trek Files" Magazine: Jeffrey Hunter Biography Character Profile: Christopher Pike The Cage The Unknown Captain The Forgotten (in Hebrew) |
(Captain Christopher Pike) In one of the most enduring roles of his career, Jeffrey Hunter stars as the iconic first captain of the Federation starship, the U.S.S. Enterprise. The Cage was the first pilot for what became the Star Trek TV series. Although NBC did not pick up the first pilot, the network did pick up a second pilot starring William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk. In Star Trek canon, Kirk succeeded Pike as captain of the Enterprise.
In an interview during production of “The Cage”, Jeffrey Hunter’s enthusiasm shone through when he said:
“We run into pre-historic worlds, contemporary societies and civilizations far more developed than our own. It’s a great format because writers have a free hand – they can have us land on a monster infested planet, or deal in human relations involving the large number of people who live in this gigantic ship.”
In “The Cage,” aliens capture Captain Pike when he responds to a distress call from the planet Talos IV. Although the call appears to be from a research vessel that had crashed there in the past, the aliens had actually sent the call. Then, the aliens force more illusory experiences on Pike, including the tempting woman Vina. To escape, Pike must figure out how to resist the illusions. Co-stars Susan Oliver as Vina, Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock (who smiles briefly!), and Majel Barrett as Number One.
“The Menagerie”, the only two-part episode of Star Trek: The Original Series, includes most of “The Cage” into the story. From Star Trek‘s first season, this episode won a Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation.
“The Menagerie” takes place a few years after “The Cage,” At this point, a radioactive explosion has severely disabled Christopher Pike. Now, he is confined to a wheelchair and can only communicate through “Yes” or “No” electronic signals. The Federation has court-martialed Mr. Spock (Nimoy) for trying to take Pike back to Talos IV. After Pike’s visit to Talos IV in “The Cage”, the planet had been declared off-limits to Federation vessels. During Spock’s court-martial defense, “The Menagerie” shares a lot of video from “The Cage”. Sean Kenney plays the disabled Pike. Regular cast members of Star Trek: The Original Series co-star, including William Shatner as Kirk and DeForest Kelley as Dr. McCoy.
“Without sounding smug, I’ve always felt that you have to be well prepared when old man opportunity comes knocking. I always wanted to be an actor, and so I did everything possible to prepare myself for my career.”
….. Jeffrey Hunter
“Be natural, sincere and honest on and off screen and stage or radio. A good acting job must come from the mind and heart.”
….. Jeffrey Hunter
“He was the finest, most decent man I’ve ever known.”
….. Longtime friend Lee Riordan
“Despite his looks and talent, there was nothing of the snob about Hank. His voice was quiet and gentle and his manners came right out of the Civil War South.”
….. Friend Don Kreger
Did you know that Jeffrey Hunter 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!
Born Hank McKinnies, Jeff was a fine actor whose career spanned a wide range of roles:
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.
In many 1950’s radio dramas, he showed off his college training as a radio actor. He also 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 series The FBI. During NBC-TV’s 1963-64 season, he starred in and co-produced his own series, Temple Houston, as a frontier lawyer in the Old West.
Many fans first discovered Jeffrey Hunter as the iconic first captain of the starship USS Enterprise – Christopher Pike, in the early days of Star Trek.
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.
There are many excellent resources about Jeffrey Hunter on the Web! In particular, we recommend IMDb and Memory Alpha.
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Although we gathered the materials on this website from advertising sources, no copyright infringement is intended. However, if anyone can prove copyright ownership of any materials and requests their deletion, we will remove said materials. Claudia Henry designed the site, with some content carried over from the original jeffreyhuntermovies site created by Jim Lalley and Claudia Henry.
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