Jeffrey Hunter

At 42 years old, Jeffrey Hunter physical status not available right now. We will update Jeffrey Hunter's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.

Hunter's next film was with Karlson; he played Guy Gabaldon in the Allied Artists film Hell to Eternity (1960), which was a hit at the box office. (Gabaldon later named one of his sons Jeffrey Hunter Gabaldon.)

Nicholas Ray cast Hunter in the role of Jesus Christ in the $8 million epic King of Kings (1961), produced by Samuel Bronston. "I've broken my shackles at last," said Hunter at the time. He told Louella Parsons, "Christ was a carpenter and 33 years old, and I am 33, and I suppose my physical measurements fitted the description in the New Testament. At the time of His death, He was robust, and not a delicate man."

It was a difficult part, met by critical reaction that ranged from praise to ridicule. 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. However, it was a big hit at the box office and remains one of Hunter's best-remembered roles. Hunter reflected two years after the film came out, "I still get an average of 1,500 letters a month from people who saw me in that film and share the beauty and inspiration I derived from it with me. There are some things that can't be measured in dollars and cents and how can anyone put a price—even the price of a million-dollar career—on the role of the greatest Being this mortal world has ever known?"

When 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 (1961), directed by actor Edmond O'Brien.

At Universal, he starred as another real-life figure from World War II, No Man Is an Island (1962), the story of George Ray Tweed. For his old Fox boss Darryl F. Zanuck, he joined an all-star cast in the World War II battle epic The Longest Day. 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.

He headed to Italy to make Gold for the Caesars (1963) with director Andre DeToth. He 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.

Having guest-starred on television dramas since the mid-1950s, Hunter was then offered a two-year contract by Warner Bros. studio boss Jack Warner that included starring as circuit-riding Texas lawyer Temple Lea Houston, the youngest son of Sam Houston, in the NBC series Temple Houston (1963–1964), which Hunter's production company co-produced.

Temple Houston did not survive beyond 26 weeks, and in 1964, Hunter accepted the lead role of Captain Christopher Pike in "The Cage", the first pilot episode of Star Trek. It was completed in early 1965 (with a copyright date of 1964). Clegg Hoyt, Hunter's co-star in The True Story of Jesse James, appeared in this pilot as Pitcairn, the transporter chief of the USS Enterprise. Hunter declined to film a second Star Trek pilot requested by NBC in 1965, and decided to concentrate on motion pictures. He told the press, "I was asked to do it, but had I accepted, I would have been tied up much longer than I care to be. I have several things brewing now and they should be coming to a head in the next few weeks. I love doing motion pictures and expect to be as busy as I want to be in them." Footage from the original pilot was subsequently adapted into a two-part episode titled "The Menagerie". The character of Pike made a reappearance in this episode, but Hunter was neither affordable nor available to reprise his role, so a different actor was used, explained by having Pike disfigured.

Later that year, Hunter filmed the pilot for another NBC series, the espionage thriller Journey into Fear, which the network did not pick up.

Later career

With the demise of the studio contract system in the early 1960s and the outsourcing of much feature production, Hunter, like many other leading men of the 1950s, found work in B movies produced in Italy, Hong Kong, and Mexico, with the occasional television guest part in Hollywood.

His films included Brainstorm (1965), a thriller directed by William Conrad; Murieta (1965), a Western shot in Spain; Dimension 5 (1965), a spy film; the Hong Kong-shot Strange Portrait (1966), which was never released; and A Witch without a Broom (1967), a comedy fantasy set in Spain. He guest-starred on Insight, Daniel Boone, and The FBI.

After a cameo in A Guide for the Married Man (1967), he had the lead in a Western shot in Spain for Sidney W. Pink, The Christmas Kid (1967). Hunter had a better part in Custer of the West (1968), also shot in Spain, supporting Robert Shaw in the title role; Hunter played Frederick Benteen.

Back in Hollywood, he supported Bob Hope in The Private Navy of Sgt. O'Farrell (1968). He returned to low-budget films; Find a Place to Die (1968) was a spaghetti Western, although Hunter at least had the lead. He made some Italian films, Sexy Susan Sins Again (1968) and Cry Chicago (1969), and was set to make A Band of Brothers with Vince Edwards when he died.

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