Jeffrey Hunter’s Short Life and Long Legacy: From ‘Star Trek’ to ‘King of Kings’
The life of 'The Searchers' star was tragically cut short when he suddenly died at age 42
Back in the 1970s, Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry had written a proposed big screen version of the TV show titled The God Thing, which would have concluded with Captain Kirk battling Jesus Christ on the bridge of the starship Enterprise. Years earlier, there had been a similar connection in that actor Jeffrey Hunter, who portrayed Christopher Pike, first captain of the vessel, in the 1964 TV pilot “The Cage,” preceded that by starring as the Lord in 1961’s King of Kings.
Starship captains and saviors, are we right?
In the 1950s, Hunter matched Hollywood’s criteria for actors with undeniable charisma, chiseled good looks and a screen presence that had directors—and filmgoers—sitting up to take notice. Sadly, his fast track to stardom was abruptly cut short when he died at the age of 42 in 1969, just several years after bringing those aforementioned roles to life.
Jeffrey Hunter’s early life and rise to stardom
Born Henry Herman McKinnies Jr. on November 25, 1926 in New Orleans, Louisiana, his life took him far from the Deep South as his family relocated to Milwaukee when he was a child. There, when he was still quite young, he developed a penchant for entertaining others.
“We had a big backyard and I was always putting on a carnival or circus,” Hunter reflected to the media. “I had a puppet show, too, and I also did magic tricks.”
The growing desire to act led him, during his high school years, to perform on local radio station WTMJ, which in turn saw him appearing in summer stock and eventually in Chicago stage productions. Of his time growing up, writer Walter H. Hogan recounted, “Football was a big thing in Jeff’s life from the age of 11 when he won a state-wide contest held by the Milwaukee Journal. In Whitefish Bay High School, he became co-captain of a championship team. He was president of his high school class, president of the student body, recipient of a Citizenship Award and a scholarship in radio for his freshman year at Northwestern University, where he later became president of his fraternity, Phi Delta Theta.”
Shortly after high school, his acting dreams were put on hold by World War II, which saw him serving in the U.S. Navy from 1945 to 1946. Afterwards, he attended Northwestern University to study theater and, then, the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where he earned a degree in radio and drama.
One note about Northwestern is that he made his screen debut as an unbilled member of the cast headed by Charlton Heston in a student production of Julius Caesar, shot in 16mm.
Added Hunter, “After I had my A.B. degree from Northwestern, I came to UCLA to study for my master’s degree in educational radio and was doing a little theatre work, too, when I was given my screen test.”
The studios take notice of him
That screen test came about due to his performance as the character Chris in a production of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons, which was viewed by a pair of talent scouts in the audience from both 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures. He had also acted in student productions of Years Ago and The Rivals among others.
‘My plans for a radio and stage career suddenly evolved into a film career,” he reflected. “I had had my undergraduate training at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. However, right after the war radio shows began more and more to emanate from New York and Los Angeles instead of from Chicago. Consequently, I felt that I should be where the opportunity was most plentiful.
“This decision brought me to Hollywood. I enrolled at the university to further my education while learning the ways of the film and radio capital. After my work was noticed in that college production at UCLA, I was fortunate enough to be given a screen test by Paramount. But, strange as it may seem, I wound up with a contract at 20th Century-Fox. With that signing my aim was altered. I began thinking in terms of motion pictures rather than following my original plan for radio and the stage.”
His first credited film role came in Fourteen Hours (1951), which also happened to be Grace Kelly’s film debut. From that point on, Hunter’s career took off. He showed versatility across dramas, comedies, Westerns, science fiction, and war films, often playing the charming, wholesome leading man.
“The demands of my career seemed to tie me to Hollywood, but suddenly I found my horizons stretching around the world. First was a trip to England to make Singlehanded. Another surprising interlude in my fairly short career was a sudden call to pack my bags for a tour to the Orient. Constance Smith, with whom I had made Red Skies of Montana and Lure of the Wilderness, and I were asked by 20th Century-Fox to take Greetings from Hollywood to the people of Singapore, where the beautiful new Odeon Theatre was to open its doors for the first time. We also stopped in Honolulu, Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Manila to say hello from Hollywood to the film fans.
“We were soon at work again in the studios. I started on my first Western, Three Young Texans. In retrospect, I thought, how fortunate to be in an industry that is gradually bringing the world closer together!”
‘The Searchers’
Sailor of the King (1953) represents his first starring role, but what truly put him on the Hollywood map was his co-starring role opposite John Wayne in John Ford’s classic Western, The Searchers (1956). Hunter once joked, “I was told I had arrived when, during the filming of The Searchers, they gave me almost as much ammunition as they gave John Wayne.”
In The Searchers, Wayne plays Ethan Edwards, a Civil War veteran in the midst of a years-long quest to rescue his kidnapped niece Debbie from a Comanche tribe. With him is Hunter’s half-Indian Martin Pawley, Ethan’s adopted nephew and moral counterbalance, stopping him from killing Debbie when they find her out of fear she has been “turned.”
“I had read The Searchers and right from the moment I got into the story and into its characters, I knew that the role was for me,” said Hunter. “First I telephoned Mr. Ford’s office. When I finally got through to him, he answered: ‘You’re not anywhere near the type!’ But I wasn’t taking such a quick brush-off. Next day I showed up at his office. I felt that I should at least try to look something like a half-Indian. I slicked back my black hair, wore a very open-necked sports shirt to display a healthy tan.
“When I was shown into his office,” he continued, “Ford was sitting, smoking a big cigar. He stared at me for what seemed an endless time, then grunted: ‘Take your shirt off!’ I did just that. After another endless moment he grunted again: ‘I’ll let you know.’ I thought this was just another of those Hollywood brush-offs. But then he said, with a most encouraging change of tone: ‘Don’t cut your hair until you hear from me.’ Somehow I felt I was in.”
Several days later, filming of the actor’s film A Kiss Before Dying headed to Arizona to begin production. About two days before shooting wrapped, he learned that he had gotten the part in The Searchers. Recognizing the importance this opportunity represented for the actor, director Gerd Oswald rushed through the filming of his scenes. “I finished at 4:00 in the afternoon, was due in the Arizona desert at 7a.m. the next day. By train, plane and car, I made it—but just only.”
‘King of Kings’
He continued working with Ford, appearing in The Last Hurrah (1958) with Spencer Tracy and Sergeant Rutledge (1960). Then came one of his most iconic (and challenging) roles—playing Jesus Christ in King of Kings (1961). His performance was well-received, and according to reports, the Vatican even approved the script before filming began.
A hardcover promotional book was sold at showings of King of Kings, which included the following: “Jesus Christ is portrayed by Jeffrey Hunter, youthful American actor, chosen from scores of candidates for his rugged strength, sincerity and personal integrity. ‘I could only approach this role with two guideposts—absolute humility and a willingness to accept emotional and spiritual guidance,’ he said. He was not fully aware of the responsibility he had undertaken until the Sermon on the Mount scenes were filmed in Spain.”
Hunter added, “There were some 7,000 extras gathered from surrounding villages…When I appeared in my robes, I saw to my astonishment that many dropped to their knees and made the sign of the cross as I passed by. They knew perfectly well, of course, that I was merely an actor… Still, I was a living representation of a figure they had regarded from childhood with most sacred awe. It was then I realized what I had undertaken. I felt it even more deeply as the film went along and do so even now, long after I have shed His robes.”
Claudia Henry, archivist at jeffreyhunter.net (the ultimate resource for information on the actor), comments, “The film’s initial impact was tied to it being the first major film since the 1920s about Christ in which His face is shown. (Ben Hur and other related films coyly showed Christ from behind). Of course, The King of Kings from 1927 had HB Warner as Christ – a grandfatherly figure. That film is what Christians had been watching for years, so seeing a young (and handsome and healthy-looking) Christ was a shock for many.
“The ‘I was a Teenage Jesus’ meme was utterly unfair; Jeff’s age at the time was perfect, and his earnest performance didn’t deserve that jibe. I would add that, in the longer term, Jeff’s performance as Christ has garnered greater appreciation than it did at the time of the film’s release. It’s a favorite film about Jesus’ life for many, even though quite a few New Testament films have been released since 1961.”
He found himself drawn to television
Despite his film success, Hunter spent the latter part of the 1950s and early 1960s making guest star appearances on different television shows, which to some might be surprising given how well his movie career was going.
“I believe that actors in the 1950s who were not superstars,” muses Claudia Henry, “benefited from the additional exposure of guest-starring in TV shows. And, of course, the shows were largely produced by the same studio that the actors were signed to. Also, individual TV episodes were filmed rather quickly, so it was easy money and it’s likely that Jeff didn’t have to travel to do them (i.e. he could be home for dinner).”
Nonetheless, from 1963 to 1964, he starred in the title role of the television Western Temple Houston, which lasted for 26 episodes. Houston was a quick-witted attorney in the Old West, depicted as a sharp-shooting lawyer who balanced his legal work with adventure, often finding himself defending the innocent and fighting for justice in the frontier town of Fort Gannon, Texas.
As originally conceived, it was a serious, historically-inspired legal drama, but the tone shifted to an action-oriented Western similar to dozens of others on the air at the time. The biggest behind-the-scenes challenge came when NBC ordered the pilot to be rewritten and reshot within just four days, leading to a rushed production schedule that affected the series’ overall quality. While Hunter delivered a strong performance, Temple Houston struggled in the ratings and was ultimately canceled after one season.
Space … the final frontier
When Gene Roddenberry got a deal to produce the pilot for Star Trek, Hunter was cast as Christopher Pike, the captain of the starship Enterprise. At the time, the actor described the plot to the Los Angeles Citizen News as follows: “The idea for Star Trek is that we run into prehistoric worlds, contemporary social ties 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. It has a regular cast of a half dozen or so and an important guest star each week. The thing that intrigues me the most is that it is actually based on the RAND Corporation’s projection of things to come.
“Except for the fictional characters,” he added, “it will be like getting a look into the future, and some of the predictions will surely come true in our lifetime. With all the weird surroundings of outer space, the basic underlying theme of the show is a philosophical approach to man’s relationship to woman. There are both sexes in the crew. In fact, the first officer is a woman.”
One person who was not aligned with the idea of Hunter as Pike was “The Cage” director Robert Butler, who offers, “Generally, he was an extremely pleasant, centered guy, and maybe decent and nice to a fault. A gentle guy. I did not know Jeff, except professionally from a distance, not personally at all. I thought he was a good, chiseled hero for that kind of part. I remember thinking, ‘God, he’s handsome,’ and this was, sadly, the opinion of him at the time. When one is trying to bring reality into an unreal situation, that usually isn’t a wise thing to do, to hire a somewhat perfect-looking actor. You should find someone who seems to be more natural and more ‘real.’ I don’t remember saying those things, but that continues to be my view.”
NBC rejected the pilot, claiming it was “too cerebral” for the television audience, but nonetheless gave the okay for a second version—the one that went to series—called “Where No Man Has Gone Before,” and featuring William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk. Cliched as it may be, the rest is indeed history. The reason fans got Shatner is that Hunter refused to do it.
Said Gene Roddenberry, “Jeffrey Hunter decided he did not want to come back and play Pike again. I thought highly of him and he would have made a grand captain, except his family convinced him that science fiction was really beneath him.”
Interestingly, his performance as Pike inspired later incarnations of the character in novels, the J.J. Abrams-produced big-screen films that launched in 2009 (with Bruce Greenwood playing him) and, currently, Paramount+’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds series (starring Anson Mount).
“Jeff brought gravitas, earnestness and heart to Pike,” points out Claudia Henry. “He was convincing as a starship captain who felt the heavy responsibility for the lives of his starship crew. Many Star Trek fans believe that, if he had stayed on as the starship captain in what became The Original Series, the show would have fallen flat. My take is that Jeff portrayed Pike as the role was written. The hamming of Shatner, which came a bit later, is what many prefer. I think that Jeff would have done fine in episodes with a more humorous tone. I have seen Jeff do comedic work onscreen here and there—check out The George Gobel Show, for example. If the situations themselves were funny, he was fun to watch. I suspect that Jeff would be astonished to see Pike’s popularity surge in recent years after that first pilot had been rejected.”
The tragic accident that ended Jeffrey Hunter’s life
As the 1960s continued, Hunter was finding success harder to come by. He made about a dozen television guest appearances and 10 films by 1969, though the last few titles of the latter were low budget affairs produced in Italy and Spain. And it was while filming ¡Viva América!, which was shot in Spain, that he suffered a head injury due to an on-set explosion.
Shortly thereafter, he began to experience severe headaches and dizziness. On May 15, 1969, he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage at his Los Angeles home, culminating with his taking a fall that resulted in a fractured skull. Rushed to the hospital, he never regained consciousness and died the following day. He was only 42.
“His death was 100% unexpected,” shares Claudia Henry, “though in hindsight there were signs that he had probably suffered brain damage/bleeding from injuries suffered in the months before he died: explosion on set of ¡Viva América!, judo chop from a friend, partial paralysis on a plane flight, etc. I very much believe that no one expected him to die, however. My understanding is that the surgery performed on him was for damage to his skull after his fall and not for the brain bleed; the extensive bleeding in the brain is what killed him. MRI’s did not exist in those days; if they did, I think that damage to Jeff’s brain from the explosion and subsequent events would have been uncovered and his life could have been saved.”
Jeffrey Hunter was married three times, to Barbara Rush from 1950 to 1955, Joan Bartlett from 1957 to 1967 and Emily McLaughlin in 1969 until the time of his death. He had four children.
Of his legacy, Henry says, “In my opinion, his work in The Searchers, King of Kings and Star Trek stand out as his legacy. Without roles in films/shows having such strong cultural impact over time, Jeff may have been forgotten. For example, how many people today have heard of the lovely Peggy King, whom Jeff knew and worked with? She was a fine singer, but what did she do that many people remember today?
“So the cultural impact of these films, and his work in them, lives on,” she closes. “In my own experience, to this day new fans of Jeffrey Hunter visit the jeffreyhunter.net website, particularly around Easter or Christmas, when they watch King of Kings and are drawn to his screen presence and performance as Jesus. Of course, articles, programs and even social media posts related to Christopher Pike or The Searchers also attract attention from folks new to Jeffrey Hunter and his work. I would say that if he hadn’t been in any one of the three—The Searchers, King of Kings or Star Trek—his legacy would have been significantly diminished. Because one was a Western, one a religious film and one a groundbreaking science-fiction show, he has earned the attention of viewers who appreciate very different kinds of entertainment/inspiration. As for me … I like them all.”
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