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Home , Dale Robertson, David Bradley (director), Debra Paget, Hank Worden, Jeanne Crain, Jeffrey Hunter

NOTES ON AND HIS FILMS

by Jim Meyer

"Jeffrey Hunter is beautiful!" a Wagner replied, through his girl friend gurgled to me some 15 secretary, that he and Hunter had been years ago. And indeed he was, as any close friends but that he preferred to man not envious of Hunter's impres- make no further comment. sive 6' 1" height and blue-eyed, brown- David Janssen replied (also haired handsomeness must admit. through a representative) that he and As is well enough known, many Hunter had worked together in only film actors have little more to offer two films and rarely saw each other audiences than handsomeness. But far socially. But Janssen remembered too many critics (men and women Hunter as "a fine actor...completely alike) too quickly tabbed the excep- professional in his approach to his tionally handsome actor "beautiful but work." bland." Two actresses were also contacted: But teen-age girls didn't mind. Anne Francis and , Many didn't care whether he could act. with each of whom Hunter had worked In Jeffrey Hunter they saw (or thought in two films. Neither responded. Per- they saw) a dream prince, a husky haps they never received my letters. young god, who could fulfill their most imaginative fantasies. Less dazzled Jeffrey Hunter was born Henry H. male viewers saw something else: a McKinnies, Jr., on November 24, man who was handsome enough for 1927, in , La. His father them to resent, largely, one suspects, (a sales engineer) and his mother because many of them wished that his moved with him, their only child, to good looks belonged to them, and, not when Hank, as the child being able to measure up, consoled was called, was three. Some years themselves by insisting that he later, while in high school. Hank be- couldn't act and wouldn't last long in came interested in theatricals al- films. though football took much of his spare Obviously, Hunter had to work time. twice as hard as many another actor of Maxine Arnold in Photoplay (July, his type to prove he was a good actor. 1956) quotes Mrs. McKinnies: "I al- I believe he succeeded although he ways expected perfection from 'Hank,' never became a superstar. but I wasn't conscious of it at the Did Hunter's good looks make him time. What mothers are? Naturally, I arrogant, overbearing, and hard to work wouldn't do it again. It isn't fair and with? Possibly not, when one recalls I'm sure it put a great strain on him... that , a co-star of his, above all, we wanted him to be a fine once went out of her way to observe person." that his courtesy toward and consider- Hank himself is quoted by Miss ation for her would be remarkable any- Arnold as saying: "I was blessed where but especially in . (with a happy, harmonious home life). My efforts to contact two actors My parents are two very devoted peo- who had worked with Hunter more than ple." once brought these results: "We had a big back yard and I was

2 FILMOGRAPH always putting on a carnival or circus. Great Lakes. Honorably discharged in I had a puppet show too and I also did the fall of 1946, he entered Northwest- magic tricks." ern University on his scholarship and The McKinnies family resided in a the GI Bill. He was to become presi- suburb of Milwaukee. When the North dent of his fraternity (Phi Delta Theta) Shore Children's Theater group there and, reportedly, graduated in three needed someone to play a 60-year-old years. man, Hank was induced to take the part. The youngster loved radio and (I will now begin to intersperse a soon was acting in The Children's list of Hunter's films, including main Theater of the Air. credits and my own comments. I have To quote Miss Arnold again: "The left out of consideration any of his record shows that 'Hank' was presi- television appearances.) dent of his class, president of the student body, football hero, recipient 1. . (Avon Produc- of the Citizenship Award and a schol- tion, 1950.) Directed by David Brad- arship to (Illi- ley. Cast: , Harold nois). Nor was romance neglected. ... Tasker, , Grosvenor As 'Hank' says, 'I've always gone for Glenn, William Russell, Helen Ross, Mary Darr. brunettes.' " A 16mm film directed and enacted During World War II, Hank enlisted by Northwestern University students in the Navy. Having studied radar, he among whom was Jeffrey Hunter (un- asked for sea duty but instead was billed). sent to the Ninth Naval District at

Ed (Jeffrey Hunter) vs. Cliff () in Red Skies of Montana (1952). This film, originally released as Smoke Jumpers, gave Hunter a large part. FILMOGRAPH 3 Hunter took his master's degree at By March, 1955, Miss Rush asked for the University of , where he a divorce on grounds of cruelty: "He spent many an evening rehearsing for kept telling me how much better his his role of Chris in the university's mother could cook and keep house." production of All My Sons. The play A. Superior Court judge opened May 7, 1950, and two talent approved an agreement whereby Miss scouts in the audience, one from 20th Rush would retain the couple's home Century-Fox and one from Paramount, and Hunter would pay monthly for the were impressed and wanted to screen- support of Chris, who was then three. test him. (For publication at least, Hunter Things now moved very quickly for refused to criticize Miss Rush: "Bar- the lad who was so fond of saying, bara and I basically disagreed on ev- "Luck is when preparedness meets op- erything...we rarely fought, we just portunity." He signed with 20th Century- disagreed...two careers and long sep- Fox and on December 1, 1950, eloped arations never helped a marriage. Love with the up-and-coming Paramount star- (makes it) necessary for communica- let . Hank's studio now tion in marriage...both physically and changed his name to Jeffrey Hunter, in name.") and the newlyweds were to become popular with younger moviegoers. 2. . (20th Century- (The Hunters' only child, Chris, Fox, 1951.) Directed by Henry Hatha- it was said, kept them together longer way. Cast: , Richard than what might have been the case. Basehart, , How-

Above the bay of a Pacific island during World War II, a British sailor (Jeffrey Hunter) has harassed a German man-of-war. (Sailor of the King, a 1953 release.)

4 FILMOGRAPH ard da Silva, Agnes Moorehead, Robert Stevens, , Harvey Lem- Keith, , Jeffrey Hunter, beck, Robert Rockwell. , James Warren, Frank A much better film for Hunter, for Faylen, Jeff Corey, James Millican. which he got first featured billing and His first professional film release the first real test of his talent, as was a stunning drama about a would- a wounded sailor trapped below deck be suicide (Basehart), who wavers 14 with a torpedo which might go off at hours on a window ledge high above a any moment. His fine underplaying jus- New York street, and a kindly cop tified Fox's plans to groom him for (Douglas), who tries to save him. The stardom. It was the first of many films director's most striking accomplish- he was to do with Robert Wagner, ment was his withering visual commen- another rising young actor, who be- tary on the morbidly cruel people who came a good friend and, eventually, a gather on the street below, many of professional rival for the title role in them hoping the young man will jump. Prince Valiant (1954). (Wagner got it.) Two exceptions are two strangers 6. RED SKIES OF MONTANA. (20th (Hunter and Debra Paget) united in Century-Fox, 1952.) Directed by Jo- their sympathy and concern for the seph M. Newman. Cast: Richard Wid- man on the ledge. mark, Constance Smith, Jeffrey Hunter, 3. CALL ME MISTER. (20th Century- Richard Boone, Warren Stevens, James Fox, 1951.) Directed by Lloyd Bacon. Griffith, Joe Sawyer, Gregory Walcott, Cast: , , Dan- , Robert Adler. ny Thomas, , Benay Hunter was fine also in this. He Venuta, Richard Boone, Jeffrey Hunter, received his first star billing (third), Frank Fontaine, Harry Von Zell, Dave as a young forest ranger who nurses Willock, Robert Ellis, Jerry Paris. an unjustified grudge against smoke If you happen to catch this Techni- jumper Widmark. The conflict between color musical on television, you can the two was engrossing, and the direc- see Hunter in a two-minute scene as tion excelled in the climactic forest Dan Dailey's barracks buddy—if your fire scenes, stunningly photographed local station doesn't edit the scene in excellent Technicolor. out. Hunter manages a cornpone accent 7. BELLES ON THEIR TOES. (20th remarkably well. Century-Fox, 1952.) Directed by Hen- 4. TAKE CARE OF MY LITTLE GIRL. ry Levin. Cast: , Myrna (20th Century-Fox, 1951.) Directed by Loy, Debra Paget, Jeffrey Hunter, Ed- . Cast: Jeanne Crain, ward Arnold, Hoagy Carmichael, Bar- Dale Robertson, , Jean bara Bates, Robert Arthur. Peters, Jeffrey Hunter, Betty Lynn, Hunter was reunited with Miss Helen Westcott, Lenka Peterson, Carol Crain in this delightful sequel to Brannon, Natalie Schafer. Cheaper by the Dozen. They played, A story as silly and simpering as respectively, a young doctor and the its title suggests. Hunter was a col- eldest of 's twelve children. lege fraternity snob who pins pretty They endure all the usual, but funny, sorority girl Jeanne Crain. She has to misunderstandings before they find turn from his snobbishness (and that True Love. of her sorority) to the security of Dale 8. DREAMBOAT. (20th Century-Fox, Robertson. This color film drew pro- 1952.) Directed by Claude Binyon. tests from fraternities and sororities Cast: , , all over the country. None of them Anne Francis, Jeffrey Hunter, Elsa should have bothered. Lanchester, Fred Clark, , 5. . (20th Century- Ray Collins, Helene Stanley. Fox, 1951.) Directed by Lloyd Bacon. Hunter merely served (though cap- Cast: Richard Widmark, , ably) as Anne Francis's love interest Gary Merrill, Jeffrey Hunter, Warren in this. Audiences' attention was di- FILMOGRAPH 5 rected at Clifton Webb, as a former on Resolution. British Actors' Equity great lover of silent movies, and Gin- bitterly complained that he and fellow ger Rogers, as the flamboyant silent American actor (there for screen actress who tries to lure Webb a different film) were given work per- out of retirement. mits to play Britishers. The Labor 9. . (20th Ministry had the last word when it an- Century-Fox, 1952.) Directed by Jean nounced: "It's reasonable for male Negulesco. Cast: Jean Peters, Jeffrey leads in films produced under Board of Hunter, Constance Smith, Walter Bren- Trade agreements to be played by ac- nan, Tom Tully, Harry Shannon. tors with box office appeal in the This was a color remake of Swamp United States." Once the flap died Water (1941). Hunter was impressive down, Hunter justified Fox's confi- as the swamp boy who discovers fugi- dence with an admirable enactment of tive and his beautiful seaman Brown, who courageously (and daughter Jean Peters hiding in the single-handedly) confines a Nazi con- wilderness. Hunter's tentative love tingent to its island quarters until the scenes with Miss Peters were extra- British arrive and take over. Wendy ordinarily touching. Hiller played his mother, and Michael 10. SAILOR OF THE KING. (20th Rennie played the naval commander who never realized that Brown (Hunt- Century-Fox, 1953.) Directed by Roy er) is his illegitimate son. (Shown in Boulting. Cast: Jeffrey Hunter, Mi- England as Single-Handed.) chael Rennie, , Bernard Lee, Peter Van Eyck. 11. THREE YOUNG TEXANS. (20th Hunter went to England for this Century-Fox, 1954.) Directed by Henry film, based on C. S. Forester's Brown Levin. Cast: Mitzi Gaynor, Keefe Bras-

Seven Angry Men (1955) delved into American history for its theme. (, Larry Pennell, , Jeffrey Hunter, and Debra Paget.)

6 FILMOGRAPH selle, Jeffrey Hunter, Harry Stephens, Dan Riss, Michael Ansara, , Morris Ankrum. Now that Hunter's fans (and a few critics) expected great things from him, they were to be disappointed with this banal . Brasselle, the bad guy, went down under a barrage of bul- lets, Miss Gaynor and Hunter trotted off toward the sunset, and everyone got blistering reviews—except, it seems, from Variety, which observed that "only Jeffrey Hunter turns in a worthwhile performance with no help from direction or screenplay." 12. PRINCESS OF THE NILE. (20th Century-Fox, 1954.) Directed by Har- mon Jones. Cast: Debra Paget, Jeffrey Hunter, , Donna Drake, Wally Cassell, Edgar Barrier. Another low-budget film which would have been equally as bad as the preceding except that Hunter and co- In 's (1956), actors played this early Egyptian ho- Jeffrey Hunter played one of two men kum with tongues in cheek, giving the referred to in the title. film the humor it needed. played one of two white girls who had 13. SEVEN ANGRY MEN. (Allied Art- been carried off by the Comanche. ists, 1955.) Directed by Charles Mar- quis Warren. Cast: Raymond Massey, 15. SEVEN CITIES OF GOLD. (20th Debra Paget, Jeffrey Hunter, Larry Century-Fox, 1955.) Directed by Pennell, Leo Gordon, John Smith, Robert D. Webb. Cast: , James Best, Dennis Weaver, Tom Irish. , Jeffrey Hunter, Michael Hunter's first loan-out. He played Rennie, Rita Moreno. the eldest of John Brown's sons in this Disappointing: a ponderous epic intelligently conceived film. Raymond about a Catholic missionary priest who Massey played the fanatic Brown, founded a mission at San Diego. One whose crusade to free the slaves critic found some of the actors, in- (prior to the Civil War) led him and cluding Hunter as a young Indian chief, several of his sons to the gallows. absurd. The film did lack the promise Son Owen (Hunter) is spared and pairs some had seen in it, and, charitably off with Debra Paget by the fade-out. speaking, it failed to advance the 14. WHITE FEATHER. (20th Century- careers of any of its actors. Fox, 1955.) Directed by Robert Webb. Cast: Robert Wagner, , Hunter, who now (1955) felt his ca- Debra Paget, Jeffrey Hunter, Eduard reer was going downhill, went into Franz, Noah Beery, Virginia Leith, production with William Hayes. The Emil Meyer, Hugh O'Brian, Milburn result was The Living Swamp, a Stone. Technicolor CinemaScope documentary Hunter played an Indian brave who tragically resists the coming of the short subject which took Hunter back white man. Most of the cast got good to his Lure of the Wilderness locale, notices, particularly Hunter and Hugh the Okefenokee swamp in Georgia. O'Brian, both of whom were practically The 33-minute tour of the swamp fea- unrecognizable behind their war paint. tured extraordinary shots of animal FILMOGRAPH 7 Gordon Grant (Jeffrey Hunter), Dorothy Kingship (), and Bud Corliss (Robert Wagner) in A Kiss before Dying (1956). When the wealthy Miss Kingship is murdered (by Bud Corliss), Grant helps to see that justice is done. life, a highlight being the mortal com- 16. THE SEARCHERS. (Warner Bros., bat between a black king snake and a 1956.) Directed by John Ford. Cast: diamondback rattler. Well directed by , Jeffrey Hunter, Vera David DaLie, the film was narrated by Miles, Ward Bond, Natalie Wood, John Dale Robertson, a chore Hunter him- Qualen, Olive Carey, Henry Brandon, self might have handled better. Ken Curtis, , Jr., Antonio Moreno, Hank Worden. Taking a long-range look at his ca- Hunter desperately wanted the role reer, Hunter told the Associated of the part-Indian lad, but director Press's : "I have a cer- Ford brushed him off with, "You're tain value now as a teenage commodi- not anywhere near the type." The next ty, but who knows how long this will day, this time in dark make-up and last? So I've always studied the pro- slick black hair, he tackled Ford duction end of this business, spending again. Ford now allowed him to test long hours in cutting rooms and else- for the role and afterward gave it to where trying to learn how pictures are him. The film got excellent reviews. It focused on the search by a tough made. My Fox contract permits me to ex-Confederate soldier (Wayne) and a produce one outside picture a year... half-breed (Hunter) for a white girl kid- that's the only way (to) keep any mon- napped by Indians. Much in evidence ey in this business. I have only one was the attention to detail for which dependent now, my son Chris." (Hunt- Ford is famous. er and Barbara Rush had divorced by called Hunter "wonderfully callow then.) and courageous" as the half-breed.

8 FILMOGRAPH 17. THE GREAT LOCOMOTIVE A good Western with Hunter as a CHASE. (Buena Vista, 1956.) Directed cowboy out to avenge what he per- by Francis D. Lyon. Cast: Fess Par- ceives as the ruthless killing of his ker, Jeffrey Hunter, Jeff York, John father by the town marshall (Ryan). Lupton, Eddie Firestone, Kenneth His emergence from callow youth into Tobey, Claude Jarman, Jr. manhood was handled in three-dimen- Hunter got an important role after sional style. having prepared a big sales pitch for 19. A KISS BEFORE DYING. (United the benefit of Walt Disney, the film's Artists, 1956.) Directed by Gerd Os- executive producer. He was cast as a wald. Cast: Robert Wagner, Jeffrey Confederate railroad conductor in hot Hunter, Virginia Leith, Joanne Wood- pursuit after Yankee , who ward, Mary Astor, George Macready. has gone south to destroy vital Although Hunter had completed this bridges. The film blended thrills and before he began work on films Nos. 16, humor, and Bosley Crowther of The 17, and 18, it remained shelved for New York Times called Hunter "posi- nearly a year. One look at the final tively staggering as the valiant Con- print was enough to explain why. Its federate conductor who leads the basically arresting story (of a young chase." man who murders the girl he has im- 18. . (20th Cen- pregnated (Joanne Woodward) and is tury Fox, 1956.) Directed by Robert D. about to do the same to her sister Webb. Cast: , Virginia (Virginia Leith)) was scuttled from the Mayo, Jeffrey Hunter, Robert Middle- start by the miscasting of Robert Wag- ton, Walter Brennan, Arthur O'Connell. ner as the young man, a ruthless so-

Hank, a young woman who works as a waitress, tries to revive Joe, a young man who has been in stir, in The Way to the Gold (1957). (The gold of the title re- fers to a stolen gold cache, and the actors are and Jeffrey Hunter.) FILMOGRAPH 9