Jeffrey Hunter

Jeffrey HunterJeffrey Hunter (November 25, 1926 – May 27, 1969) was a film and television actor.
In 1950, while a graduate student in radio at the University of California, Los Angeles and appearing in a college play, he was spotted by talent scouts and offered a two-year motion picture contract by 20th Century-Fox that was eventually extended to 1959. He made his Hollywood debut in Fourteen Hours, had star billing by Red Skies of Montana (1952), and first billing in Sailor of the King (1953)Jeffrey Hunter.
Hunter’s handsome looks and gentle manner recalled two earlier Fox stars, Tyrone Power and the young Henry Fonda. A loan-out to co-star with John Wayne in the title roles of the now-classic western The Jeffrey HunterSearchers began the first of three pictures he made with director John Ford; the other two films he made with Ford were The Last Hurrah and Sergeant Rutledge.
Ford also recommended Hunter to director Nicholas Ray for the role of Jesus in the Biblical film King of Kings, a difficult part met by critical reaction that ranged from praise to ridicule. Among an all-star cast in the World War II battle epic The Longest Day, he provided a climactic heroic act of leading an ultimately successful attempt to breach the defense wall atop Normandy’s Omaha Beach but dying in the process.