Arthur Hunnicutt
| Arthur Hunnicutt | |
|---|---|
 Hunnicutt in Stars in My Crown (1950) | |
| Born |
Arthur Lee Hunnicutt February 17, 1910 Gravelly, Arkansas, U.S. |
| Died |
September 26, 1979 (aged 69) Woodland Hills, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1942-1975 |
| Spouse(s) | Pauline Lile |
Arthur Lee Hunnicutt (February 17, 1910 – September 26, 1979) was an American actor known for his portrayal of wise, grizzled, old rural characters.
Biography
A native of Gravelly, Arkansas, Hunnicutt attended Arkansas State Teachers College but dropped out during his junior year when he ran out of money. He moved to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, where he joined up with a theatre company. Moving to New York, he quickly found himself landing roles in Broadway productions. While touring as the lead actor in Tobacco Road, he developed the country character he would later be typecast as throughout his career. Hunnicutt often found himself cast as a character much older than himself.
Hunnicutt appeared in a number of films in the early 1940s before returning to the stage. In 1949 he moved back to Hollywood and resumed his film career. He played a long string of supporting role characters—sympathetic, wise rural types, as in The Red Badge of Courage (1951), The Lusty Men (1952),The Kettles in the Ozarks (1955), The Last Command (1955, as Davy Crockett), The Tall T (1957), Cat Ballou (1965, as Butch Cassidy), El Dorado (1966) and The Adventures of Bullwhip Griffin (1967 film).
In 1952, he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in the Howard Hawks Western, The Big Sky.
Throughout the '50s, '60s and '70s, Hunnicutt made nearly 40 guest appearances on American television programs. He made two memorable appearances on Perry Mason in 1963: he played orange grower Amos Kennesaw Mountain Keller in "The Case of the Golden Oranges," and prospector Sandy Bowen in "The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito." He also made guest appearances on Bonanza, Gunsmoke, The Outer Limits, The Rifleman, Wanted: Dead or Alive (TV series), The Andy Griffith Show, and The Twilight Zone. In one of his last movies, Moonrunners (1975)—the precursor to The Dukes of Hazzard—he played the original Uncle Jesse.
In his later years, Hunnicutt served as Honorary Mayor of Northridge, California. He developed tongue cancer. He died in 1979 and is buried in the Coop Prairie Cemetery in Mansfield, Arkansas.[1]
Filmography
| Year | Film | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1942 | Wildcat | 'Watchfob' Jones |
| 1942 | Riding Through Nevada | Arkansas |
| 1942 | Silver Queen | Newspaper Publisher Brett |
| 1942 | Fall In | Luke Hatfield |
| 1942 | Pardon My Gun | Arkansas |
| 1943 | The Fighting Buckaroo | Arkansas |
| 1943 | Law of the Northwest | Arkansas |
| 1943 | Frontier Fury | Arkansas |
| 1943 | Robin Hood of the Range | Arkansas |
| 1943 | Johnny Come Lately | Second Tramp |
| 1943 | Hail to the Rangers | Arkansas |
| 1943 | The Chance of a Lifetime | Elwood 'Tex' Stewart |
| 1944 | Riding West | Prof. Arkansas Higgins |
| 1944 | Abroad with Two Yanks | Arkie |
| 1949 | Border Incident | Clayton Nordell |
| 1949 | Lust for Gold | Ludi |
| 1949 | The Great Dan Patch | Chet Williams |
| 1950 | A Ticket To Tomahawk | Sad Eyes |
| 1950 | Stars in My Crown | Chloroform Wiggins |
| 1950 | Broken Arrow | Milt Duffield, Mail Superintendent |
| 1950 | Two Flags West | Sgt. Pickens |
| 1951 | "Distant Drums" | Monk |
| 1951 | Sugarfoot | Fly-Up-the-Creek Jones |
| 1951 | The Red Badge of Courage | Bill Porter |
| 1952 | The Big Sky | Zeb Calloway/Narrator |
| 1952 | The Lusty Men | Booker Davis |
| 1953 | Split Second | Asa Tremaine |
| 1954 | The French Line | 'Waco' Mosby |
| 1954 | She Couldn't Say No | Odie Chalmers |
| 1955 | The Last Command | Davy Crockett |
| 1955 | The Kettles in the Ozarks | Sedgewick Kettle |
| 1957 | The Tall T | Rintoon |
| 1960 | The Rifleman: "The Grasshopper" | Nathaniel Cameron |
| 1960 | The Andy Griffith Show: "A Feud Is a Feud" | Jedediah Wakefield |
| 1961 | The Donna Reed Show: "One of Those Days" | Old Man |
| 1962 | The Twilight Zone: "The Hunt" | Hyder Simpson |
| 1964 | The Outer Limits: "Cry of Silence" | Lamont |
| 1965 | Cat Ballou | Butch Cassidy |
| 1966 | El Dorado | Bull Harris |
| 1971 | The Million Dollar Duck | Mr. Purdham |
| 1971 | Shoot Out | Homer Page (rancher) |
| 1974 | Harry and Tonto | Wade Carlton |
| 1974 | The Spikes Gang | Kid White (aka Billy Blanco) |
| 1975 | Moonrunners | Uncle Jesse |
References
- ↑ Ware, Hames. "Arthur Lee Hunnicutt Biography". Encyclopedia of Arkansas History & Culture. Retrieved 17 August 2014.
External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arthur Hunnicutt. |
Arthur Hunnicutt at Find a Grave
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