- Russell Hunter
Infobox Actor
name = Russell Hunter
imagesize = 250px
caption = Russell Hunter as "Lonely" in "Callan"
birthdate =1925-2004
location =Glasgow ,Scotland
spouse =Una McLean (1991-2004)
Marjorie Thomson (1949)Caroline Blakiston (1970)
children =
emmyawards =
goldenglobeawards =
baftaawards =Russell Hunter (
February 18 1925 –February 26 2004 ) was a popular Scottishtelevision , stage and filmactor . He is perhaps best known as the character "Lonely" in the TV thriller series "Callan", starringEdward Woodward .Life
Born Russell Ellis in
Glasgow , Hunter's childhood was spent with his maternal grandparents inLanarkshire , until returning to his unemployed father and cleaner mother when he was 12. He went from school to an apprenticeship in aClydebank shipyard. During this time, he did some amateur acting before turning professional in 1946.Work
Under the stage name Russell Hunter, he acted at Perth Rep and at the Glasgow Unity Theatre also performing in the very first
Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 1947 in "The Plough and the Stars " bySeán O'Casey , was a comedian in summer variety shows and toured with a one-man show.Hunter worked in
repertory theatre and Scottish variety before making his film debut in "Lilli Marlene" (1950). He appeared with Archie Duncan in the film "The Gorbals Story", in London the same year, which also featured his first wife, Marjorie Thomson, and he followed these by playing a pilot in the Battle of Britain drama "Angels One Five" in 1951.A busy actor, he joined Peter Hall's
Royal Shakespeare Company , working withPeggy Ashcroft and Dame Edith Evans. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2004/mar/01/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries Obituary: Russell Hunter | Global | The Guardian ] ]Callan
His most memorable role was the timid, smelly petty criminal, Lonely, unlikely accomplice to a clinical spy-cum-assassin, in the downbeat 1967 television spy series "Callan". [ [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/russell-hunter-549532.html Russell Hunter - Obituaries, News - The Independent ] ] Reportedly, he said of his identification with Lonely that "I take more baths than I might have playing other parts. When Lonely was in the public eye I used only the very best toilet water and a hell of a lot of aftershave." [ [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/russell-hunter-549532.html Russell Hunter - Obituaries, News - The Independent ] ]
After playing
Costard in aBBC television production of "Love's Labour's Lost " (1965), Hunter was cast as Lonely in ITV's "Armchair Theatre" production "A Magnum for Schneider" in 1967, which introduced the secret agent Callan to the screen. Four series followed (1967, 1969-72). Hunter and Edward Woodward reprised their roles in both a 1974 feature film of the same name and, seven years later, in the television film "Wet Job", by which time Lonely had gone straight, got married and was running a plumbing company called Fresh and Fragrant. [ [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/russell-hunter-549532.html Russell Hunter - Obituaries, News - The Independent ] ] The title plays on "wet job" the euphemism for murder or assassination.During his years with "Callan", Hunter acted in the Hammer
horror film "Taste the Blood of Dracula " (1970) and took the roles of Crumbles, Dr Fogg and Dr Makepeace in an ITV production of "Sweeney Todd " (1970).Hunter's other TV credits include "
The Sweeney ", "Doctor Who ", "The Bill ", "A Touch of Frost", sitcoms "Rule Brittania" (1975) as the Scotsman Jock McGregor and shop steward in "The Gaffer" (1981-83), and his last ever TV appearance, in the BBC drama "Born and Bred ". In his last years he reprised his Doctor Who role for a series of audio plays released on CD, Kaldor City.He also appeared as different characters in the pilot and series of the BBC sitcom "
Rab C. Nesbitt ".Illness
Although in the advanced stages of
cancer , Hunter's last theatrical stint was in theSidney Lumet play "12 Angry Men " at the same, if inconceivably expanded,Edinburgh Festival Fringe , with which he had remained inextricably linked. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2004/mar/01/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries Obituary: Russell Hunter | Global | The Guardian ] ]Despite being ill, Hunter received positive reviews for his appearances in the feature film "
American Cousins " late in 2003 and as a priest in the film "Skagerrak". [ [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/russell-hunter-549532.html Russell Hunter - Obituaries, News - The Independent ] ] In November, "American Cousins", Hunter's last movie role, received theSpecial Jury Prize at the Savannah Film Festival in the United States, ending a career spanning six decades. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3491544.stm BBC NEWS | Scotland | Scots actor Russell Hunter dies ] ]Personal life
In 1949, Hunter married Marjorie Thomson and had two daughters. In 1970, he married actress
Caroline Blakiston after they both appeared in "A Midsummer Night's Dream " at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park. [ [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/russell-hunter-549532.html Russell Hunter - Obituaries, News - The Independent ] ] They had a son and a daughter. He remarried for the third time in 1991 to fellow performer,Una McLean . [ [http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/russell-hunter-549532.html Russell Hunter - Obituaries, News - The Independent ] ]Russell Hunter died aged 79 at Edinburgh's Western General Hospital of lung cancer. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3491544.stm BBC NEWS | Scotland | Scots actor Russell Hunter dies ] ]
References
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