Arthur Hunnicutt

Arthur Hunnicutt
Hunnicutt in Stars in My Crown (1950)
Born	Arthur Lee Hunnicutt (1910-02-17)February 17, 1910 Gravelly, Arkansas, U.S.
Died	September 26, 1979(1979-09-26) (aged 69) Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1941–1975
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.

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, Cheyenne, 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

from Split Second (1953)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arthur Hunnicutt.

• Arthur Hunnicutt at the Internet Movie Database
• Arthur Hunnicutt at the Internet Broadway Database
  
• Arthur Hunnicutt at Find a Grave