Arthur Lee Hunnicutt

Actor. He is remembered for portraying of wise, grizzled, old rural characters in films and on Broadway. After graduating from high school in Yell County, Arkansas, he attended Arkansas State Teachers College (now the University of Central Arkansas), in Conway, Arkansas. The lack of money forced him to drop out in his junior year and he moved to Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, where he joined up with a theater company. He then moved to New York City, New York, and soon 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. He moved to Hollywood, California in the early 1940s and appeared in 14 B-Western films, from 1942 until 1944, including "Silver Queen" (1942), "Frontier Fury" (1943), "Johnny Come Lately" (1943), and "The Chance of a Lifetime" (1944). In 1945 he returned to the stage but in 1949 he moved back to Hollywood in 1949 and resumed his film career. He played a long string of supporting role characters who were sympathetic, wise rural types, as in "Lust For Gold" (1949), "The Great Dan Patch" (1949), "Broken Arrow" (1950), "Stars in My Crown" (1950), "The Red Badge of Courage" (1951), "Sugarfoot" (1951), "The Big Sky" (1952, for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor as 'Uncle Zeb'), "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') and "El Dorado" (1966, as John Wayne's sidekick 'Bull Harris'). From the 1950s through the 1970s, he made nearly 40 guest appearances on American television programs, including "Bonanza," "Gunsmoke," "The Outer Limits," "The Rifleman," "The Andy Griffith Show," and "The Twilight Zone." In 1963 he made two memorable appearances on the television show "Perry Mason," as orange grower 'Amos Kennesaw Mountain Keller' in "The Case of the Golden Oranges," and prospector 'Sandy Bowen' in "The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito." His last film was "Moonrunners" (1975, as 'Uncle Jesse'), that was the precursor to the television show "The Dukes of Hazzard." During his career, he appeared in over 35 films. He died of tongue cancer at the age of 69.