NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Fred Thompson, a folksy former Republican U.S. senator from Tennessee who appeared in feature films and television including a role on “Law &Order,” died Sunday, his family said.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Fred Thompson, a folksy former Republican U.S. senator from Tennessee who appeared in feature films and television including a role on “Law &Order,” died Sunday, his family said.
He was 73.
Thompson, at 6-foot-6 with a booming voice, appeared in at least 20 motion pictures. His credits include “In the Line of Fire,” “The Hunt for Red October,” ”Die Hard II” and “Cape Fear.” By the early 1990s, Thompson said he had become bored with his 10-year stint in Hollywood and wanted to go into public service. That’s when he headed back to Nashville and launched his Senate campaign.
The family statement said Thompson died Sunday in Nashville following a recurrence of lymphoma. It added he was surrounded by his family.
“It is with a heavy heart and a deep sense of grief that we share the passing of our brother, father and grandfather who died peacefully in Nashville,” the statement added. “Fred was the same man on the floor of the Senate, the movie studio, or the town square of … his home.”
Thompson, a lawyer, alternated between politics and acting much of his adult life. Once regarded as a rising star in the Senate, he retired from that seat when his term expired in January 2003, saying he didn’t have the drive for another term.
“I simply do not have the heart for another six-year term,” Thompson said in a written statement at the time. “Serving in the Senate has been a tremendous honor, but I feel that I have other priorities that I need to attend to.”
However, he returned to politics in 2007 by announcing that he would seek the Republican presidential nomination. Dogged by accusations he was not a hard worker, he dropped out in January 2008 after faring poorly in the early caucuses and primaries.
“I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort,” Thompson said.
After leaving the race, he campaigned extensively for presidential nominee John McCain, then sought support to become chairman of the Republican National Committee but quit that quest after a few months.
Thompson took stock of his life after the January 2002 death of his daughter, Elizabeth Thompson Panici, 38, following an accidental prescription drug overdose.
Thompson’s rise to the Senate was atypical. He had never before held public office, but he overwhelmingly won a 1994 special election for Al Gore’s old Senate seat after connecting with voters. In 1996 he easily won a six-year term.
After retiring from the Senate, Thompson took a role on the TV show “Law &Order.” In 2007, he portrayed Ulysses S. Grant in the TV movie “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.”
In June 2002, Thompson married Jeri Kehn, a political and media specialist.
After retiring from politics, Thompson hosted a conservative radio talk show between 2009 and 2011 and became a TV advertising pitchman for American Advisers Group, a reverse mortgage financial company.