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Jeffrey Hunter (born Henry Herman “Hank” McKinnies, November 25, 1926 - May 27, 1969) was an American film and television actor. His most famous roles are as Jesus in the film King of Kings, as Martin Pawley in The Searchers, and as Capt. Christopher Pike in the original pilot episode of Star Trek. Hunter was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and after 1930 reared in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he graduated from Whitefish Bay High School. He began acting in local theater and radio in his early teens. He served stateside in the United States Navy, in World War II, then from 1946-1949... MORE

Jeffrey Hunter (born Henry Herman “Hank” McKinnies, November 25, 1926 - May 27, 1969) was an American film and television actor. His most famous roles are as Jesus in the film King of Kings, as Martin Pawley in The Searchers, and as Capt. Christopher Pike in the original pilot episode of Star Trek. Hunter was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, and after 1930 reared in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he graduated from Whitefish Bay High School. He began acting in local theater and radio in his early teens. He served stateside in the United States Navy, in World War II, then from 1946-1949 studied theatre at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. In 1950, while a graduate student in radio at the University of California, Los Angeles and appearing in a college play, he was spotted by talent scouts and offered a two-year motion picture contract by 20th Century-Fox that was eventually extended to 1959. He made his Hollywood debut in Fourteen Hours, had star billing by Red Skies of Montana (1952), and first billing in Sailor of the King (1953). A loan-out to co-star with John Wayne in the title roles of the now-classic western The Searchers began the first of three pictures he made with LESS