RIP Thomas Hunter

Thomas O’Driscoll Hunter died peacefully in his home in Rowayton, Connecticut, on Dec. 27, 2017. He was 85. Born in Savannah, Georgia, on December 19, 1932, he led a creative and adventurous life. He graduated from the University of Virginia with a degree in art and proudly served as a captain in the United States Marine Corps. In the late ’50s, he embarked on an exciting career as an actor, which led to a 10-year residence in Italy and a number of starring roles in “Spaghetti westerns” and other movies shot around the world. In Rome, he formed his own theater company and co-wrote the screenplays for the films “The Human Factor” and “The Final Countdown.” Upon returning to the United States, he wrote and directed plays, ran theater workshops and published a novel, “Softly Walks the Beast,” and an autobiography, “Memoirs of a Spaghetti Cowboy: Oddball Tales of Luck and Derring-Do.” Hunter appeared in three Euro-westerns: “The Hills Run Red” (1966), “Death Walks in Laredo” (1967) and the TV film “Carlos” (197).