Memorials

[iamnottheone]

Fred Thompson, former U.S. senator and actor, dead at 73

Fred Thompson, a folksy former Republican U.S. senator from Tennessee who appeared in feature films and television including an outsized role on "Law & Order," died Sunday, his family said. He was 73.

At 6-foot-6 with a booming voice, Thompson 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 '90s, Thompson said he had become bored with his 10-year stint in Hollywood and wanted to enter public service. That's when he headed back to Nashville and launched his Senate campaign.

A man of varied roles on and off the screen, he was a lawyer by training and once served as a committee counsel during the Senate Watergate hearings.

The family statement said Thompson died in Nashville following a recurrence of lymphoma.

"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," it said. "Fred was the same man on the floor of the Senate, the movie studio, or the town square of ... his home."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-fred-thompson-dead-20151101-story.html