Adam Russell Hunter (18 February 1925 – 26 February 2004) was a Scottish television, stage and film actor. He played Lonely in the TV thriller series ''
Callan
Callan is a given name and surname of Irish and Scottish origin. It can derive from Ó Cathaláin, meaning ''descendant of Cathalán''. Callan can also be an Anglicized form of the Gaelic Mac Allin or Mac Callin. Notable people with the name includ ...
'', starring
Edward Woodward
Edward Albert Arthur Woodward, OBE (1 June 1930 – 16 November 2009) was an English actor and singer. After graduating from the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, he began his career on stage. Throughout his career, he appeared in productions ...
, and
shop steward
A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of their fellow employees as a labor union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the union hold ...
Harry in the
Yorkshire Television
ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...
Bill Maynard
Walter Frederick George Williams (8 October 1928 – 30 March 2018), better known by his stage name Bill Maynard, was an English comedian and actor. He began working in television in the 1950s, notably starring alongside Terry Scott in '' G ...
. He made guest appearances in well-known series such as '' The Sweeney'', '' Doctor Who'', ''
Taggart
''Taggart'' is a Scottish detective fiction television programme created by Glenn Chandler, who wrote many of the episodes, and made by STV Studios for the ITV network. It originally ran as the miniseries "Killer" from 6 until 20 Septembe ...
'', ''
A Touch of Frost
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...
'', ''
The Bill
''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983.
The programme focused o ...
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, Hunter's childhood was spent with his maternal grandparents in
Lanarkshire
Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark ( gd, Siorrachd Lannraig; sco, Lanrikshire), is a historic county, lieutenancy area and registration county in the central Lowlands of Scotland.
Lanarkshire is the most populous county in Scotl ...
, until returning to his unemployed father and cleaner mother when he was 12. He went from school to an apprenticeship in a Clydebank shipyard. During this time, he did some amateur acting for the
Young Communist League
The Young Communist League (YCL) is the name used by the youth wing of various Communist parties around the world. The name YCL of XXX (name of country) originates from the precedent established by the Communist Youth International.
Examples of Y ...
before turning professional in 1946.
Career
Early work
Under the stage name Russell Hunter, he acted at Perth Rep and at the
Glasgow Unity Theatre
The Glasgow Unity Theatre was a theatre group that was formed in 1941, in Glasgow. The Unity theatre movement developed from workers' drama groups in the 1930s, seeing itself as using theatre to highlight the issues of the working class being prod ...
The Plough and the Stars
''The Plough and the Stars'' is a four-act play by the Irish writer Seán O'Casey that was first performed on 8 February 1926 at the Abbey Theatre. It is set in Dublin and addresses the 1916 Easter Rising. The play's title references the Sta ...
'' by
Seán O'Casey
Seán O'Casey ( ga, Seán Ó Cathasaigh ; born John Casey; 30 March 1880 – 18 September 1964) was an Irish dramatist and memoirist. A committed socialist, he was the first Irish playwright of note to write about the Dublin working classes.
...
, was a comedian in summer variety shows and toured with a one-man show.
Hunter worked in
repertory
A repertory theatre is a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation.
United Kingdom
Annie Horniman founded the first modern repertory theatre in Manchester after withdrawin ...
theatre and Scottish variety before making his film debut in ''
Lilli Marlene
''Lilli Marlene'' is a 1950 British war film aimed for the US market and directed by Arthur Crabtree. It stars Lisa Daniely, Hugh McDermott, and Richard Murdoch. Stanley Baker is seen in one of his early support roles.
Plot
A French girl name ...
'' (1950). In the same year, he appeared in the film ''The Gorbals Story'', which featured members of the Glasgow Unity Theatre including Archie Duncan and
Roddy McMillan
Roddy McMillan OBE (23 March 1923 – 9 July 1979) was a Scottish actor and playwright, possibly most famous for his comedy role as Para Handy for BBC Scotland's television series, '' The Vital Spark''. He also played the lead role in Edw ...
Peggy Ashcroft
Dame Edith Margaret Emily Ashcroft (22 December 1907 – 14 June 1991), known professionally as Peggy Ashcroft, was an English actress whose career spanned more than 60 years.
Born to a comfortable middle-class family, Ashcroft was deter ...
Bristol Old Vic
Bristol Old Vic is a British theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, Bristol. The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic in London. It is associated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which became a f ...
in 1964-5.
''Callan''
His most memorable role was the timid, smelly petty criminal, Lonely, unlikely accomplice to a clinical spy-cum-assassin, in the downbeat 1967 television spy series ''
Callan
Callan is a given name and surname of Irish and Scottish origin. It can derive from Ó Cathaláin, meaning ''descendant of Cathalán''. Callan can also be an Anglicized form of the Gaelic Mac Allin or Mac Callin. Notable people with the name includ ...
''. Reportedly, he said of his identification with Lonely that "I take more baths than I might have playing other parts. When Lonely was in the public eye I used only the very best toilet water and a hell of a lot of aftershave."
After playing Costard in a
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
television production of '' Love's Labour's Lost'' (1965), Hunter was cast as Lonely in ITV's "Armchair Theatre" production ''A Magnum for Schneider'' in 1967, which introduced the secret agent Callan to the screen. Four series followed (1967, 1969–72). Hunter and Edward Woodward reprised their roles in both a 1974 feature film of the same name and, seven years later, in the television film ''Wet Job'', by which time Lonely had gone straight, got married and was running a plumbing company called Fresh and Fragrant. The title plays on " wet job", the euphemism for murder or assassination.
Other roles
During his years with ''Callan'', Hunter acted in the Hammerhorror film ''
Taste the Blood of Dracula
''Taste the Blood of Dracula'' is a 1970 British supernatural horror film produced by Hammer Film Productions. Directed by Peter Sasdy from a script by Anthony Hinds, it is the fifth installment in Hammer's '' Dracula'' series, and the fourth ...
'' (1970) and took the roles of Crumbles, Dr Fogg and Dr Makepeace in an ITV production of ''
Sweeney Todd
Sweeney Todd is a fictional character who first appeared as the villain of the penny dreadful serial '' The String of Pearls'' (1846–47). The original tale became a feature of 19th-century melodrama and London legend. A barber from Fleet Stre ...
'' (1970), He also appeared in the British comedy film ''
Up Pompeii
''Up Pompeii!'' is a British television comedy series broadcast between 1969 and 1970, starring Frankie Howerd. The first series was written by Talbot Rothwell, a scriptwriter for the ''Carry On'' films, and the second series by Rothwell and S ...
'' (1971) as the Jailer.
He had two notable appearances in one-man plays performed on BBC Scotland in the early 1970s: ''Cocky'', where he played
Henry Cockburn, Lord Cockburn
Henry Thomas Cockburn of Bonaly, Lord Cockburn ( ; Cockpen, Midlothian, 26 October 1779 – Bonaly, Midlothian, 26 April/18 July 1854) was a Scottish lawyer, judge and literary figure. He served as Solicitor General for Scotland between 1830 a ...
, which ended with his speech to the jury defending Helen McDougal, Burke's wife, in the
Burke and Hare
The Burke and Hare murders were a series of sixteen killings committed over a period of about ten months in 1828 in Edinburgh, Scotland. They were undertaken by William Burke and William Hare, who sold the corpses to Robert Knox for dissection ...
case, and ''Jock'', where he played an archetypal Scottish soldier guarding a military museum. In 1974 he played Ted, a simple-minded but kind-hearted man in a two-part story in ''
Rooms (TV Series)
In a building or large vehicle, like a ship, a room is any enclosed space within a number of walls to which entry is possible only via a door or other dividing structure that connects it to either a passage (architecture), passageway, another roo ...
'', two-part dramas concerning the various drifters who rent rooms in a lodging house. He played 'Old Fred' in a 1974 episode of '' Thriller''. In 1975 he played a Scottish painter in the BBC's adaptation of the ''Lord Peter Wimsey'' story '' The Five Red Herrings''. In 1979, at the artist's request, he opened the Edinburgh Festival Exhibition of the Glasgow artist Stewart Bowman Johnson held at the Netherbow Gallery.
Hunter's other TV credits include '' The Sweeney'' (as a gay petty criminal and informant,
Popeye
Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.Ace of Wands'' (as the evil magician Mr Stabs, a role he reprised in an episode of the anthology series ''
Shadows
A shadow is a dark area where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, ...
The Robots of Death
''The Robots of Death'' is the fifth serial of the 14th season of the British science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'', which was first broadcast in four weekly parts on BBC1 from 29 January to 19 February 1977.
In the serial, the Fou ...
The Bill
''The Bill'' is a British police procedural television series, first broadcast on ITV from 16 August 1983 until 31 August 2010. The programme originated from a one-off drama, '' Woodentop'', broadcast in August 1983.
The programme focused o ...
'', ''
A Touch of Frost
A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...
'', ''
Taggart
''Taggart'' is a Scottish detective fiction television programme created by Glenn Chandler, who wrote many of the episodes, and made by STV Studios for the ITV network. It originally ran as the miniseries "Killer" from 6 until 20 Septembe ...
'', sitcoms ''Rule Britannia'' (1975) as the Scotsman Jock McGregor and shop steward in ''The Gaffer'' (1981–83), and his last ever TV appearance, in the BBC drama ''
Born and Bred
''Born and Bred'' was a British light-hearted drama series aired on BBC One which ran from 21 April 2002 to 3 August 2005. It was created by Chris Chibnall and Nigel McCrery. Initially the cast was led by James Bolam and Michael French as a ...
''. In his last years he reprised his ''Doctor Who'' role for a series of audio plays released on CD, ''
Kaldor City
''Kaldor City'' is a series of audio plays using elements from the British TV series ''Doctor Who'' and ''Blake's 7''. Many of the elements borrowed from these series for use in ''Kaldor City'' were originated by Chris Boucher, who wrote for '' ...
''. He also appeared in an episode of ''
Mind Your Language
''Mind Your Language'' is a British sitcom that premiered on ITV in 1977. It was produced by London Weekend Television and directed by Stuart Allen. Three series were made by the London Weekend Television between 1977 and 1979 and briefly re ...
'' as a minor character in the episode "I Belong To Glasgow". He also appeared in the TV sitcom Lovejoy as a Scottish submariner in the episode "Angel Trousers".
He also appeared as different characters in the pilot and series of the BBC sitcom ''
Rab C. Nesbitt
''Rab C. Nesbitt'' is a Scottish comedy series which began in 1988. Produced by BBC Scotland, it stars Gregor Fisher as an alcoholic Glaswegian who seeks unemployment as a lifestyle choice. Rab C. Nesbitt was originally a recurring character ...
''.
Personal life
In 1949, Hunter married Marjorie Thomson and had two daughters. In 1970, he married actress Caroline Blakiston after they both appeared in '' A Midsummer Night's Dream'' at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park. They had a son and a daughter. His third marriage, in 1991, was to fellow performer Una McLean. They lived in a converted building at Taylor Gardens in
Leith
Leith (; gd, Lìte) is a port area in the north of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, founded at the mouth of the Water of Leith. In 2021, it was ranked by ''Time Out'' as one of the top five neighbourhoods to live in the world.
The earliest ...
.
Illness
Although in the advanced stages of
cancer
Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...
, Hunter's last theatrical stint was in the
Reginald Rose
Reginald Rose (December 10, 1920 – April 19, 2002) was an American screenwriter. He wrote about controversial social and political issues. His realism (arts), realistic approach was particularly influential in the anthology programs of the ...
play ''
12 Angry Men
''Twelve Angry Men'' is an American courtroom drama written by Reginald Rose concerning the jury of a homicide trial. It was broadcast initially as a television play in 1954. The following year it was adapted for the stage. It was adapted for a ...
'' at the same, if inconceivably expanded, Edinburgh Festival Fringe, with which he had remained inextricably linked.
Despite being ill, Hunter received positive reviews for his appearances in the feature film ''
American Cousins
''American Cousins'' is a 2003 romantic comedy film directed by Don Coutts and starring Danny Nucci, Gerald Lepkowski, Shirley Henderson, Vincent Pastore, Dan Hedaya, Russell Hunter, Olegar Fedoro, and Stevan Rimkus. The plot is about a Scot ...
'' late in 2003 and as a priest in the film ''Skagerrak''. In November, ''American Cousins'', Hunter's last movie role, received the Special Jury Prize at the Savannah Film Festival in the United States, ending a career spanning six decades.
Death
Russell Hunter died aged 79 at Edinburgh's Western General Hospital of lung cancer.