Senator, 'Law & Order' Actor Fred Thompson dies

Nov 2 2015, 8:50 am ET

Folksy Ex-Senator and 'Law & Order' Actor Fred Thompson Dies at 73

by M. Alex Johnson

Former Sen. Fred Thompson, the Watergate investigator-turned-actor-turned national political figure, died Sunday at 73 from lymphoma, with which he had struggled for more than a decade, his family said.

Thompson, a towering, burly man with a deep, Southern-inflected voice, parlayed his fame as a key investigator of the Watergate scandal into a TV and movie career before he was elected to finish the Senate term of Al Gore of Tennessee, who vacated the seat when he became vice president.

Thompson, a Republican, was elected to the seat in his own right in 1996. He ran unsuccessfully for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008...

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/folksy-ex-senator-law-order-actor-fred-thompson-dies-73-n455421

Former senator, actor Fred Thompson dies at 73

Lucas L. Johnson II, Associated Press 10:17 p.m. EST November 1, 2015

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...

http://www.detroitnews.com/story/obituaries/2015/11/01/senator-actor-fred-thompson-dies/75017402/

Thanks Bette!

I am so sad to hear that Fred Thompson passed away.....I loved watching him as an actor.....he was such a natural and seemed larger than life. What an on-screen presence he had and seemed like such a a cool guy too!

I just heard that he was instrumental in the 1970's with the Watergate hearings - I had no idea. What a long and multifaceted career he had!

RIP Fred.....you will be missed!

I've liked him ever since the Watergate Hearings. I watched the televised hearings all summer long! He was an investigator. I can't remember which committee member he was investigating for. But I remember he was so tall that he towered over everyone else.

What a summer of revelations that was! John Dean with his beautiful wife sitting behind him as he testified about the coverup, "There's a cancer on the Presidency". The day an aide (Alexander Butterfield?) revealed to the jaw-dropped committee members there was a taping system in place in the Oval Office! Obtaining transcripts of the tapes involved an FBI head being fired and several Attorneys-General resigning. Then came the famous "eighteen minute gap".

For anyone who has never read it, "All the President's Men" was a great book. It read like one of the finest mysteries ever written. And the movie with Robert Redfor and Dustin Hoffman was excellent also.

RIP Mr. Thompson.