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.
The family statement said Thompson died Sunday in Nashville following a recurrence of lymphoma. It added he was surrounded by his family.
"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," the statement added. "Fred was the same man on the floor of the Senate, the movie studio, or the town square of ... his home."
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.
Thompson, a lawyer, alternated between politics and acting much of his adult life. Once regarded as a rising star in the Senate, he retired from that seat when his term expired in January 2003, saying he didn't have the drive for another term.
However, he returned to politics in 2007 by announcing that he would seek the Republican presidential nomination. Dogged by accusations he was not a hard worker, he dropped out in January 2008 after faring poorly in the early caucuses and primaries.
The son of a car salesman, Thompson was born in Sheffield, Ala., and grew up in Lawrenceburg, Tenn., where he was a star athlete. He was 17 when he married Sarah Lindsey. The couple, who divorced in 1985, lived in public housing for a year as newlyweds.
Thompson graduated from Memphis State University in 1964 and earned his law degree from Vanderbilt University in 1967. To pay for school, he worked at a bicycle plant, post office and motel.
Thompson went on to become a lawyer in Nashville. In 1969, he became an assistant U.S. attorney, then volunteered in 1972 to work on the re-election campaign of former Republican Sen. Howard Baker. A year later, Baker selected Thompson to be chief minority counsel on the committee investigating the Watergate scandal.
Afterward, Thompson returned to Tennessee and represented Marie Ragghianti, the head of the Tennessee Parole Board who was fired in 1977 after exposing a pardon-selling scheme.
Ragghianti won reinstatement and her case was made into a 1985 movie titled Marie, based on the 1983 book Marie: A True Story, by Peter Maas. The producers asked Thompson to play himself, and the role launched his acting career.
Thompson once called the Senate a "remarkable place" but, like Hollywood, said there was "frustration connected with it."
Just before leaving the Senate, Thompson said too much time was spent on meaningless matters and partisan bickering.
A Section on 11/02/2015