Jimmy Hunt

{{Short description|American actor (1939–2025)}} {{For|the Canadian singer-songwriter|Jimmy Hunt (musician)}} {{infobox person | name = Jimmy Hunt | birth_name = James Walter Hunt | image = Jimmy Hunt Press Photo.jpg | caption = Hunt {{circa}}1950s | birth_date = {{Birth date|1939|12|4}} | birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | death_date = {{Death date and age|2025|7|18|1939|12|4}} | death_place = Simi Valley, California, U.S. | occupation = Actor | years_active = 1947–1954; 1986 | spouse = {{marriage|Roswitha T. Jager|1963}} | children = 4 | relatives = }} '''James Walter Hunt''' (December 4, 1939 – July 18, 2025) was an American film actor, most prominent as a child star who appeared in 35 pictures between 1945 and 1953.<ref name=Barnes/> He is perhaps best known for his role as David in ''Invaders from Mars'' (1953). In the 1986 remake of ''Invaders from Mars'' he plays the police chief.<ref>{{cite web|newspaper=The New York Times|title=THE SCREEN: 'INVADERS FROM MARS'|page=14|author=Darnton, Nina|date=June 6, 1986|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1986/06/06/movies/the-screen-invaders-from-mars.html}}</ref>

==Life and career== Hunt was born in Los Angeles, California on December 4, 1939.<ref name = Barnes/> He mostly stopped acting when he became a teenager.<ref name = Barnes/> As an adult, he served in the U.S. Army and went on to work in sales in the aerospace industry.<ref name = Barnes/> However, he appeared in the 1986 remake of ''Invaders from Mars'', and gave interviews about his acting career well into his later years.<ref name=Barnes/>

He also appeared in films like ''Cheaper by the Dozen'', ''The Mating of Millie'', ''Pitfall'', ''Rusty's Birthday'', ''The Sainted Sisters'', ''Sorry, Wrong Number'', ''Top o' the Morning'', ''Louisa'', ''The Fuller Brush Man'', ''Week-End with Father'', ''She Couldn't Say No'' and more.<ref name=Barnes/> He acted in multiple films opposite Gigi Perreau.<ref name=Barnes>{{cite news|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/jimmy-hunt-dead-invaders-from-mars-1236324837/|title=Jimmy Hunt, Young Star of 'Invaders From Mars,' Dies at 85|author=Barnes, Mike|date=July 21, 2025|accessdate=July 21, 2025|newspaper=The Hollywood Reporter}}</ref>

Hunt retired from acting at the age 14. After high school he attended college and served in the U.S. Army for three years as a codebreaker. He went on to work as a sales manager for a San Fernando Valley industrial supply and tool company that did business with aerospace firms.<ref name=Barnes/>

In 1963, Hunt married Roswitha Jager, whom he met while stationed in Germany during his military service. The couple had two daughters, one also named Roswitha who died over a decade before her parents,<ref name=Barnes/> and Alisa,<ref name=I>{{cite web|newspaper=The Independent|url=https://www.the-independent.com/arts-entertainment/films/news/jimmy-hunt-death-cheaper-by-the-dozen-invaders-from-mars-b2793521.html|title=Jimmy Hunt death: Cheaper By The Dozen and Invaders From Mars star dies aged 85|author=Muir, Ellie|date=22 July 2025}}</ref> and two sons, Ron and Randy. Hunt also had a sister, Bonnie, and nine grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.<ref name=Barnes/>

In 1986, Hunt came out of retirement from acting to appear in director Tobe Hooper{{'}}s remake of ''Invaders from Mars''.<ref name=I/>

Hunt claimed he was still receiving fan mail for ''Invaders from Mars'' 70 years after it was first released.<ref name=Barnes/>

Hunt died from complications of a heart attack at a hospital in Simi Valley, California, on July 18, 2025, at the age of 85.<ref name=Barnes/>

==Filmography== *''Song of Love'' (1947) *''The Mating of Millie'' (1948) *''Pitfall'' (1948) *''Sorry, Wrong Number'' (1948) *''Family Honeymoon'' (1948) *''Rusty's Birthday'' (1949) *''Top o' the Morning'' (1949) *''Special Agent'' (1949) *''Louisa'' (1950) *''Cheaper by the Dozen'' (1950) *''Saddle Tramp'' (1950) *''Shadow on the Wall'' (1950) *''The Capture'' (1950) *''Again Pioneers'' (1950) *''Her First Romance'' (1951) *''Katie Did It'' (1951) *''Belles on Their Toes'' (1952) *''All American'' (1953) *''Invaders from Mars'' (1953) *''The Lone Hand'' (1953) *''She Couldn't Say No'' (1954) *''Invaders from Mars'' (1986)

==References== {{reflist}}

==Bibliography== * {{cite book|last=Goldrup|first=Tom and Jim|title=Growing Up on the Set: Interviews with 39 Former Child Actors of Film and Television|date=2002|publisher=McFarland & Co.|isbn=1476613702|pages=130–137}} * Holmstrom, John (1996). ''The Moving Picture Boy: An International Encyclopaedia from 1895 to 1995''. Norwich: Michael Russell, p. 216–217.

==External links== {{Commons category}} * {{IMDb name|0402505}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunt, Jimmy}} Category:1939 births Category:2025 deaths Category:American male child actors Category:American male film actors Category:American male television actors Category:Male actors from Los Angeles Category:20th-century American male actors Category:United States Army soldiers