Fred Thompson, a former Republican senator from Tennessee who also once attempted to run for the presidency while caught between the world of politics and showbiz with his film and television career as an actor, has passed away at the age of 73 years old.
Thompson is most popular for his role in the NBC hit series Law & Order as District Attorney Arthur Branch, though he was once a real-life federal prosecutor. Thompson entered the Senate in 1994, and he served two terms before his retirement in 2003.
Thompson succumbed to cancer with a recurrence of lymphoma, according to Tennessee Republican Party executive director Brent Leatherwood. He was in hospice care when he passed away.
"It is with a heavy heart and a deep sense of grief that we share the passing of our brother, husband, father, and grandfather, who died peacefully in Nashville surrounded by his family," said Thompson's relatives through a statement published in a Tennessee newspaper.
Thomspon revealed his presidential nomination on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in September of 2007. However, he dropped out as a Republican candidate for the presidency as he gained little backing for his run.
Thompson graduated with a law degree at Vanderbilt University and became a federal prosecutor. He found employment under Howard Baker, a longtime senator of Tennessee.
Baker secured Thompson employment as minority legal counsel in the Senate Watergate committee in 1972, where he was credited with assisting Baker in crafting the question, "What did the president know, and when did he know it?"
The question was asked on a hearing in July 1973 that was televised nationally. It led to the disclosure of Alexander Butterfield, a White House aide, of a secret tape-recording system in the Oval Office. These tapes were pivotal in the Watergate scandal, and the subsequent resignation in 1974 of President Richard Nixon.
Thompson shifted between his political career and acting career, with supporting roles in several films such as Die Hard 2, The Hunt for Red October, and In the Line of Fire.
After Thompson's retirement from his political career, he became the host of a conservative radio talk show that ran from 2009 to 2011.
