Fred Dalton Thompson was born on the 19th August 1942 in Sheffield, Alabama USA, and died on the 1st November, 2015 in Nashville, USA. He was a lawyer, actor, lobbyist and politician, who from 1994 to 2003 he served as the Republican senator for the state of Tennessee. Thompson was known for his unusual, yet very rich and diverse career. Firstly he gained fame as a lawyer, then an actor. Thompson was also known as district attorney Arthur Branch in the TV series “Law & Order” aired on NBC. He abandoned acting during a term in the Senate, to return afterwards.
How rich was this actor, lawyer and politician? At the time of his death, the net worth of Fred Thompson was estimated as equal to $8 million, accumulated from his various careers.
Fred Thompson Net Worth $8 Million
To begin with, Fred was the son of car dealer Fletcher Session and housewife Ruth Bradley. He attended Lawrence County High School, and worked in the local post office in the daytime and in a mounting bicycle facility at night. Then Thompson went to Florence State College (now the University of North Alabama), before moving to the University of Memphis, from where he graduated with a double degree in philosophy and political science in 1964, as well as a scholarship from the law schools of Tulane University and Vanderbilt University law Schools, and at the latter obtained his doctorate in law in 1967.
From 1969 to 1972 he was an assistant to the Federal Public Ministry. Devoting himself to politics, he then became Special Advisor of the USA Senate Committee for Foreign Affairs and the US Senate Committee for the Secret Service. He also led his own practice as a lawyer in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1977 defending Marie Ragghianti, who had been expelled for refusing to release some criminals, winning the case from which she benefitted with adequate compensation. The story was published in 1983 by the journalist Peter Maas, from which was made into the film “Marie”, directed by Roger Donaldson, who asked Thompson participate personally in the film, representing himself.
Since then, Thompson starred in several films and participated as an actor in episodes of television series such as “Law & Order – Special Victims Unit”, “Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Conviction” and others. In 1994, he was elected senator for Tennessee, being re-elected to the Senate in 1996. In 2006, no longer a senator, he signed a contract with the radio network ABC News Radio as a commentator and political analyst. Then he also signed a contract with Salem Communications’s Townhall. In March 2007 he began a brief campaign for his candidacy for the USA presidency in 2008, but in January 2008, after the limited success of the primary campaign, announced his retirement.
He died of cancer in Nashville on 1st November, 2015 at the age of 73. He is buried in the cemetery of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. In the personal life of Fred Thompson, at the age of 17 he married Sara Elizabeth Lindsey, from whom he divorced in 1985; they had three children. In 2002, after six years of engagement, he married Jeri Kehn, a journalist and political commentator, with whom he had two children. His daughter Elizabeth died in 2002 (at age 38) from an overdose of prescribed drugs.
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series
Movies
The Hunt for Red October, Die Hard 2, Days of Thunder, Sinister, In the Line of Fire, Cape Fear, No Way Out, The Persecuted, God's Not Dead 2, Fat Man Little Boy, Curly Sue, The Last Ride, Barbarians at the Gate, Baby's Day Out, Thunderheart, Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, 90 Minutes in Heaven, Nece...
TV Shows
Law & Order, Law & Order: Trial by Jury
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Trademark
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Often plays figures of authority.
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Towering height
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Quote
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[from a speech given before the Commonwealth Club of California] After two years in Washington, I often long for the realism and sincerity of Hollywood.
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Fact
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Said to be considering a presidential bid for 2008. [March 2007]
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Has filed papers to form an exploratory committee, and will announce whether or not he will run on July 4, 2007. [June 2007]
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Has announced that he will not be seeking re-election for his seat in the U.S. Senate. [2002]
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Withdraws from Presidential race. "Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people." January 22, 2008 [January 2008]
After failing to win a single primary, Thompson ended his presidential campaign in January 2008 and later endorsed Senator John McCain.
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Declared that he was a candidate for President of the United States on Law & Order: C.O.D. (2004), 5 September 2007.
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For 17 years (1975 to 1992) Thompson worked as a lobbyist in Washington, D.C. representing such clients as Westinghouse, General Electric (which owns NBC Universal-NBC television network), and the Tennessee Savings and Loan League.
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Diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma two 1/2 years ago but the cancer is now in remission [April 11, 2007].
Is one of four cast members from Law & Order (1990) whose character became a regular on a "Law & Order" spin-off. He played District Attorney Arthur Branch in both Law & Order (1990) and Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005).
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Is the only actor to be a regular on two different "Law & Order" series at the same time. From March to May 2005, he played District Attorney Arthur Branch on both Law & Order (1990) and Law & Order: Trial by Jury (2005). He also plays the same character as a recurring guest star in Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (1999). Richard Anderson, Marla Gibbs and David Hasselhoff are among the few other actors to have played the same regular character on two different series simultaneously.
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Also has two sons and five grandchildren.
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Helped introduce President George W. Bush at the Republican National Convention (2004) in New York.
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When he joined the cast of Law & Order (1990) in the fall of 2002, Thompson (District Attorney Arthur Branch) became the first serving U.S. Senator to take a regular TV acting job. His term did not end until January 2003.
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He and wife Jeri welcomed a daughter, Hayden Victoria, in October 2003.
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Although he maintained his membership in the Screen Actors Guild when he was a senator, Thompson generally took the opposite side of the unions in legislation.
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2nd wife Jeri, 41, is a political media consultant at Verner Liipfert law firm in Washington, who once worked for Senate Republican Conference and Republican National Committee.
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Worked as a shoe salesman, truck driver, and even a factory worker prior to becoming a lawyer.
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Senator Thompson went to Memphis State University in 1964 and Vanderbilt University in 1967.
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Was a lawyer/attorney before becoming an actor.
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Won a special election to the United States Senate in 1994 to fill the unexpired term of senator Al Gore, who had been elected vice president of the U.S. (Gore resigned from the Senate 2 January 1993); reelected for a full term in 1996. He did not run for reelection in 2002. A Republican, he represented his home state of Tennessee from 2 December 1994 - 3 January 2003.
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Thompson can be seen in the archival footage of the Watergate hearings in Oliver Stone's Nixon (1995). He was one of the active lawyers on the Watergate committee during the hearings.