RUSSELL Hunter was one of Scotland’s most talented and versatile actors. He “graced virtually every landmark of Scottish theatre for more than half a century”, one obituary noted upon his death in February 2004, his career having ranged across pantomime through Sean O’Casey to television drama and the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Hunter had worked in John Brown’s shipyard in Clydebank before turning to acting. As a member of Glasgow Unity Theatre he took part in no fewer than four plays at the first International Edinburgh Festival, in 1947.
He went on to have a long association with the Citizens Theatre in Glasgow. Both photographs date from April-May1960, from, respectively, the productions Sixes an’ Sevens (right: Hunter is with Clarke Tait and Roy Boutcher) and Wedding Day (alongside Beth Boyd, and Una McLean, whom Hunter would later marry).
The Glasgow Herald’s drama critic, Christopher Small, was especially taken with the revue, Sixes an’ Sevens, observing that it had lots of Glasgow colour, and a “touching elegy for the last of the trams”.
The revue’s “happy irreverence” peaked, Small added, in a monologue delivered by Hunter in which he celebrated “with unkind satire and mounting effect the conjectural 50th anniversary of the F-lc-n Th--tre [the Falcon Theatre].
“This is really wickedly funny and alone worth a visit to Gorbals Street. It is the best of a number of things in which Mr Hunter, taking the best chance the Citizens’ have yet given him, shows what a remarkably good and versatile comic he is”.
By 1967 Hunter had begun appearing as Lonely, a memorable character in the TV series, Callan, opposite Edward Woodward. “The series took off”, said Hunter’s obituary in this newspaper, “with Hunter’s weasely physiognomy stealing the show, and tapping into the public consciousness with a performance full of vulnerability and pathos that went on to define him beyond the panto turns he was equally adept at”.
In August 1969 an Edinburgh theatre critic said of Hunter: “It takes a Glasgow man to bring out the best in Edinburgh” after watching a one-man show, Cocky, about the 19th century Scottish lawyer , Lord Cockburn. Hunter himself, recalling his long involvement with the Festival and the Fringe. would recall: “For the first time, I was on my own in Jack Ronder’s one-man play, Cocky. The total production budget was £120. That’s what the author, director and actor had put in the kitty. The rest had to come from ticket sales. It worked: nine performances a week and an extra week after the Festival. I had been bitten”.
Hunter’s distinguished CV later included everything from W Gordon Smith’s Jock to Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, as well as numerous film and TV roles.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here