Fred Thompson passes away aged 73

It is Cult Faction’s sad duty to report that Fred Thompson (pictured on the right), a former United States Senator who acted in TV and films, has died at 73, his family said Sunday in a statement to the Associated Press. Thompson died in Nashville after a recurrence of lymphoma, the statement said.

During his acting career, Thompson appeared in a number of movies, television shows and commercials. He had a regular role on the hit TV show Law & Order playing Manhattan District Attorney Arthur Branch.

He appeared in more than twenty feature films, including In the Line of Fire, The Hunt for Red October, Die Hard 2 and Cape Fear. Thompson was a commanding presence, standing 6-foot-6 with a booming voice and folksy demeanor.

The Republican served in the U.S. Senate representing Tennessee from 1994 to 2003 and served as a Watergate investigator. He ran for the GOP presidential nomination in 2008.