Born in
Savannah, Georgia, Hunter served in the
United States Marine Corps and graduated from the
University of Virginia. He studied acting with
Sanford Meisner and
Uta Hagen. He entered film in a small role in
Blake Edwards'
What Did You Do in the War, Daddy? (1966). After completing the film, a chance meeting with
Dino De Laurentiis led him to be invited to star as the lead in
The Hills Run Red leading him to a career in European - primarily Italian - cinema with guest appearances in American television series. His dissatisfaction with European cinema led him to found the New England Repertory Company. Hunter published two books. The novel
Softly Walks the Beast is an end-of-the-world story that takes place in the not-too-distant future and centers on a dwindling community of smart and resourceful people on a college campus, struggling against the horrible and seemingly unstoppable after-effects of a nuclear war. "Softly Walks the Beast" was first published in 1982 and a second edition was published in 2014. In 2015, Hunter published his
memoir Memoirs of a Spaghetti Cowboy: Tales of Oddball Luck and Derring-Do, which chronicles his adventures starring in numerous Spaghetti Westerns and other foreign productions while living in
Rome. ==Filmography==