Adam Russell Hunter (18 February 1925 – 26 February 2004)^[1][2] was a Scottish television, stage and film actor. He played Lonely in the TV thriller seriesCallan, starringEdward Woodward, andshop steward Harry in theYorkshire Television sitcomThe Gaffer (1981–1983) withBill Maynard. He made guest appearances in television series such asThe Sweeney,Doctor Who,Taggart,A Touch of Frost,The Bill andThe Return of Sherlock Holmes in The Adventure of Silver Blaze.^[3][4]

Russell Hunter
Hunter as "Lonely" inCallan
Born	Russell Ellis (1925-02-18)18 February 1925 Glasgow, Scotland
Died	26 February 2004(2004-02-26) (aged 79) Edinburgh, Scotland
Occupation	Actor
Spouse(s)	Marjorie Thomson (m. 1949–19??) Caroline Blakiston (m. 1970; div. 19??) Una McLean ​ ​ (m. 1991)​
Children	4

BornRussell Ellis inGlasgow, Hunter's childhood was spent with his maternal grandparents inLanarkshire, until returning to his unemployed father and cleaner mother when he was 12. He went from school to an apprenticeship in aClydebank shipyard. During this time, he did some amateur acting for theYoung Communist League before turning professional in 1946.^[1]

Under the stage name Russell Hunter, he acted atPerth Rep and at theGlasgow Unity Theatre also performing in the very firstEdinburgh Festival Fringe in 1947 inThe Plough and the Stars bySeán O'Casey, was a comedian in summer variety shows and toured with a one-man show.

Hunter worked inrepertory theatre and Scottish variety before making his film debut inLilli Marlene (1950). In the same year, he appeared in the filmThe Gorbals Story,^[1] which featured members of the Glasgow Unity Theatre includingArchie Duncan andRoddy McMillan. The film also featured Hunter's first wife,Marjorie Thomson. He followed these by playing a pilot in the Battle of Britain dramaAngels One Five in 1951.

His theatre work included joiningPeter Hall'sRoyal Shakespeare Company, working withPeggy Ashcroft andDame Edith Evans.^[1] and appearing in Charlie’s Aunt at theBristol Old Vic in 1964-5.

Hunter portrayed the timid, smelly, petty criminal Lonely, unlikely accomplice to a clinical spy-cum-assassin, in the downbeat 1967 television spy seriesCallan.^[5] Reportedly, he said of his identification with Lonely that "I take more baths than I might have playing other parts. When Lonely was in the public eye I used only the very best toilet water and a hell of a lot of aftershave."^[5]

After playingCostard in aBBC television production ofLove's Labour's Lost (1965), Hunter was cast as Lonely in ITV's "Armchair Theatre" productionA Magnum for Schneider in 1967, which introduced the secret agent Callan to the screen. Four series followed (1967, 1969–72). Hunter and Edward Woodward reprised their roles in both a 1974 feature film of the same name and, seven years later, in the television filmWet Job, by which time Lonely had gone straight, got married and was running a plumbing company called Fresh and Fragrant.^[5] The title plays on "wet job", the euphemism for murder or assassination.

During his years withCallan, Hunter acted in theHammerhorror filmTaste the Blood of Dracula (1970) and took the roles of Crumbles, Dr Fogg and Dr Makepeace in an ITV production ofSweeney Todd (1970), He also appeared in the British comedy filmUp Pompeii (1971) as the Jailer.

He had two appearances in one-man plays performed on BBC Scotland in the early 1970s:Cocky, where he playedHenry Cockburn, Lord Cockburn, which ended with his speech to the jury defending Helen McDougal, Burke's wife, in theBurke and Hare case, andJock, where he played an archetypal Scottish soldier guarding a military museum. In 1974 he played Ted, a simple-minded but kind-hearted man in a two-part story inRooms, two-part dramas concerning the various drifters who rent rooms in a lodging house. He played 'Old Fred' in a 1974 episode ofThriller. In 1975 he played a Scottish painter in the BBC's adaptation of theLord Peter Wimsey storyThe Five Red Herrings. In 1979, at the artist's request, he opened the Edinburgh Festival Exhibition of the Glasgow artist Stewart Bowman Johnson held at the Netherbow Gallery.

Hunter's other TV credits includeThe Sweeney (as a gay petty criminal and informant,Popeye, very similar to his Callan character Lonely),Ace of Wands (as the evil magician Mr Stabs, a role that Hunter twice reprised in episodes of two anthology seriesShadows andDramarama),Doctor Who serialThe Robots of Death (1977),^[6]Farrington of the F.O.,The Bill,A Touch of Frost,Taggart, sitcomsRule Britannia (1975) as the Scotsman Jock McGregor and shop steward inThe Gaffer (1981–83), and his last ever TV appearance, in the BBC dramaBorn and Bred. In his last years he reprised hisDoctor Who role for a series of audio plays released on CD,Kaldor City. He also appeared in an episode ofMind Your Language as a minor character in the episode "I Belong To Glasgow"; he played an opinionated chauffeur who kept clashing with the students. He also appeared in the TV sitcom Lovejoy as a Scottish submariner in the episode "Angel Trousers".

He also appeared as different characters in the pilot and series of the BBC sitcomRab C. Nesbitt.

In 1949, Hunter married Marjorie Thomson and had two daughters.^{[citation needed]} In 1970, he married actressCaroline Blakiston after they both appeared inA Midsummer Night's Dream at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park.^[5] They had a son and a daughter. His third marriage, in 1991, was to fellow performerUna McLean.^[5] They lived in a converted building at Taylor Gardens inLeith.

Although in the advanced stages ofcancer, Hunter's last theatrical stint was in theReginald Rose play12 Angry Men at the same, if inconceivably expanded,Edinburgh Festival Fringe, with which he had remained inextricably linked.^[1]

Despite being ill, Hunter received positive reviews for his appearances in the feature filmAmerican Cousins late in 2003 and as a priest in the filmSkagerrak.^[5] In November,American Cousins, Hunter's last movie role, received theSpecial Jury Prize at the Savannah Film Festival in the United States, ending a career spanning six decades.^[7]

Russell Hunter died aged 79 at Edinburgh's Western General Hospital of lung cancer.^[7]

• Russell Hunter atIMDb