Politician and actor Fred Thompson was perhaps best known in the entertainment realm for his role as the folksy District Attorney Arthur Branch on the long-running hit "Law & Order," but his very last screen credits were for in projects filmed in Atlanta and west Georgia.
The former U.S. senator and one-time presidential candidate played a sagacious retired lawyer in “A Larger Life,” an independent film made in Cedartown in February 2013 and released in April.
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
"He filmed with us for three days but the relationship we formed in a brief time, I just loved him," said screenwriter and director Bill Lundy, a Cedartown lawyer who created the project based on an actual malpractice case. "He was delightful and funny. He really was a larger-than-life guy. He loved Cedartown."
After Lundy picked Thompson up from the airport, the actor had a request: lunch at Mary Mac’s Tea Room in Midtown.
“He said, ‘I have one request. I want some good, Southern food,’” Lundy recalled. “The first day of filming, here I am a little bit in awe. After they were readjusting the lights after a scene he leaned over and said, ‘were you OK with that?’ I felt like saying, ‘Are you OK with being in Skeeterville, Ga.’?”
Thompson, 73, died in Nashville following a recurrence of lymphoma, his family said in a statement.
In "90 Minutes in Heaven," released on Sept. 11, he appeared in a minor but key supporting role as the Rev. Jay B. Perkins, a minister who helps encourage Don Piper, played by Hayden Christensen, through his long and arduous recovery.
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
The movie starred Kate Bosworth as Piper's wife and featured Dwight Yoakam in a comic-relief role as an opportunistic lawyer. Christensen, Bosworth and others associated with the project came to Atlanta for a red-carpet premiere at the Fox Theatre and a subsequent day of interviews at the Georgian Terrace, but Thompson was unable to come.
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Credit: Jennifer Brett
Lundy’s film premiered at the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema and he’s now working on broader distribution.
“He brought a great weight to the film,” he said. “He had that booming, authoritative voice. I felt so privileged to be able to get him to film here.”
