Former Child Star Dies of Heart Attack: RIP to Jimmy Hunt

Jimmy Hunt, the former child star known for his roles in the original Cheaper by the Dozen and Invaders form Mars, has died.

Hunt passed away in a hospital in Simi Valley, California Friday, six weeks after suffering a heart attack, his daughter-in-law told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 85.

The freckle-faced Hunt, born in Los Angeles in 1939, appeared in more than 30 films from 1945 to 1953, and got his acting start at the age of six when he was scouted by an MGM talent agent at his school in Culver City. He made his acting debut in 1947 as the child version of Van Johnson’s Navy pilot in High Barbaree, and went on to appear in five more films that same year, including Living in a Big Way and Song of Love, per his IMDb profile. The following year, he appeared in a total of eight films, including The Mating of Millie and Pitfall, as he attended MGM’s Little Red Schoolhouse alongside Roddy McDowall and Elizabeth Taylor.

In the years that followed, Hunt continued to add credits to his name, appearing in everything from 1949’s Family Honeymoon and Top o’ the Morning, before landing one of his most memorable roles portraying William Gilbreth, one of the 12 children of efficiency expert Clifton Webb and and psychologist Myrna Loy in 1950’s Cheaper by the Dozen. Two years later, he starred as Fred in the 1952 sequel, Belles on Their Toes.

Hunt, however, is perhaps best known for his starring role as David MacLean in William Cameron Menzies’1953 sci-fi classic Invaders From Mars. In the film, Hunt’s character sees a flying saucer from his bedroom and notices his father acting weird before he’s ultimately sucked underground, where he encounters a Martian and his green humanoid accomplices.

Although Hunt retired from acting at the age of 14 after having “decided that I would rather play sports in high school than make movies,” he came out of retirement for Tobe Hooper’s 1986 remake of Invaders From Mars to play a police chief.

During his career, Hunt also appeared in films such as Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), Fuller Brush Man (1948), Shadow on the Wall (1950), Lone Hand (1953), All American (1953), and She Couldn’t Say No (1954), among numerous others, and shared the screens with the likes of Bing Crosby, Ronald Reagan, Claudette Colbert, Burt Lancaster, and Barbara Stanwyck.

Outside of acting, Hunt served in the U.S. Army for three years and also worked as a sales manager for an industrial tool and supply company in the San Fernando Valley.

He is survived by his wife, Roswitha; sons, Randy and Ron; daughters-in-law Alisa and Christina; his sister, Bonnie; nine grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.