Jeffrey Hunter’s first marriage from 1950 to 1955 to actress Barbara Rush produced a son, Christopher (born 1952).
From 1957 to 1967, Hunter was married to model Dusty Bartlett. He adopted her son, Steele, and the couple had two other children, Todd and Scott.
In February 1969, just three months before his death, he married actress Emily McLaughlin.
He was a Republican.
While in Spain in November 1968 to film Cry Chicago (¡Viva América!), a story about the Chicago Mafia, Hunter was injured in on-set explosion when a car window, which had been rigged to explode outwards, accidentally exploded inwards. Hunter sustained a serious concussion. According to Hunter’s wife Emily, he “went into shock” on the flight back to the United States after filming and “couldn’t speak. He could hardly move.”
After landing, Hunter was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles, but doctors could not find any serious injuries save for displaced vertebra and concussion.
On May 26, 1969, Hunter suffered an intracranial hemorrhage while walking down a three-stair set of steps at his home in Van Nuys, California.
He fell, knocked over a planter, and struck his head on the banister, fracturing his skull. He was found unconscious by Frank Bellow, an actor and friend of Hunter’s, who came for a visit, and taken to Valley Presbyterian Hospital, where he underwent brain surgery. He died at about 9:30 the next morning at age 42.
Hunter’s funeral was held at St Mark’s Episcopal Church in Van Nuys on May 31.
