Born in Sheffield, Alabama, Thompson grew up attending the public schools in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. He attended Memphis State University where he earned an undergraduate degree in philosophy and political science in 1964. He received a J.D. degree from Vanderbilt University Law School in 1967. He was admitted to the Tennessee bar in 1967 and commenced the practice of law, serving as an assistant U.S. attorney from 1969-1972. He was the campaign manager for Senator Howard Baker's successful re-election campaign in 1972, which led to a close personal friendship with Baker, from 1973-1974, he served as co-chief counsel to the Senate Watergate Committee in its investigation of the Watergate scandal. He was responsible for Baker's asking one of the questions that is said to have led directly to the downfall of President Richard Nixon – "What did the President know, and when did he know it?"
Fred Dalton Thompson as District Attorney Arthur Branch in Law & Order
In 1977, Thompson took on a Tennessee Parole Board case that ultimately toppled Tennessee Governor Ray Blanton from power on charges of selling pardons. The scandal became the subject of a book and a movie titled Marie (1985) in which Thompson played himself, supposedly because the producers were unable to find a professional actor who could play him plausibly. This film launched his acting career. Thompson would go on to appear in numerous motion pictures, including The Hunt for Red October (1990), Cape Fear (1991) and In the Line of Fire (1993). Even more than most actors, Thompson's roles are generally portrayals of characters who are very similar to his real life persona.
On November 8, 1994, Thompson was elected to the United States Senate to fill the unexpired portion of the term ending January 3, 1997, left vacant by the resignation of Al Gore, defeating six-term Democratic U.S. Representative Jim Cooper in a landslide which represented the most votes anyone had ever received for a statewide office in Tennessee history up to that point. Thompson took the oath of office on December 2, 1994. Almost immediately upon his arrival in Washington, D.C. ("while I was still unpacking my boxes," as he put it) Thompson was selected by the Republicans to give a reply to a nationally-televised address by President Bill Clinton. This was no doubt due to his acting background, but many pundits saw this as an attempt to groom him for an even larger political role. Thompson was easily re-elected in 1996 for the term ending January 3, 2003 over Democratic attorney Houston Gordon of Covington, Tennessee by an even larger margin than that by which he had defeated Cooper two years earlier.
While in the Senate, he was chair of the Committee on Governmental Affairs from 1997 to January 3, 2001 which conducted investigations into allegations China attempted to influence American politics prior to the 1996 elections (See: campaign finance scandal) and January 20, 2001 to June 6, 2001, when the reorganization of the Senate prompted by the resignation of James Jeffords of Vermont from the Republican Party changed the control of the Senate. Thompson then became the ranking minority member.
After the Senate
Thompson was not a candidate for re-election in 2002. He had never planned to make a lifetime career of the Senate, had often publicly stated as much. Although he announced in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks his intention to seek re-election, upon further reflection, which seems to have been prompted in large part by the sudden death of his daughter from unrelated events, he decided not to pursue this course. In the final months of his term, he joined the cast of the long-running NBC television series Law & Order, playing the character of District Attorney Arthur Branch.
In doing so, he became the first serving U.S. Senator also to take a full-time television acting job; however, his first scenes as Branch were filmed during the Senate's August 2002 recess, so he missed no legislative time in order to act on television. He is reportedly paid $100,000 per episode of the show in which he appears; if this is in fact true, he earns more from appearing in two shows than he did in an entire year as a Senator, and will earn nearly twice in one television season what his earnings were for his entire Senate career. In the spring of 2005 Thompson concurrently played the role on both the original series and short-lived sister series Law & Order: Trial by Jury. Thompson has also made occasional appearances on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. He is one of very few actors who played the same regular character on two different series simultaneously.
Thompson did voiceover work at the 2004 Republican National Convention. After the retirement of Associate Justice Sandra Day O'Connor in 2005, he was given an informal position by President George W. Bush to help guide the nominated John Roberts to the confirmation through the United States Senate. In 2006, Thompson signed on with ABC News Radio, where he'll serve as a host, commentator, fill in for Paul Harvey.
There has been speculation that Thompson will run for Governor of Tennessee in 2006, but as of yet he has not announced his intentions either way. Current Democratic Governor Phil Bredesen is said to fear a Thompson run more than that of any other potential Republican, because Thompson is considered "beloved" in his home state.
Thompson stands 6'6" tall and married Jeri Kehn, a 35 year-old political media consultant at the Verner, Liipfert, Bernhard, McPherson law firm in Washington, D.C., who once worked for the Senate Republican Conference and the Republican National Committee on June 29, 2002. In October 2003, they had a daughter, Hayden Victoria Thompson. He also has two sons and five grandchildren from prior marriages/relationships.
Filmography
Looking for Comedy in the Muslim World (2005)
Last Best Chance (2005)
Racing Stripes (2005, voice)
Celsius 41.11 (2004)
Baby's Day Out (1994)
In the Line of Fire (1993)
Born Yesterday (1993)
White Sands (1992) (uncredited)
Thunderheart (1992)
Aces: Iron Eagle III (1992)
Cape Fear (1991)
Curly Sue (1991)
Necessary Roughness (1991)
Class Action (1991)
Flight of the Intruder (1991) (uncredited)
Die Hard 2: Die Harder (1990)
Days of Thunder (1990)
The Hunt for Red October (1990)
Fat Man and Little Boy (1989)
Feds (1988)
No Way Out (1987)
Marie (1985)
Electoral history
1996 Race for U.S. Senate
Fred Thompson (R) (inc.), 61%
Houston Gordon (D), 37%
1994 Race for U.S. Senate (Special Election)
Fred Thompson (R), 60%
Jim Cooper (D), 39%
