Russell Hunter gives Callan its dry humour without making its unpleasant business seem cosy. We value the vulnerability he brings to supporting parts, though Lonely has too often been allowed to stand for the whole actor.
Fi1m perspective
In Callan (1967), Russell Hunter and Edward Woodward make their conversations feel like the habits of people who know each other too well. Neither man seems to get much comfort from the company. Hunter plays Lonely, a timid informant whose vulnerability remains visible even when he is funny. We laughed at their sardonic exchanges because the irritation sounds so familiar, without making the men’s work seem any less unpleasant.
Lonely was Hunter’s breakthrough, and he returned to the part in Callan (1974) and Wet Job (1981). It also encouraged typecasting, leaving this one character to dominate his public image. That can obscure an actor whose work included Shakespearean clowns and pantomime as well as shabby informants. W Gordon Smith wrote the one-man show Jock (1970) for him, giving him a sustained solo part alongside the supporting and guest work familiar from television.
The screen work outside Callan included Felix in Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970) and Commander Uvanov in Doctor Who: The Robots of Death (1977). As Harry, the shop steward alongside Bill Maynard in The Gaffer (1981), he also had a regular place in a sitcom. His frequent casting as working-class or eccentric Scots suggests how readily television found a use for him. It is a narrower account of his abilities than the theatre work allows.
The work with Woodward is the clearest reason to seek him out: Hunter lets us believe in a long acquaintance without making it comforting. Callan occasionally lets its leading character’s moodiness wear thin, and Lonely cannot remove that problem altogether. But the humour belongs to the men and the way they talk, so it offers relief without interrupting the thriller to insist on being funny. Start there, and listen to Hunter as closely as Woodward.
Biography
Russell Hunter was a Scottish actor. Born Russell Ellis in Glasgow in 1925, he worked as a shipyard apprentice before turning professional in 1946. He performed in repertory theatre, at the Citizens' Theatre in Glasgow, and in the first Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Hunter became widely known for his role as the timid petty criminal Lonely in the ITV series Callan (1967–1972). He reprised the part in the 1974 feature film and the 1981 television film Wet Job. His other television credits include Uvanov in Doctor Who (1977), roles in The Gaffer (1981–1983), Casualty and A Touch of Frost. He maintained a long career in Scottish theatre and died in Edinburgh in 2004.
