Fred Thompson, the former U.S. senator who also acted in films and on television has died. He was 73.
Thompson died Sunday from a recurrence of lymphoma, according to a statement from his family.
Thompson served as a U.S. senator from the southern state of Tennessee from 1994 to 2003.
He ran for president during the 2008 election before dropping out in the nomination race eventually won by Senator John McCain.
Thompson had a long career in Tennessee and Washington as a lawyer, including a stint as minority counsel on the Senate Watergate Committee back in the Richard Nixon era.
Thompson became a successful character actor after playing himself in the 1985 film Marie, based on a case in which he represented a whistleblower who exposed government corruption in Tennessee. He went on to star in the long-running American television series Law and Order.
He also had memorable roles in the films Die Hard II, No Way Out and Days of Thunder.
