Star Trek Cast: Where Are They Now?

The OG Captain Christopher Pike, Jeffrey Hunter was the first on-screen captain of the Starship Enterprise, even if the audience wouldn't get to see his exploits until The Menagerie, and then not in full until The Cage was finally screened.

Hunter was a movie star when he was hired to play Pike, having appeared in King of Kings, a retelling of the story of Christ. Hunter, somewhat controversially, played the title role - leading to a nickname of the film being 'I was a teenage Jesus'!

Hunter's strikingly good looks served him well, securing several roles before Star Trek. He appeared in the Western film The Searchers alongside John Wayne. He had a very vocal fan in the form of Marilyn Monroe, who felt that he exuded youth and vitality, looking as though he had just stepped off the college campus.

His roles after Star Trek however dried up a little, not leading to the film career that he had hoped. He suffered an accident on the set of a film that may possibly have contributed to his early death. An explosion that had been rigged to blow a car window out had instead imploded, with the force hitting him in the head. The following year, he suffered a stroke and would later fall, hitting his head.

Though Hunter died young, he left an impressive body of work behind and appeared, via stock footage, in the second season of Star Trek: Discovery.