John Tunney, ex-US senator, dies
LOS ANGELES – John V. Tunney, whose successful campaign for a California seat in the U.S. Senate became the basis for the 1972 Robert Redford film “The Candidate,” has died. He was 83.
Tunney died of prostate cancer Friday in Los Angeles, said his brother, Jay Tunney.
Tunney was among the youngest people elected to the U.S. Senate in the past century when he won his seat in 1970 at age 36 — and among the youngest to lose a seat when he was defeated after just one term.
The charismatic young Democrat, who was often compared to the Kennedy brothers, had to quiet some of his idealism and swing to the center to beat 68-yearold Republican incumbent George Murphy in 1970.
Director Michael Ritchie worked on Tunney’s campaign, and the story of competing generations and the machinations of elections was perfect fodder for the politically minded Hollywood of the day.
Redford took on the role of Bill McKay, based on Tunney. The film was a commercial and critical success, winning an Academy Award for screenwriter Jeremy Larner.
Tunney was the son of Connecticut socialite Polly Lauder Tunney and boxer Gene Tunney, the 1920s heavyweight champion whose two victories over Jack Dempsey were among the most renowned fights of the 20th century.
He graduated from Yale and earned a law degree from the University of Virginia before moving to California, where he became a law professor.
Tunney was elected to the U.S. House, where he served from 1964 until his Senate election in 1970. He lost in 1976 to Republican S.I. Hayakawa, the 70-yearold president of California State University, San Francisco, who had never run for office before.
He returned to a Los Angeles firm and resumed practicing law.