Gareth Hunt - Early Life

Early Life

Alan Leonard Hunt was born in Battersea, London in 1942; he was the nephew of actress Martita Hunt. His father was killed in the Second World War when Hunt was two years old, and he was brought up by his mother Doris and stepfather. At the age of 15, he joined the Merchant Navy. After six years, he jumped ship in New Zealand and worked in a car plant for a year before he was caught and served three months in a military prison. Hunt was then deported back to Britain and while taking a BBC design course he held a variety of jobs, including stagehand, road digger, butcher's assistant and door-to-door salesman. Having had an interest in acting since his early years, he subsequently trained at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art. Following that, Hunt did rep across the United Kingdom and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company and National Theatre in the early 1970s. Among the many stage productions he appeared in were Twelfth Night, Oh! What a Lovely War and West Side Story.

Hunt started his television career in 1972, playing a policeman in For the Love of Ada. The same year Hunt appeared in A Family at War and The Organisation. In 1974, he had a role in the Doctor Who story Planet of the Spiders and Bless This House. In 1975 he played Thomas Woolner in The Love School.