Thompson was born on Aug. 19, 1942 in Sheffield, AL and raised in the small town of Lawrenceburg, TN by his mother, Ruth, and father, Fletcher, a used car salesman. After attending public schools, Thompson earned his bachelor’s from Memphis State University in 1964, then obtained his law degree from Vanderbilt University in 1967, working his way through school selling shoes, driving trucks and working at a bicycle factory. After his work on the Watergate committee, Thompson returned to practicing law in Nashville, where he took on the case of Marie Ragghianti, the former chair of the state’s parole board who was fired by then-Governor Ray Blanton for blowing the whistle on corruption in the prison system. He soon uncovered a clemency-for-cash scheme run by Blanton that forced convicts to pay for their freedom; a case that eventually landed the governor in jail.

The story was later turned into a novel by Peter Maas, inevitably attracting the attention of Hollywood producers who made the feature “Marie: A True Story” (1985), starring Sissy Spacek as the beleaguered Ragghianti. Thompson was originally brought onto the production as a consultant, but the producers quickly saw that he should play himself, which he did to great effect. Thompson was surprised to find himself a wanted commodity for other roles, thanks in large part to a stern, heavy-browed visage that projected unquestioned authority. In “No Way Out” (1987), he played the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, then appeared in “Feds” (1988), a lame comedy about two women (Rebecca DeMornay and Mary Gross) trying to make it in the FBI. After a brief turn as Maj. Gen. Melrose Hayden Barry in “Fat Man and Little Boy” (1989), a dramatic look at the making of the first atomic bomb at Los Alamos, Thompson had perhaps his widest exposure as an admiral aboard a U.S. aircraft carrier in “The Hunt for Red October” (1990).

Thompson continued having a banner year in 1990, appearing as a tension-fueled chief air traffic controller at Dulles’ Airport in “Die Hard 2: Die Harder,” followed in quick succession with “Days of Thunder” and “Flight of the Intruder.” Continuing to play the voice of authority, Thompson was a sensible lawyer in the John Hughes’ flop, “Curly Sue” (1991), then broke form with his performance as a skeptical, hard-edged attorney in Martin Scorsese’s remake of “Cape Fear” (1991). After strong supporting roles in “Thunderheart” (1992) and “Aces: Iron Eagle III” (1992), Thompson turned to television with made-for-TV movies, including “Keep the Change” (TNT, 1992) and “Bed of Lies” (1992). He next had a meatier role as American Express CEO James D. Robinson III in “Barbarians at the Gate” (HBO, 1993), a dramatic look at the leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco for a staggering $25 billion.

Thompson gave a brief, but impressionable performance as a politically-driven White House chief of staff who challenges the effectiveness of an aging Secret Service agent (Clint Eastwood) to protect the president (Jim Curley) in Wolfgang Peterson’s gripping “In the Line of Fire” (1993). After roles in “Born Yesterday” (1993) and the dismal comedy “Baby’s Day Out” (1994), Thompson bowed out of acting for a spell and ran for Al Gore’s vacated Senate seat, easily winning the special election with 60 percent of the vote. Though he appeared sporadically in films and on television throughout his two terms, Thompson left the Senate in 2002 to once again pursue acting full time. He enjoyed a short-lived stint as District Attorney Arthur Branch on the surprisingly failed “Law & Order: Trial by Jury” (NBC, 2004-2005), a role he established in several episodes on the other three “Law & Order” series. Then in early 2007, Thompson announced a second go-round in politics, raising the possibility of a run for the Republican nomination for president in 2008.