Once regarded as a rising star in the Senate, he retired from that seat when his term expired in January 2003, saying he didn't "have the heart" for another term
Fred Thompson, a Republican U.S. senator from Tennessee for eight years who also acted in feature films and on television, has died, his family says in a statement.
The statement says Thompson died Sunday in Nashville after a recurrence of lymphoma at 73.
"It is with a heavy heart and a deep sense of grief that we share the passing of our brother, father and grandfather who died peacefully Nashville surrounded by his family," said the statement. It added, "Fred was the same man on the floor of the Senate, the movie studio, or the town square of ... his home."
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