John Spencer (actor)
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| John Spencer | |
 John Spencer as Leo McGarry on The West Wing |
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| Birth name | John Speshock |
| Born | December 20, 1946 Paterson, New Jersey |
| Died | December 16, 2005 (aged 58)Los Angeles, California |
| Notable roles | Leo McGarry on The West Wing |
| Emmy Awards | |
|---|---|
| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor - Drama Series (2002) | |
John Spencer, born John Speshock (December 20, 1946 – December 16, 2005), was an American actor, best known for his role as Leo McGarry, the White House Chief of Staff on the television drama The West Wing.
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[edit] Early life
Spencer was born in Paterson, New Jersey and grew up in nearby Totowa, the son of blue-collar parents, an Irish American Catholic father and a Ukrainian-American mother.[1][1] With his enrollment at the Professional Children's School in Manhattan at age 16, he found himself sharing classes with such fellow students as Liza Minnelli and violinist Pinchas Zukerman. Later he attended Fairleigh Dickinson University but did not complete a degree.
[edit] Career
Spencer began his television career on The Patty Duke Show. He played Harrison Ford's detective sidekick in the 1990 courtroom thriller Presumed Innocent. In the early 1990s, he was a regular cast member on L.A. Law, playing the rumpled, pugnacious associate attorney Tommy Mullaney. Later, he acted in the romantic comedy Forget Paris (1995) as a wisecracking co-worker to Billy Crystal's basketball referee; Spencer portrayed the role of Captain Hugh Paulsen in the 1995 FMV game Wing Commander IV; The Rock (1996) as FBI Director Womack, and the 2002 theatre production of The Exonerated. Paralleling his character on The West Wing, he was a recovering alcoholic and divorcee. Spencer was actually the first actor cast in The West Wing.[2]
Spencer won an Obie Award for the 1981 off-Broadway production of "Still Life," about a Vietnam veteran, and received a Drama Desk nomination for "The Day Room." After two previous nominations, Spencer won his first Emmy Award in 2002 for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series for his portrayal of Leo McGarry on The West Wing. The episodes Spencer submitted for judging by the Emmy voters were "Bartlet for America", in which Leo has to testify in front of a Congressional committee about the President's health and flashes back to his own medical lapse, and "We Killed Yamamoto".
Although not as visible as his co-star Martin Sheen, Spencer believed and fought for many of the same causes. He was probably best known for his work for AIDS awareness. He referred to himself as a "dyed-in-the-wool liberal" and described Franklin Delano Roosevelt as one of his heroes.
[edit] Death
Spencer died following a heart attack in a Los Angeles hospital on December 16, 2005 at the age of 58. He would have turned 59 in four days. West Wing cast mate Stockard Channing was visiting Spencer at the time of his death. He was buried in Laurel Grove Memorial Park in Totowa, New Jersey.[3] At the time of his death, Spencer had appeared in two of the five West Wing episodes then in post-production. Those episodes were "Running Mates" and "The Cold". His death was subsequently written into the show as his character, vice presidential candidate McGarry, died of a heart attack on election night. Coincidentally, the fictional character had a disconcerting history of heart problems.
[edit] Filmography
- WarGames (1983)
- The Protector (1985)
- Hiding Out (1987)
- Presumed Innocent (1990)
- L.A. Law (1990-1994)
- Wing Commander IV (1994)
- Forget Paris (1995)
- The Rock (1996)
- Cop Land (1997)
- The Negotiator (1998)
- The West Wing (1999-2006)
- Ravenous (1999)
[edit] References
- ^ The Ukranian Weekly Accessed March 6, 2007.
- ^ Findagrave.com - John Speshock Spencer Accessed January 1, 2006.
- ^ CNN "Saturday Morning News" transcript Accessed March 6, 2007.
[edit] External links
- "Actor John Spencer has died", Associated Press, December 16, 2005.
- John Spencer at the Internet Movie Database
- Photos from Wireimage
- "John Spencer, 58, TV Actor Starring on 'The West Wing,' Dies", The New York Times, December 17, 2005.
- October 16, 2004 Interview with John Spencer, Tavis Smiley Show
Categories: 1946 births | 2005 deaths | The West Wing cast members | American film actors | American soap opera actors | American stage actors | American television actors | American voice actors | Deaths from cardiovascular disease | Irish-American actors | Law & Order cast members | People from New York City | People from Paterson, New Jersey | Roman Catholic entertainers | Ukrainian-Americans
