John McGiver

John Irwin McGiver (November 5, 1913 – September 9, 1975) was an American character actor who made more than a hundred appearances in television and motion pictures over a two-decade span from 1955 to 1975.

The owl-faced actor was known for his performances as the religious fanatic Mr. O'Daniel in the film Midnight Cowboy; as the kindly Tiffany's salesman in Breakfast at Tiffany's; and as the ill-fated, but honorable Senator Jordan in the original film version of The Manchurian Candidate. He also appeared on many TV shows, as well as in the first of a popular series of commercials for the American Express charge card ("Do you know me?").

Early life

McGiver was born the son of Irish immigrants.^[1] He received a B.A. in English from Fordham University in 1938 and master's degrees from Columbia University and Catholic University.^[2] He was an English teacher before he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942 and served in the U.S. Army's 7th Armored Division in Europe during World War II.^[3] His stage career also began before the war, when he was an actor-director in New York's Irish Repertory Theater.^[4] He continued to teach English and speech at Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx, working occasionally in off-Broadway plays, until 1955, when he became a full time actor.^[5]

Career

In 1959, McGiver appeared in the episode "The Assassin" of NBC's espionage drama Five Fingers, starring David Hedison. In 1962, he appeared as Gramps in the episode "The Seventh Day of Creation" of the NBC medical drama about psychiatry, The Eleventh Hour, starring Wendell Corey and Jack Ging. He appeared on the Twilight Zone Sounds and Silences.

Between 1963 and 1964, McGiver appeared in five episodes of The Patty Duke Show as J.R. Castle, who was Martin Lane's boss at the fictional newspaper The Chronicle.

In the 1964–1965 television season, McGiver played the widower Walter Burnley, the head of the complaint department of a fictitious Los Angeles department store in the CBS sitcom Many Happy Returns. His costars included Elinor Donahue, Mark Goddard, Mickey Manners, and Elena Verdugo.

He lived with his wife Ruth, whom he married in 1947, and ten children in West Fulton, New York, until his death of a heart attack at the age of sixty-one. He was cremated.

Maternal grandfather of author Erik Hage.

Partial filmography

• Love in the Afternoon (1957) with Gary Cooper
• I Married a Woman (1958)
• The Gazebo (1959) with Glenn Ford
• Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) with Audrey Hepburn
• Something's Got to Give (1962; aborted Marilyn Monroe film)
• Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation (1962) with James Stewart
• The Manchurian Candidate (1962) with Laurence Harvey
• Period of Adjustment (1962) with Tony Franciosa
• Who's Got the Action? (1962) with Dean Martin
• The Bard (The Twilight Zone) (1963)
• Who's Minding the Store? (1963) with Jerry Lewis
• Take Her, She's Mine (1963) with James Stewart
• Man's Favorite Sport? (1964)
• "Granny Versus the Weather Bureau" The Beverly Hillbillies (1964)
• A Global Affair (1964) with Bob Hope
• Sounds and Silences (1964) Episode from The Twilight Zone
• Mr White's Christmas (1965) Episode from The Rogues
• Marriage on the Rocks (1965) with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin
• The Glass Bottom Boat (1966) with Doris Day
• "Man With a Net" Gilligan's Island (1966)
• The Spirit Is Willing (1967) with Sid Caesar
• Fitzwilly (1967) with Dick Van Dyke
• Midnight Cowboy (1969) with Jon Voight
• Lawman (1971) with Burt Lancaster
• Mame (1974) with Lucille Ball
• The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975) with Don Knotts

Television series

McGiver was a regular performer on:

• McKeever & the Colonel, 1962–1963
• Many Happy Returns, 1964–1965 (lead role)
• Mr. Terrific, 1967
• The Jimmy Stewart Show, 1971–1972

McGiver also appeared in:

• Alfred Hitchcock Presents (“Fatal Figures”)
• The Bard (The Twilight Zone)
• Bonanza
• The Patty Duke Show (5 episodes)

Stage

Broadway theatre includes:

• Drink to Me Only, 1958
• A Thurber Carnival, 1960
• The Front Page, 1969–1970

References

External links

• John McGiver at the Internet Movie Database Retrieved on 2009-05-22
• John McGiver at Find a Grave Retrieved on 2009-05-22