John Spencer

John Spencer
John Spencer.
Born	John Speshock December 20, 1946(1946-12-20) Paterson, New Jersey, USA
Died	December 16, 2005 (aged 58) Los Angeles, California, USA
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1983-2005

John Spencer (December 20, 1946 – December 16, 2005) was an American television actor best known for his role as Leo McGarry, the White House Chief of Staff on the NBC political drama The West Wing.

Early life

Spencer was born as John Speshock in New York City, and grew up in nearby Totowa, New Jersey.^[1] He was the son of blue-collar parents Mildred (née Bincarowski), a Ukrainian-American waitress, and John Speshock, an Irish American truck driver.^[2][3][1] With his enrollment at the Professional Children's School in Manhattan at age sixteen, he found himself sharing classes with such fellow students as Liza Minnelli and violinist Pinchas Zukerman. Spencer attended Fairleigh Dickinson University but did not complete a degree.^[1]

Career

Spencer began his television career on The Patty Duke Show, and eventually began appearing in minor roles in feature films commencing with 1983's War Games. 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."

Spencer became a fully-fledged supporting actor with the 1990 courtroom thriller Presumed Innocent, starring opposite Harrison Ford. The same year Spencer joined the cast of the television series L.A. Law, playing rumpled, pugnacious associate attorney Tommy Mullaney. Spencer's work also extended to video games, portraying the role of Captain Hugh Paulsen in the 1995 video game Wing Commander IV.

In 1999, Spencer was cast in the role of Leo McGarry on the television series The West Wing. Both Spencer and his character McGarry were recovering alcoholics. After being nominated in 2000 and 2001, Spencer won his first Emmy Award in 2002 for "Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series" for his portrayal of McGarry, being judged on the Season Three episodes Bartlet for America and We Killed Yamamoto.

Spencer often referred to himself as a "dyed-in-the-wool liberal" and described Franklin Delano Roosevelt as one of his heroes.

Death

Spencer died following a heart attack in a Los Angeles hospital on December 16, 2005, four days before his 59th birthday. He was buried at Laurel Grove Memorial Park in Totowa, New Jersey.^[4] At the time of his death, he had appeared in two of the five The West Wing episodes then in post-production – "Running Mates" and "The Cold".

Spencer's death was subsequently written into the show, with now candidate for the Vice President of the United States Leo McGarry dying of a heart attack on election night. Coincidentally, Spencer's character had suffered a life-threatening heart attack in the Season Six episode The Birnam Wood. West Wing cast mate Kristin Chenoweth sang the musical number "For Good" from the hit Broadway musical Wicked (in which she starred) at his funeral. Spencer's name remained in the opening credits of the final season (Season Seven) of the series even after his death.

Filmography

• WarGames (1983)
• The Protector (1985)
• Hiding Out (1987)
• Black Rain (1989)
• Far From Home (1989)
• 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)

Footnotes

External links

• "Actor John Spencer has died". Associated Press. December 16, 2005. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10498378. 
• John Spencer (actor) at the Internet Movie Database
• "John Spencer, 58, TV Actor Starring on 'The West Wing,' Dies". The New York Times. December 17, 2005. http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/17/arts/television/17spencer.html?ex=1292475600&en=e83593f8e8914f90&ei=5090. 
• October 16, 2004 Interview with John Spencer, Tavis Smiley Show
• John Spencer (actor) at Find a Grave