John Spencer (actor)
John Spencer (born John Speshock Jr.; December 20, 1946 – December 16, 2005) was an American actor. He is best known for his role as Leo McGarry on the NBC political drama series The West Wing. His performance on the show earned him a Primetime Emmy Award in 2002.
John Spencer | |
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| Born | John Speshock Jr. December 20, 1946 New York City, U.S. |
| Died | December 16, 2005 (aged 58) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Resting place | Laurel Grove Memorial Park, Totowa, New Jersey |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1963–2005 |
Notable work | Leo McGarry on The West Wing |
| Home town | Totowa, New Jersey |
| Partner(s) | Patricia Mariano (2000–2005; his death) |
| Awards | Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series 2002 The West Wing |
Early life
John Spencer was born John Speshock, Jr., on December 20, 1946, in New York City, and was raised in Totowa, New Jersey.[1] He was the son of blue-collar parents Mildred (née Benzeroski), a waitress, and John Speshock, Sr., a truck driver.[2] Spencer's father was of Irish and Czech descent,[3] while his mother was of Ukrainian and Rusyn ancestry.[4][5] With his enrollment at the Professional Children's School in Manhattan in 1963, Spencer found himself sharing classes with such fellow students as Liza Minnelli and violinist Pinchas Zukerman. He attended Fairleigh Dickinson University, but did not complete a degree.[1] Spencer often referred to himself as a "dyed-in-the-wool liberal" and described Franklin Delano Roosevelt as one of his heroes.[6]
Career
Spencer began his television career on The Patty Duke Show, and eventually began appearing in supporting roles in feature films commencing with 1983's WarGames. He won an Obie Award for the 1981 off Broadway production of Still Life, about a Vietnam War veteran, and received a Drama Desk nomination for The Day Room. In 1986 he appeared on Broadway as Dan White, the killer of Harvey Milk, in Execution of Justice, alongside Stanley Tucci and Wesley Snipes. Spencer became a full-fledged supporting actor with the hit 1990 courtroom thriller Presumed Innocent, portraying a tough veteran homicide detective, starring opposite Harrison Ford. The same year, Spencer joined the cast of the television series L.A. Law, playing rumpled, pugnacious, street-wise trial 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: The Price of Freedom. Spencer's subsequent film and television work primarily consisted of supporting roles such as a colleague and friend to Billy Crystal's basketball ref in Forget Paris and a prickly FBI official in Michael Bay's film The Rock.
In 1999, Spencer was cast as Leo McGarry on the NBC political drama series The West Wing. Spencer's character was White House Chief of Staff to the fictional U.S. President Josiah Bartlet. Both McGarry and Spencer were recovering alcoholics. Spencer's role on the show earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2002, after he was being judged on the show's third season episodes "Bartlet for America" and "We Killed Yamamoto."
Death
Spencer died of a heart attack in a Los Angeles hospital on December 16, 2005, four days before his 59th birthday.[4] At Spencer's private funeral, his West Wing castmate, Kristin Chenoweth, sang the musical number "For Good" from the Broadway musical Wicked. Spencer's remains were interred at Laurel Grove Memorial Park in his hometown of Totowa, New Jersey.
At the time of his death, Spencer had filmed two of the five West Wing episodes that were in post-production: "Running Mates" and "The Cold." [7] Spencer's death was later written into the show's seventh and final season, in which McGarry was said to have died of a heart attack on election night. Coincidentally, McGarry had also suffered a near-fatal heart attack in the show's sixth season. Spencer's name remained in the opening credits throughout the remainder of the show.
Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | Echoes | Stephen | |
| 1983 | WarGames | Jerry | |
| 1985 | The Protector | Ko's Pilot | |
| 1985 | Key Exchange | Record Executive | |
| 1987 | The Verne Miller Story | George Sally | |
| 1987 | Hiding Out | Bakey | |
| 1989 | Far From Home | TV Preacher | |
| 1989 | Sea of Love | Lieutenant | |
| 1989 | Black Rain | Oliver | |
| 1989 | Simple Justice | Det. Phil Sullivan | |
| 1990 | Presumed Innocent | Det. Lipranzer | |
| 1990 | Green Card | Harry | |
| 1992 | In The Arms Of A Killer | Det. Cusack | TV movie |
| 1995 | Forget Paris | Jack | |
| 1995 | Cafe Society | Ray Davioni | |
| 1996 | The Rock | FBI Director James Womack | |
| 1996 | Albino Alligator | Jack | |
| 1997 | Cold Around the Heart | Uncle Mike | |
| 1997 | Cop Land | Det. Leo Crasky | |
| 1998 | Lesser Prophets | Ed | |
| 1998 | Twilight | Capt. Phil Egan | |
| 1998 | O.K. Garage | Bill Gunter | |
| 1998 | The Negotiator | Police Chief Al Travis | |
| 1999 | Ravenous | Gen. Slauson |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1963–1964 | The Patty Duke Show | Henry | 7 episodes |
| 1976 | Ryan's Hope | Orderly | 2 episodes |
| 1986 | Miami Vice | Lt. Lee Atkins | Episode: "The Good Collar" |
| 1986 | Spenser: For Hire | Joe Moran | Episode: "Home Is the Hero" |
| 1987–1988 | Another World | Frank Julian | Unknown episodes |
| 1988 | As the World Turns | Don West | Unknown episodes |
| 1990 | Law & Order | Howard Morton | Episode: "Prescription for Death" |
| 1990–1994 | L.A. Law | Tommy Mullaney | 71 episodes |
| 1994 | Duckman: Private Dick/Family Man | Agent Dennehy | Episode: "Not So Easy Riders" |
| 1995 | Touched by an Angel | Leo | Episode: "The Driver" |
| 1996 | F/X: The Series | Carl Scofield | Episode: "High Risk" |
| 1997 | Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman | Hank Landry (Mr. Gadget) | Episode: "Lethal Weapon" |
| 1997 | Tracey Takes On... | Ray Weggerly | Episode: "Crime" |
| 1997 | Early Edition | Howard Banner | Episode: "Jenny Sloane" |
| 1998 | Trinity | Simon McAllister | 3 episodes |
| 1999–2006 | The West Wing | Leo McGarry | 135 episodes Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2002) Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2000, 2001) Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Quality Drama Series Nominated—Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film Nominated—Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (2000–01, 2003–04) Nominated—Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (2002–05) (final appearance) |
| 1999 | The Outer Limits | Col. Wallis Thurman | Episode: "Summit" |
| 1999 | L.A. Doctors | Dr. Edmund Church | Episode: "The Life Lost in Living" |
Video Games
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Wing Commander IV: The Price of Freedom | Captain Hugh Paulsen | Voice |
Awards
| Year | Nominee / work | Award | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | Still Life | Obie Award[8] | Won |
| 2000 | The West Wing | Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Quality Drama Series | Won |
| Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
| Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Won | ||
| 2001 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | Nominated | |
| Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Won | ||
| 2002 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | Won | |
| Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
| Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film | Nominated | ||
| 2003 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | Nominated | |
| Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
| 2004 | Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series | Nominated | |
| Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Nominated | ||
| 2005 | Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series | Nominated |
References
- Lee, Jennifer 8. "Obituary: John Spencer, 'West Wing' actor". The New York Times. December 17, 2005.
- "John Spencer Biography (1946-)". Film Reference. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
- "West Wing Actor John Spencer Dies". People. December 16, 2015.
- "Obituary: John Spencer, 58, actor on The West Wing" (PDF). The Ukrainian Weekly. January 1, 2006. p. 4.
- Custer, Richard D. "A Family Historian’s Guide to Discovering Carpatho-Rusyn Ancestry" Archived 2015-10-06 at the Wayback Machine. FEEFHS Journal. Volume 14, 2006. p. 9.
- PBS. "Transcript of October 16, 2004 interview with John Spencer". The Tavis Smiley Show. Retrieved October 1, 2015.
- Rebecca Williams (29 January 2015). Post-Object Fandom: Television, Identity and Self-narrative. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 60–. ISBN 978-1-62356-210-6.
- "Obie Awards 1980s". Obie Awards. The Village Voice. Archived from the original on October 3, 2015. Retrieved January 20, 2018.
External links
- John Spencer on IMDb
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