John Spencer (actor)

John Spencer (born John Speshock Jr.; December 20, 1946 – December 16, 2005) was an American actor. He was best known for his role as Leo McGarry on the NBC political drama series The West Wing (1999–2006) and for his role as attorney Tommy Mullaney in legal drama L.A. Law (1990–1994). His performance on The West Wing earned him a Primetime Emmy Award in 2002, out of five total nominations.

Early life

John Spencer was born John Speshock Jr., on December 20, 1946,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> in Paterson, New Jersey,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and was raised in Totowa, New Jersey.<ref name=IHT/> He was the son of blue-collar parents Mildred (née Benzeroski), a rug finisher and waitress, and John Michael Speshock,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> a plastic moulder, truck driver,<ref>"John Spencer Biography (1946-)". Film Reference. Retrieved October 1, 2015.</ref> and later, a construction contractor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Spencer's father was of Slovak descent,<ref>"West Wing Actor John Spencer Dies". People. December 16, 2015.</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> while his mother was of Ukrainian and Rusyn ancestry.<ref name=ukrweekly/><ref>Custer, Richard D. "A Family Historian’s Guide to Discovering Carpatho-Rusyn Ancestry" Template:Webarchive. FEEFHS Journal. Volume 14, 2006. p. 9.</ref> Spencer’s parents were disappointed when he chose to become an actor.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> 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.<ref name=IHT>Lee, Jennifer 8. "Obituary: John Spencer, 'West Wing' actor". The New York Times. December 17, 2005.</ref> Spencer often referred to himself as a "dyed-in-the-wool liberal" and described Franklin Delano Roosevelt as one of his heroes.<ref>PBS. "Transcript of October 16, 2004 interview with John Spencer". The Tavis Smiley Show. Retrieved October 1, 2015.</ref>

Career

Spencer began his television career on The Patty Duke Show, and eventually began appearing in supporting roles in feature films beginning 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 was a supporting actor in the hit 1990 courtroom thriller Presumed Innocent, portraying a tough veteran homicide detective, starring opposite Harrison Ford. 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 referee in Forget Paris and a prickly FBI Director in Michael Bay's film The Rock.

L.A. Law

In 1990, Spencer joined the cast of the television series L.A. Law, playing street-wise attorney Tommy Mullaney from 1990 to 1994.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Spencer originally was not going to take the role but after reading five pages of the script he was convinced and said "it was one of the best scripts I'd read". Spencer said the character's disheveled wardrobe was based on his own.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Spencer said he and co-star Cecil Hoffman spent time in New York City to prepare for the role.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The West Wing

In 1999, Spencer was cast as Leo McGarry on the NBC political drama series The West Wing. McGarry was White House Chief of Staff to the fictional U.S. President Jed Bartlet throughout the series' run. He was a recovering alcoholic, a compulsive worker, and a former U.S. Air Force pilot during the Vietnam War.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> McGarry would later be nominated as the vice presidential candidate for the Democratic Party in the show's seventh and final season. Spencer's role on the show earned him the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2002, for the show's third season episodes "Bartlet for America" and "We Killed Yamamoto."

Personal life

Spencer was married once and was divorced in the 1970s; he had no children.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He quit drinking in 1989 after over 20 years of addiction to alcohol.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He gave up smoking in 1999.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Death

Spencer died of a heart attack in a Los Angeles hospital on December 16, 2005.<ref name=ukrweekly>Template:Cite news p. 4.</ref> Many of Spencer's former co-stars and collaborators paid tribute to him at his funeral, including Martin Sheen, Dulé Hill, Joshua Malina, Janel Moloney, Richard Schiff, Alan Alda, Jimmy Smits, Aaron Sorkin, Allison Janney, James Mangold, David E. Kelley, and Bradley Whitford.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":0">Template:Cite web</ref> Kristin Chenoweth sang the musical number "For Good" from the Winnie Holzman and Stephen Schwartz Wizard of Oz 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 episodes of The West Wing’s seventh and final season that were in post-production – "Running Mates" and "The Cold" (Episodes 10 and 13, respectively).<ref name="Williams2015">Template:Cite book</ref> In both episodes, McGarry was portrayed as a candidate for vice president. The show's writers decided to adapt Spencer's absence by saying that McGarry died of a heart attack on election night. McGarry had already suffered a near-fatal heart attack in the show's sixth season. Spencer's name remained in the show's opening credits of each remaining episode aired in the months after his death.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Echoes	Stephen
1983	WarGames	Air Force Captain Jerry
1985	The Protector	Ko's Pilot
	Key Exchange	Record Executive
1987	The Verne Miller Story	George Sally
	Hiding Out	Bakey
1989	Far from Home	TV Preacher
	Sea of Love	Lieutenant
	Black Rain	Captain Oliver
	Simple Justice	Detective Phil Sullivan
1990	Presumed Innocent	Detective Lipranzer
	Green Card	Harry
1992	In the Arms of a Killer	Detective Cusack	TV movie
	When No One Would Listen	Walter Wheeler
1995	Forget Paris	Jack
	Cafe Society	Ray Davioni
1996	The Rock	FBI Director James Womack
	Albino Alligator	Jack
1997	Cold Around the Heart	Uncle Mike
	Cop Land	Detective Leo Crasky
1998	Lesser Prophets	Ed
	Twilight	Captain Phil Egan
	OK Garage	Bill Gunter
	The Negotiator	Police Chief Al Travis
1999	Ravenous	General 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	Lieutenant Lee Atkins	Episode: "The Good Collar"
	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	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"
	Tracey Takes On...	Ray Weggerly	Episode: "Crime"
	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	Colonel Wallis Thurman	Episode: "Summit"
	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

Awards

Template:Awards table |- |1981 |Still Life |Obie Award<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> |Template:Won |- | rowspan="3"|2000 | rowspan="13"|The West Wing |Viewers for Quality Television Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Quality Drama Series |Template:Won |- |Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series |Template:Nom |- |Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series |Template:Won |- | rowspan="2"|2001 |Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series |Template:Nom |- |Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series |Template:Won |- | rowspan="3"|2002 |Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series |Template:Won |- |Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series |Template:Nom |- |Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor – Series, Miniseries or Television Film |Template:Nom |- | rowspan="2"|2003 |Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series |Template:Nom |- |Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series |Template:Nom |- | rowspan="2"|2004 |Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series |Template:Nom |- |Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series |Template:Nom |- |2005 |Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series |Template:Nom |}

External links

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