John Spencer (actor)
| John Spencer | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
John Speshock, Jr. December 20, 1946 New York City, New York |
| Died | December 16, 2005 (aged 58) Los Angeles, California |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Resting place | Laurel Grove Memorial Park, Totowa, New Jersey |
| Nationality | USA |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1963–2005 |
| Notable work | Leo McGarry on The West Wing |
| Home town | Totowa, New Jersey |
| Partner(s) | Patricia Mariano |
| Parent(s) | John Speshock, Sr. Mildred Speshock |
| Awards |
Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series 2002 The West Wing |
John Spencer (December 20, 1946 – December 16, 2005) was an American actor. He won an Emmy Award in 2002 for his role as White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry on the NBC political drama series The West Wing.
Spencer was born John Speshock, Jr. in New York City, and was raised in Totowa, New Jersey. He was the son of blue-collar parents Mildred (née Benzeroski), a waitress, and John Speshock Sr., a truck driver. Spencer's father was of Irish and Czech descent, while his mother was of Ukrainian and Rusyn ancestry. 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. Spencer often referred to himself as a "dyed-in-the-wool liberal" and described Franklin Delano Roosevelt as one of his heroes.
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. He 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 The Rock.
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