OBITUARY: John Spencer, 58, actor on"The West Wing" (01/01/06)

OBITUARY: John Spencer, 58, actor on"The West Wing"

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - John Spencer, actor of stage, screen and television, who played the president's chief of staff and, in more recent episodes, a candidate for vice-president on the award-winning television drama "The West Wing," died on December 16, 2005, of a heart attack. He was 58.

Mr. Spencer, who was of Ukrainian ancestry on his mother's side, told The Ukrainian Weekly's correspondent Helen Smindak back in May 2001: "Yes, I'm half Ukrainian."

"My mother's maiden name was Bincarowski - I have no idea where the family came from in Ukraine - and my father's Irish. I think there may have been some Czech (ancestry) in my father's family - on his father's side - but I only found that out in the last six-seven years," he told Mrs. Smindak, who reported on the arts in her "Dateline New York" column for The Weekly.

Mr. Spencer was then appearing as the hard-talking, recovering junkie trumpet player Martin Glimmer in the Broadway play "Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine" - a performance for which he received dozens of complimentary reviews from critics.

The New York Times theater critic Ben Brantley wrote that "Mr. Spencer had the most to work with ... and he brings beautiful pace and variety to the long retrospective monologues." The Daily News review said: "Spencer, his eyes often lit with a loony fire, his gravelly voice a surprisingly elegant instrument for his many caustic lines, makes us believe Martin is a man too strong for life to break."

Mr. Spencer had originated the part of Martin Glimmer at the premiere of "Glimmer" (then called "The Glimmer Brothers") at the Williamstown Theater Festival in 1999 and has also played it at workshops in upstate New York and New Haven, Conn. The show's Los Angeles run earned him effusive praise: one reviewer called it "never less than compelling," and another noted that "the actor has everything in his arsenal to create a memorable stage character."

Mrs. Smindak reported that Mr. Spencer had begun his career as an actor on "The Patty Duke Show"; appeared in the highly rated NBC movie "The Tangled Web"; and starred in Joseph Wambaugh's "A Jury of One." Numerous guest-starring appearances included NBC's "Law & Order" and "Miami Vice," as well as "Spenser: For Hire," "Early Edition" and "Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman."

He appeared in hit films with Kevin Spacey, Paul Newman, Susan Sarandon, Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Nicholas Cage, Sean Connery and Ed Harris. His comedy credits included the films "Forget Paris" with Billy Crystal, "Green Card" with Gerard Depardieu and Andie McDowell, and "Albino Alligator" with Matt Dillon and Faye Dunaway.

In theater work Mr. Spencer won an Obie Award for his performance in "A Still Life," a New York Drama League honor for his portrayal of Dan White in the Broadway production of "Execution of Justice" and a Drama Desk nomination for his role in "The Day Room."

Exposure in film work - especially playing Harrison Ford's sidekick in "Presumed Innocent" - led to his being cast as Tommy Mullaney on "L.A. Law" in 1990, making him a household name among viewers.

Mr. Spencer's work on "The West Wing" as Leo McGarry, a tough-talking politico, won him four Emmy nominations and, in 2002, the Emmy for best supporting actor in a drama series. As he received his Emmy, Mr. Spencer paid tribute to the show's writers and declared that "the prize for me is doing the thing I love."

Mr. Spencer, who attended the Professional Children's School in New York City, Fairleigh Dickinson University in New Jersey and New York University, was the only child of Mildred and John Speshock of Totowa, N.J.

Mr. Spencer was a member of "The West Wing" cast since the show's inception. During the most recent, seventh, season of "The West Wing," his character became the running mate to the Democratic presidential candidate Matt Santos (played by Jimmy Smits).

With Mr. Spencer's sudden death, the NBC show is now faced with the dilemma of altering its plot lines. It was a case of life imitating art, as McGarry had suffered a heart attack on "The West Wing" and was forced to give up his job as chief of staff.

"John was an uncommonly good man, an exceptional role model and a brilliant actor," said Aaron Sorkin, who created the series, and Tommy Schlamme, one of its original producers, in a joint statement reported by the Associated Press.

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