John Spencer would have been 59 today.
He died suddenly Friday morning (US time) of a heart attack. Chances are you didn’t know his name, but you would have recognised his face. He starred in LA Law for a while, and for years after that show ended whenever I saw him in a film or gueststarring on something, I called him Tommy (after his LaLa character). It wasn’t until The West Wing and the complete and utter melding of actor and character that Tommy became John Spencer again, who in turn became Leo McGarry. Leo McGarry was his character on TWW, recovering alcoholic, Chief of Staff, one of my favourite characters in one of my alltime favourite shows (and quite frankly a representation of how I wish the White House currently was - ie full of democrats).
He was an astounding character actor who imbued Leo McGarry with a warmth and believability that is often missing from TV drama. Along with the Soprano’s (both shows started in 1999 and hit Australian TV around the same time and were both unceremoniously dumped in the latenight time slot for vampires and those of us who exist on five hours sleep a night) and in later years Six Feet Under, The West Wing reinvented drama television. Smart writing, smart characters, whip fast dialogue that didn’t stop to let you catch up and the assumption that their audience was smart enough not to be needed to be spoon fed information. Watching the first few seasons of TWW was better than any uni course on How American Politics Works could ever be. I learned about the filibuster, I learned about lame duck congress, I learned about congress and what gubernatorial meant. When That Awful Thing That I Still Can’t Talk About Without Going Into A Mouth Foaming Rage (better known as the stolen 2000 elections) happened, I found myself glued to CNN and Fox and I was understanding (but not really liking so much) what Tucker Carlson and Bill O’Reilly and James Carville were telling me about the Senate and the House and why the Supreme Court was so heavily Republican and why this horrid, horrid thing was happening.
In 2001 when the actually really awful thing happened and the planes hit the twin towers, I will always remember that it was reported during the last ad break of an especially poignant episode of TWW (18th and Potomac). A favourite character (White House Presidential Secretary, Mrs Landingham) had been killed in a car accident and Charlie (Presidential Aide) was breaking the news to Leo. The camera just . . . stays on John Spencer’s face as Leo digests this news. It is heartbreakingly beautifully acted. In fact, acted doesn’t even seem the right word, because it connotes a certain artificiality and there was nothing artificial about John Spencer’s Leo McGarry. It seems fitting that the season he won an Emmy for was that second season, he deserved it for that scene alone.
The acting world is a lesser one for the loss of this great character actor but with three seasons left that I haven’t fully seen yet (thank YOU very much Channel Nine, please be good to the fans ABC) including the seventh season currently airing in the states, at least I have a lot more John Spencer and Leo McGarry to look forward to.
And that’s not a bad thing.
Vale John. Happy birthday, we miss you already.
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2 comments:
Hello Australia; It is funny you find american politics more intersting than the political situation in Austrailia. It seems that Americans have been getting somewhat disinteresed in their political scene with all the chicanery going on. I think that the reason the average american does not pay as much attention to their political scene as they should is that they are so involved in raising children, keeping their families together and of course, trying to make a living. Most of the representatives they elect have done a piss poor job of representing their interests, regardless of political party.
I have never gotten interested in TTW. It is possible I saw John Spencer in some other work he did, but to my mind, I first saw him in LA LAW. He was a most impressive character actor. As such, I do not doubt the acting work he did as you describe on TWW. I thought he was older than his 58 years so I was surprised he was 58 when he passed away. The world has lost a great character actor who was right for the times.
John Spencer would have been perfect to play Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld...
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