I’ve been watching The West Wing since Season 1 and one of my favorite characters has always been Leo McGarry, who first served as Chief of Staff to President Josiah Bartlett and, in a move I still consider improbable, was nominated to be the Vice-Presidential nominee to Jimmy Smitt’s Matt Santos. I’ve also been a fan of the man who played McGarry, John Spencer since his days on L.A. Law, which is why yesterday’s news of his sudden death was sad to hear.
LOS ANGELES, Dec. 16 — John Spencer, who played the tough and dedicated politico on “The West Wing” who survived a serious illness to run for vice president, died of a heart attack Friday. He would have been 59 next week.
Spencer played Leo McGarry, chief of staff to President Jed Bartlet (Martin Sheen), on the NBC series. In a sad parallel to life, Spencer’s character suffered a heart attack that forced him to give up his White House job.
The character recovered and was picked as a running mate for Democratic presidential contender Matt Santos, played by Jimmy Smits; the campaign against Republican Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) has been a central theme for the drama this season.
I liked Leo because he was a realist in an administration full of idealists and kept Bartlett grounded in reality on more than one occasion, which is probably a pretty good definition of what a successful White House Chief of Staff does in the real world. I liked John Spencer because he brought something unexplainable to the roles he took. Tommy Mullaney, the lawyer he played on L.A. Law, seemed more realistic than someone like Corbin Bernsen’s Arnie Becker. He was also a fellow Jersey native, so that’s probably another reason I liked him.
It is, at best, doubtful that The West Wing will continue for a ninth season after the current one ends, but whether it does or not, it won’t be the same with Leo around.
