Actor John Spencer Dies
Sad news out of Hollywood today as “The West Wing” actor John Spencer died following a heart attack. He was to turn 59 next week.
This is sad news for me, not just as a fan of the show, but as a fan of John as an actor. I remember him going back to his days on “LA Law” and have always enjoyed what he brought to the screen. His brief appearance at the beginning of the movie “Wargames” where he played a soldier in charge of a nuclear silo is one of my favorite moments in his career. He had an incredible amount of talent and brought a certain respect to every scene he was in.
About five years ago the Los Angeles Museum of Television & Radio held a “The West Wing” panel that included all the actors and creators from the show. John was there, of course, and came off as an incredibly driven and nice individual.
There’s an odd twist to all of this. A month ago I saw that John was holding a panel discussion of his own through the Learning Annex on December 8th. Unfortunately, my Mom and I couldn’t attend as she went into the hospital on December 6th for surgery (her cancer is back, but it’s very treatable thankfully). With my Father dieing on the 8th as well, there was no way we were going to be able to go anyway, but it was something we were both looking forward to. Now the fact we weren’t able to attend together makes it all a bit sadder.
The challenges the writing staff and producers of “The West Wing” have to face in the coming weeks are enormous. First, they have to get through their grief over the loss of this giant of an actor. Then they need to figure out what to do with the show. Currently, the show is following the campaigns of Democrat Matthew Santos and Republican Arnold Vinick and the last episode had the campaigns at six weeks out before the election Spencer played Santos’s running mate. He’s been a critical component to the show. I’m guessing by this point in the season an outline for the result of the election and the rest of the season has been written. Much of that will necessarily need to be jetisoned with the loss of Spencer. The next question is, who do you choose to replace Spencer? And if they had chosen Santos to win, how do you craft a storyline that will be convincing with this sudden news?
Having just gotten this news, the only thoughts that come to mind are A> call up Aaron Sorkin and get him to consult heavily for this period and B> someone give Rob Lowe a call and have him step in to that role.
My heart goes out to the friends and family of John Spencer. This is a tragic and sudden loss.
