John Spencer was only 58 years old when he died of a heart attack this week in Los Angeles, yet he had a continuous successful acting career that spanned 42 years. Starting off in 1963 on the old Patty Duke Show, John quickly established himself as the kind of character actor that directors and producers ached to work with.

John is most remembered for his role of Leo McGarry, the Chief of Staff for President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) on the highly successful and critically praised “The West Wing” on NBC. However, John was no stranger to big and low budget action, scifi and horror thrillers. You may remember him in such big screen blockbusters as “The Rock” with Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage, “War Games” with Matthew Broderick. John also starred in the less than stellar “Wing Commander IV” with Mark Hamill and the movie about cannibalism entitled “Ravenous” in 1999.

John Spencer would have been 59 on Tuesday of next week. Service and funeral arrangements were pending.