John Spencer was an American film and television actor. He was best known for playing White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry on the NBC political drama series The West Wing, which earned him an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series in 2002. Spencer was born John Speshock, Jr. in New York City and raised in Totowa, New Jersey. He was the son of blue-collar parents Mildred , a waitress, and John Speshock, Sr., a truck driver. Spencer was of Irish and Rusyn / Ukrainian descent. With his enrollment at the Professional Children's School in Manhattan in 1963, Spencer found... himself sharing classes with such fellow students as Liza Minnelli and violinist Pinchas Zukerman. He attended Fairleigh Dickinson University, but did not complete a degree. Spencer often referred to himself as a "dyed-in-the-wool liberal" and described Franklin Delano Roosevelt as one of his heroes. Spencer began his television career on The Patty Duke Show, and eventually began appearing in supporting roles in feature films commencing with 1983's WarGames.
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