Sad news

[ginger001]

I know everybody else has already posted this but I've been dealing with the news since very late last night :(

John Spencer has died and I'm very sad and sorry. My thoughts are with his family and friends and his coworkers in The West Wing. I hope he is happy wherever he is.

He was Leo McGarry! I love that character because he was and he is Leo McGarry. He made that character what it was, what it is.

Leo is one of my favorite characters. His relation and discussions with Josh were great!!!

To remember him, I'm posting some parts of the Pilot where he just steals the show from the beginning.



Security Officer: It's a nice morning, Mr. McGarry.
Leo: We'll take care of that in a hurry, won't we Mike?
Security Officer: Yes sir.
Bonnie meets him. She carries some papers.
Bonnie: Don't kill the messenger, Leo.
Leo: Why the hell not, Bonnie.
Bonnie: Five minutes?
Leo: Please.
Leo walks through the corridors of the West Wing.
Leo: Hey, Emma.
Emma: Good morning.
Leo: Wilson?
Wilson: Hey, Leo.
Leo: Joe.
Jeffrey: Jeffrey.
Leo: Whatever.
Leo pops his head into an outer office.
Leo: Josh!
Donna: Good morning, Leo.
Leo: Hey Donna. Is he in yet?
Donna: Yeah.
Leo: Can you get him?
Donna (shouting): Josh!
Leo: Thanks.
Donna: I heard it's broken.
Leo: You heard wrong.
Donna: I heard...
Leo: It's a mild sprain, he'll be back later today.
Donna: And what was the cause of the accident?
Leo: What are you, from State Farm? Go do a job, would you.
Donna: I'm just...
Leo: He was swerving to avoid a tree.
Donna: And what happened?
Leo: He was unsuccessful.
In Josh's office.
Josh (into phone): Yeah, it's fine. Just don't do anything until you talk to justice. Okay. 'Bye. (hangs up). Hey.
Leo: How many Cubans exactly have crammed themselves into these fishing boats?
Josh: It's importan to understand, Leo, that by and large they're not fishing boats. You hear fishing boats, you conjure the image of, well a boat, first of all. What the Cubans are on would charitably be described as rafts. Okay? They're making the hop from Havana to Miami in fruit baskets basically, let's just be clear to that.
Leo: We are.
Josh: Donna's desk, if it could float, would look good to them right now.
Leo: I get it. How many are there?
Josh: We don't know.
Leo: What time exactly did they leave?
Josh: We don't know.
Leo: Do we know when they get here?
Josh: No.
Leo: True or false: If I were to stand on high ground in Key West with a good pair of binoculars, I'd be as informed as I am right now.
Josh: That's true.
Leo: The intelligence budget's money well-spent, isn't it?
Josh: Tell him to send in the Coast Guard, Leo, come on. I understand, but they're never gonna make it to our territorial waters.
Leo: Thank you.
Josh: What if the DEA suspected they had drugs?
Leo: Does the DEA suspect there were drugs?
Josh: We can make a phone call.
Leo: Josh...
Josh: If the DEA or Navy-Intel thought the Cubans were bringing in drugs, wouldn't we have to go out there and search those rafts with, you know, guns and blankets?
Leo: You look like hell. You know that, don't you?
Josh: Yes I do. Listen, Leo, did he say anything?
Leo: Did he say anything? The President's pissed as hell at you, Josh, and so am I.
Josh: I know.
Leo: We gonna work with these people. And where the hell do you get off struttin' your...
Josh: I know.
Leo: Al Caldwell's a good man.
Josh. Al Caldwell wasn't there.
Leo: I'm saying you take everyone on the Christian right, dump 'em into one big pile and label 'em stupid. We need these people.
Josh: We don't need those people.
Leo: Josh...
Josh: We need Al Caldwell, we want Al Caldwell, we do not need John van Dyke and we do not need Mary Marsh.
Leo: And I think there shouldn't be instant replay in football but that's not my call, now is it.
Josh: It was stupid.
Leo: Damn straight.
Leo leaves.
Josh: I was right, though.
Leo (over his shoulder): Like I don't know that.
Leo enters Mrs. Landingham office in his way to the Oval Office.
Mrs. L: Oh, Mr. McGarry, have they done an x-ray?
Leo: Yep.
Mrs. L: Is anything broken?
Leo: A four-thousand dollar Lynex Titanium touring bike that I swore I'd never lend anyone.
Mrs. L: I don't understand,  how did he...
Leo: He's a klutz, Mrs. Landingham, your President's a geek.
Mrs. L: Mr. McGarry, you know how I feel about that kind of talk in the Oval Office.
Leo: I apologize.
Mrs. L: Just in this room, Mr. McGarry, is all I'm asking.
Leo: Yes. Oh, Bonnie, call OEOB and set up a briefing for the Vice-President... let's coordinate with Katy Simons' office on the appointments.
Bonnie: Should I get everybody it?
Leo: Yeah. (to Margaret) Margaret, please call the editor of the New York Times crossword and tell him that Khaddafi is spelled with an 'H' and two 'D's' and isn't a seven letter for anything.
Margaret: Is this for real or is this just funny?
Leo: Apparently it's neither.
Leo's office.
CJ: Is there anything I can say other than the President rode his bicycle into a tree?
Leo: He hopes never to do it again.
CJ: Seriously, they're laughing pretty hard.
Leo: He rode his bicycle intro a tree, CJ, what do you want me... 'The President, while riding a bicycle on his vacation in Jackson Hole, came to a sudden arboreal stop'... What do you want from me?
CJ: A little love, Leo.

Comments

[winterspel.livejournal.com]

I heard about this from Koala earlier today, and I am just floored. I remember John from the first time I saw him in The Rock, I think it was. He truly was Leo McGarry. Leo McGarry was John Spencer.

I was a huge huge West Wing fan for it's early seasons - I gave up on it after Aaron Sorkin left, but I will always love those characters! It's heartbreaking to think that he died so young, too.

Thank you for sharing this bit of the Pilot - I have such fond memories of it!

[ginger001]

I also remembered him from the Rock first because The West Wing hadn't started airing here yet.

However in the moment I started watching The West Wing, for me John was Leo McGarry and I love that man to bits!

I love the four first seasons because they have the Sorkin touch they lost afterwards but I kept watching because I just need to know what's going on and I love the characters too much.

I am going to miss John a lot but I think am going to miss Leo even more.

That pilot part is just amazinng and how it was filmed was just awesome!

[koalathebear.livejournal.com]

There's nothing I can say, I was really shocked as well. That scene from the pilot also grabbed me. He had such a sincere and wonderful way of acting.

Just so you know Leo's character got to me so much, I'm not sure if you remember but recently when I was seeing if I could explore other employment opportunities, I wrote to a couple of former bosses with the following:

Have you ever watched The West Wing? I've decided that I'm Leo McGarry, Chief of Staff. The problem with law firms is that they expect everyone to want to be the president when some of us prefer being the chief of staff - the power behind the throne as such. A friend queried me on this and said that surely after a while I'd be tired of being one of the backstage hands. A lot of partners haven't believed me, thinking that surely everyone has ambitions to be the president.

The thing is, my ego is satisfied when the 'president' for whom I'm responsible looks good. I like being the trouble-shooter, I like running a team, solving problems, co-ordinating projects and making myself generally indispensable to my president. I just don't want to be the one who has to be in the limelight making big decisions and doing all of the PR.

The first guy wrote back and had no clue what I was talking about (probably never watched The the West Wing). The second woman wrote and said:

If you want to be Leo, you need to find your President Bartlett. You need to find someone with whom you have that rapport – who trusts you implicitly and who you can be honest with – I remember Leo in one episode being the only guy to tell the President he was an idiot.

She totally won my heart by demonstrating she knew what I was saying, but also demonstrating a familiarity with the characters. It's a credit to the performances of the actors that their characters come across as being so 'real'.

I'm sure both John Spencer and Leo McGarry will be greatly missed by all. Thanks for sharing the post..... and I didn't think it was that long ... ;)

[ginger001]

What a nice thing you dared to say with those letters... and how cool was that that woman knew what you were talking about... that meant that she was a person probably worth to work with ;)

Btw, I also like to 'be the guy behind the guy' as Leo and Josh enjoyed being ;) And I was during a time not long ago... too bad it ended not too nicely :/

Anyway, as you I am going to miss the actor and the character very much! Don't know what they will do for the rest of the season, since I don't think they had all it filmed :S Hope they write Leo's disappearance nicely, because he deserves it.

[cypros.livejournal.com]

I'm still trying to assimilate this but it is very hard to realize he's gone.

I'm glad you posted this. He deserves to be remembered and recognized as the extraordinary actor he was. You can have a very inteligent script, but only an outstanding actor as him is able to deliver those lines with such finesse and sharpness and adding so many nuances. Surely TWW wouldn't have been what it is without him.

I also hope he'll be happy wherever he is...

[ginger001]

You are so right. The original West Wing had everything: the great scripts and the outstanding cast... after Sorkin left they have average scripts (most of the times, although there are exceptions) and still the outstanding cast... what's why it is still airing, but I miss the witty and intelligence of the first seasons... sigh

Now that there will be no Leo... it isn't going to be the same because I love Leo too much, he was behind Josh, my favorite. John made Leo posible. He created that man as a reality (before there was only a very good character in a script).

I am going to miss John and Leo very very much!!! :*(