Death
Spencer died of a heart attack in a Los Angeles hospital on December 16, 2005, four days before his 59th birthday. At Spencer's private funeral, his West Wing co-star Kristin Chenoweth sang the musical number "For Good" from the hit Broadway musical Wicked. Spencer's remains were interred at Laurel Grove Memorial Park in his hometown of Totowa, New Jersey. By the time of his death, Spencer had filmed two of the five West Wing episodes that were in post-production: "Running Mates" and "The Cold". Spencer's death was subsequently written into the show's seventh and final season, when his character, Leo McGarry, died of a heart attack on election night. In a strange twist of fate, McGarry had also suffered a life-threatening heart attack in the show's sixth season episode "The Birnam Wood". Spencer's name remained in the opening credits through the remainder of the show's seventh and final season.
Read more about this topic: John Spencer (actor)
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“Hunger shall make thy modest zone
And cheat fond death of all but bone—”
—Cecil Day Lewis (1904–1972)
“Within the hollow crown
That rounds the mortal temples of a king
Keeps Death his court, and there the antic sits,
Scoffing his state and mocking at his pomp,
Allowing him a breath, a little scene,
To monarchize, be feared, and kill with looks.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“When Death to either shall come—
I pray it be first to me.”
—Robert Bridges (1844–1930)