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:
“No man may him hide
From Death hollow-eyed,”
—John Skelton (1460?–1529)
“Eyes spiritualised by death can judge,
I cannot, but I am not content.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“For the wretched one night is like a thousand; for someone faring well death is just one more night.”
—Sophocles (497–406/5 B.C.)