John Spencer for America

I've been re-watching the first three seasons of The West Wing recently and missing how good it was. Over the weekend I read that actor John Spencer died. Spencer played Chief of Staff Leo McGarry for all seven seasons, and apparently started running for VP this past year or so.

I usually remark to anyone within earshot how much I love watching John Spencer work on that show. He had a lot of grist for the mill, to be sure: political drama, personal hardship, and a great sense of humor. In any situation on the show I came to think of Spencer as Batman: he had the answer even if he didn't have the answer.

Spencer seemed at his best sparring with other actors, and especially Roger Rees as Lord John Marbury or Martin Sheen as President Bartlet. My favorite Spencer performace is "Bartlet for America," the Christmas episode for 2001. Leo is under grand jury investigation and is 99% sure about to be publicly embarrassed and have his career ruined. Spencer gets to be funny, depressed, determined, addicted, and in the end, vulnerable.

"Leo's face is a map of the world," Sheen's Bartlet intones. "He'll be fine." Leo takes on the grand jury with humor and stoicism, his loyalty never in question. But we know what he knows: he's about to get destroyed. The day ends in unexpected victory for Leo and the administartion after a difficult slog.

Returning to White House, Bartlet presents Leo with a gift, a memento from a time of possiblity and excitment. And after three years of being worn down by the harshest of life's bitter elements, Leo quietly breaks down.

The empahty elicited by Spencer's performance is rare for me in popular entertainment. I think a lot of fans of the show, past and present, feel the same way.