John McIntire

John Herrick McIntire (June 27, 1907 – January 30, 1991) was an American character actor who appeared in 65 theatrical films and many television series. McIntire is well known for having replaced Ward Bond, upon Bond's sudden death in November 1960, as the star of NBC's Wagon Train. He played Christopher Hale, the leader of the wagon train (and successor to Bond's character, Seth Adams) from early 1961 to the end of the series in 1965. He also replaced Charles Bickford, upon Bickford's death in 1967, as ranch owner Clay Grainger (brother of Bickford's character) on NBC's The Virginian for four seasons.

John McIntire was born in Spokane, Washington, the son of Byron Jean McIntire and Chastine Uretta Herrick McIntire. He was of Irish descent. He grew up primarily in Eureka, Montana, around ranchers, an experience that later inspired his performances in dozens of film and television westerns. Later, he lived in Santa Monica, California.

McIntire studied at the University of California for two years before dropping out.

McIntire began acting on radio in Tarzan and the Diamond of Asher and he met his future wife Jeanette Nolan through their work on radio programs. McIntire played the title role in a Los Angeles radio station's production of The Adventures of Bill Lance and was the first actor to play the title role in the CBS radio drama Crime Doctor. He played Jack Packard in I Love a Mystery and Peter Carter in the radio version of The Lineup. He worked on many episodes of Suspense from the early 1940s. He was the narrator for the radio programs Lincoln Highway, and The March of Time. He can be heard on an episode of the radio version of Gunsmoke on CBS portraying Miss Kitty's estranged father.

He was active in the theatre, before he embarked on a lengthy film and television career as a character actor. He was already 40 when he made his big-screen debut in 1947 in the movie The Hucksters, but went on to appear in films, often portraying police figures, doctors, judges, eccentric loners or other western characters.

Some of his most remembered roles were in Westerns, such as The Far Country (1955), with James Stewart, and The Tin Star (1957) with Henry Fonda. In Ambush (1950) he displayed horsemanship skills playing a Cavalry scout, alongside Robert Taylor. The same year he played a card sharp and gun dealer in Anthony Mann's Winchester '73. He also had a turn as an aging detective in Scene of the Crime (1949), and played a police commissioner in The Asphalt Jungle (1950). In 1960, he appeared as a sheriff in the 1960 Hitchcock thriller Psycho, and the drama Elmer Gantry starring Burt Lancaster.

Though he technically played a supporting part, McIntire received top billing for his portrayal of real-life reform politician Albert Patterson, who assassinated by the local gangsters in the fact-based crime movie The Phenix City Story (1955).

In the mid-1950s, McIntire moved into television, appearing in anthology series, sitcoms and dramas. He guest-starred as Judson in the episode "Chinese Invasion" of NBC's one-season Western series, Cimarron City, with George Montgomery and John Smith.