For the fictional character, see Trapper John McIntyre. For the Scottish radiologist, see John Macintyre.
John McIntire (June 27, 1907 – January 30, 1991) was an American character actor.
The craggly-faced film actor was born in Spokane, Washington and raised in Montana, growing up with ranchers and cowboys which would eventually inspire his performances in dozens of westerns later in life. The USC graduate began his acting career in radio and on stage.
McIntire began his long movie career in 1947 often playing roles as police chiefs, judges and sometimes crazy coots. His films include the film noir classic The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and his last film playing a crazy dog owner in Turner & Hooch (1989). He also played movie villains in westerns, some of which are considered the best films of the genre; Winchester '73 (1950), The Far Country (1955), both with Jimmy Stewart, and The Tin Star (1957) in which he was not a villain but a country doctor. On television, he appeared in The Naked City (his character was killed off) and played the wagon master on Wagon Train in 1961, and replaced actor Lee J. Cobb on The Virginian in 1967.
McIntire married fellow actor Jeanette Nolan, in 1935, and they had two children together, one of whom was the actor Tim McIntire who starred in the 1978 film American Hot Wax. He also played the brief but memorable role of Sheriff Al Chambers in Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho (1960), in which Nolan read some of Mother's lines and also did some voice-over screaming. McIntire worked more closely with Jeanette Nolan in Disney's 1977 The Rescuers, where he had voiced the cat Rufus and she, the muskrat Ellie Mae. Four years later, the couple worked on another Disney film, The Fox and the Hound, with McIntire as the voice of Mr. Digger, a badger, and Nolan as the voice of Widow Tweed.
John McIntire died from emphysema and lung cancer in Pasadena, California in 1991. He was 83 years old.
John McIntire possessed the requisite grit, craggy features and crusty, steely-eyed countenance to make for one of TV and film's most durable supporting players of western settings. Born in Spokane, Washington in 1907 and the son of a lawyer, he grew up in Montana where he learned to raise and ride broncos on the family homestead. After two years at USC he spent some time out at sea before turning his attentions to entertainment and the stage. As a radio announcer, he gained quite a following announcing on the "March of Time" broadcasts. In the late 40s John migrated west and found a niche for himself in rugged oaters and crimers. Normally the politicians, ranchers and lawmen he portrayed could be counted on for their integrity, maturity and worldly wise, no-nonsense approach to life such as in Black Bart (1948), Down to the Sea in Ships (1949), Asphalt Jungle, The (1950), Saddle Tramp (1950) and World in His Arms, The (1952). Director Anthony Mann (I), however, tapped his versatility and gave him a few shadier, more interesting villains to play in three of his top-notch western films: Winchester '73 (1950), Far Country, The (1954) and Tin Star, The (1957). TV helped John gain an even stronger foothold in late 50s Hollywood. Although his character was killed off on the "Naked City" (1958) program, he became a familiar face in two other classic western series. He won the role of Christopher Hale in 1961 after "Wagon Train" (1957) series' star Ward Bond died, and then succeeded the late Charles Bickford in "Virginian, The" (1962) in 1967 playing Bickford's brother, Clay Grainger, for three years. John's deep, dusty, resonant voice was utilized often for narratives and documentaries. In the ensuing years, he and his longtime wife, actress Jeanette Nolan, became the Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee (I) of the sagebrush set, appearing together as the quintessential frontier couple for decades and decades. They were married for 56 years until John's death of emphysema in 1991. They both outlived their son, Tim McIntire (I), a strapping, imposing actor himself, who died in 1986 of heart problems.
