John Irwin McGiver

John Irwin McGiver died on September 9, 1975, in upstate New York. He was sixty-two. Born in New York City on March 5, 1913, he had the face of a man who might sell you insurance, marry off a daughter, or chair a school board — and Hollywood used every version of that face. He came to acting after teaching and war service, and specialized in comic authority figures: mayors, businessmen, fathers, officials who could puff up and deflate in the same scene. Breakfast at Tiffany's gave him a memorable turn; so did a run of films and television guest spots that made him one of those "I know that actor" fixtures of the 1960s. The voice was rounded; the timing was exact. McGiver represented a mid-century American type — the respectable man slightly out of his depth — without cruelty. Audiences trusted him even when the character was vain. That trust is harder to design than it looks. He died of a heart attack. The credits are long. The recognition is instant.