John Irwin McGiver (November 5, 1913, New York City – September 9, 1975, West Fulton, New York) was an American character actor who made more than a hundred appearances in television and motion pictures over a two-decade span from 1955 to 1975.
The owl-faced actor was known for his performances as the religious fanatic Mr. O'Daniel in the film Midnight Cowboy; as the kindly Tiffany's salesman in Breakfast at Tiffany's; and as the ill-fated, but honorable Senator Jordan in the original film version of The Manchurian Candidate. He also appeared on many TV shows, as well as in the first of a popular series of commercials for the American Express charge card ("Do you know me?").
McGiver was born the son of Irish immigrants. He received a B.A. in English from Fordham University in 1938 and master's degrees from Columbia University and Catholic University. He was an English teacher before he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1942 and served in the U.S. Army's 7th Armored Division in Europe during World War II. His stage career also began before the war, when he was an actor-director in New York's Irish Repertory Theater. He continued to teach English and speech at Christopher Columbus High School in the Bronx, working occasionally in off-Broadway plays, until 1955, when he became a full time actor.
In the 1964-1965 television season, McGiver played the widower Walter Burnley, the head of the complaint department of a fictitious Los Angeles department store in the CBS sitcom Many Happy Returns. His costars included Elinor Donahue, Mark Goddard, Mickey Manners, and Elena Verdugo.
He lived with his wife Ruth, whom he married in 1947, and ten children in West Fulton, New York, until his death of a heart attack at the age of sixty-one.
McGiver was a regular performer on:
Broadway theatre includes:
