'ER' & 'The West Wing' Actor John Aylward dies at 75

Aylward was unwell, and his health was declining. His wife, Mary Fields, confirmed the actor's death to Mitchell K. Stubbs, Aylward's longtime agent.

Stubbs mentioned that Apart from being a dream client, Aylward was a phenomenal human being and an excellent actor.

The American actor was born and raised in Seattle, Washington. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in drama from the University of Washington in 1970. He was a co-founder of Seattle's Empty Space Theatre and worked as a Seattle Repertory Theatre company member before coming to the television and film world. He made his on-screen debut with the television film The Secret Life of John Chapman in 1976.


Aylward had a remarkable career of more than four decades in which he worked in many television series. He collaborated with the NBC series in the third season and featured in more than 70 episodes over 12 years. Aylward was best known for playing the character of Dr Donald Anspaugh in the NBC series ER and Barry Goodwin on The West Wing. He also gave his voice to Dr Arne Magnusson's character in Half-Life 2: Episode Two.

He had won the 1996 Drama Logue Award for his Outstanding Performance in Psychopathia Sexualis, a 1996 production. After seeing his performance for the same in Los Angeles at the Mark Taper Forum, Carol Flynt, ER co-creator, had initially offered him an audition.

In the film zone, he owns notable credits for Water for Elephants, A Million Ways to Die in the West, The Crazies, and a 2020 film, The Way Back.

A few of his outstanding performances include his roles as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman, Scrooge in Inspecting Carol, and Shelley Levine in Glengarry Glen Ross. He also played roles in Brothers & Sisters, The Practice, Judging Amy, Boston Legal, Alias, Without a Trace, etc. His final role was Freddie Laffer in the USA Network crime drama Briarpatch in 2020