John Gavin

The current administration is not the first to put people into important roles who weren’t qualified, goodness knows. Not even the first after the days of the spoils system, where the way to get a good job of literally any kind in government was to know the right people. But, during the Reagan administration, it surely did help to know the right people. Specifically, in at least two cases, Hollywood royalty. And that is how John Gavin, best known for being the rather dull man Marion Crane was committing a crime for in Psycho, became ambassador to Mexico. Less famous than Shirley Temple but no less, well, Reagan.

At least Gavin had the educational background, though people might not realize it. Sure, his family had been living in LA for generations. He was, however, descended from people who’d gotten actual Spanish land grants. He then graduated from Stanford with a degree in Latin American economic history, a useful credential for an ambassador. He served in the Navy during the Korean War, admittedly as a flag officer to an admiral. Then again, he was trilingual, speaking Spanish and Portuguese as well as English.

Returning to LA, he offered his services as a consultant for a movie about the USS Princeton, on which he’d served. Instead, he was signed up for a screen test. He wasn’t interested, but picture the dump truck full of money which he freely admitted was why he signed the contract. His first few movies were no great shakes. (His screen debut was uncredited in a Rory Calhoun movie, to continue the Simpsons references.) But his sixth movie was Imitation of Life, his eighth was Psycho, and his ninth was Spartacus.

So okay, it was the peak of his career. Yes, he would be in Thoroughly Modern Millie, but the rest of the career is fairly bland. Episodes of Mannix and The Love Boat, Fantasy Island and Hart to Hart. Movies I’ve never heard of. He did star on the show Convoy, which presumably used his Naval background as part of his character, but he never hit the heights the studios had claimed he would. There were many near-misses, including being cast to replace George Lazenby as James Bond, but Sean Connery took the role and he merely got the money. So, you know, there’s that.

Hitchcock spoke disparagingly of Gavin’s acting, but it’s worth remembering that, unlike many of the people we cover here, John Gavin never wanted to be an actor. Being ambassador to Mexico was much closer to his life’s dream. Gavin himself said that the studio gave him no support and just threw him onto the set. I’m not sure how much better he could have been expected to have done. No matter what else, though, he made three stone-cold classics at least. Also, he was in a movie with Rory Calhoun, and it doesn’t get better than that.