John Agar

Diagnoses

Vocation

Family

American actor, a handsome but colorless leading man; better known as the former husband (1946-1949) of Shirley Temple than for his films. The son of a Chicago meat-packing family, he served in the military during WW II. While on leave, he stayed as a house guest with his mom's friend, ZaSu Pitts. The next-door neighbor, 17-year-old Shirley Temple, asked him to take her to a party hosted by her boss, David O. Selznick. At the party, the producer offered Agar an acting job, and after his army discharge, he was put under contract. With their marriage in 1946, they became the most popular couple in America. Agar made his debut in "Fort Apache," 1948 with his wife; they were teamed again in "Adventure in Baltimore," 1949. Their marriage was handicapped by their youth and his increasing drinking habit, and they divorced in 1949. His divorce did not stop either his career or his drinking, however, by 1951, his numerous arrests for drunk driving brought him to 60 days on a prison farm. In May 1951, a judge refused to conduct a wedding ceremony between him and a second wife until he sobered up. Two years later he was arrested twice in one day, drawing a four-month sentence. Agar's career began to drift into routine action pictures and low-budget sci-fi and horror movies. He tried various business ventures without much success. After rehab from alcohol, he became an insurance salesman with occasional screen roles such as "King Kong", 1976. As of the '70s, he and his wife had a home in Burbank, two sons, a variety of household animals and cared for his aged father-in-law. He had no contact with his ex-wife or their daughter. Agar remarked, "I simply wasn't ready when it was handed to me." John Agar died on 7 April 2002 in Burbank, California, at age 81 of emphysema. Link to Wikipedia biography