JOHN AGAR
1921-2002

Like countless dozens of other movie fans, we were truly saddened to learn of the passing of actor John Agar, whose very name represents an era of moviegoing we'll never forget no matter how many more years we remain in psychoanalysis. Seriously, there was a time when John Agar's name in the opening credits of a movie pretty much guaranteed that you were going to have a good time, especially if you were sensitive enough to recognize poetry in titles like Women of the Prehistoric Planet and Zontar: The Thing from Venus. But that was long, long ago, in a century that seems to recede further and further into antiquity. Out of deep respect for that era, and particularly Mr. Agar's contribution to it, all we can do now is offer this humble tribute to one of the screen's great personalities.

Notes on Agar

1. He was born on January 31, 1921, in Chicago.
2. January 31 is also Suzanne Pleshette's birthday, but she was not born in Chicago in 1921.
3. Agar was once known as "Mr. Shirley Temple."
4. Coincidentally, Agar was actually married to Shirley Temple from 1946 to 1949.
5. Marriage to Shirley Temple gave Agar the opportunity to make his movie debut in a classic John Ford western, Fort Apache, supporting John Wayne, Henry Fonda AND Shirley Temple.
6. Divorcing Shirley Temple may have paved the way for his later appearances in moves like The Daughter of Dr. Jekyll (1957) and The Brain from Planet Arous (1958).
7. At least Agar got to star in a handful of major movie classics like Tarantula (1955), The Mole People (1956), and Attack of the Puppet People (1958).
8. In 1956 Agar starred with perhaps his female equivalent, Mamie Van Doren, in Star in the Dust.
9. During his career Agar was arrested several times for drunk driving and did a little jail time. Then he became a Christian.
10. Having endured marriage to Shirley Temple, numerous run-ins with the law and a spiritual overhaul, Agar still managed to turn up in the 1976 remake of King Kong.

 


John Agar     Mara Corday

 Tarantula

Director: Jack Arnold
1955



Selected Films of John Agar

1948
Fort Apache

1949
Adventure in Baltimore
She Wore a Yellow Ribbon
The Sands of Iwo Jima

1951
The Magic Carpet

1954
The Golden Mistress

1955
Revenge of the Creature
Tarantula

1956
The Flesh and the Spur
Star in the Dust
The Mole People

1957
Daughter of Dr. Jekyll

1958
The Brain From Planet Arous
Attack of the Puppet People

1962
Journey to the Seventh Planet

1967
The St. Valentine's Day Massacre

1976
King Kong


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