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Actor Known for ‘Spartacus’ and ‘Psycho’ Dies

Feb 9, 2018  •  Post A Comment

A veteran actor who appeared in a number of major films in the 1960s before becoming President Ronald Reagan’s ambassador to Mexico has died. The AP reports that John Gavin died Friday, Feb. 9.

No cause of death was immediately known. Gavin was 86.

Gavin appeared as Julius Caesar in “Spartacus” and played Janet Leigh’s divorced lover, Sam Loomis, in the Alfred Hitchcock classic “Psycho.” Both films were released in 1960.

He also was seen in “Tammy Tell Me True,” “Thoroughly Modern Millie,” “History of the World, Part I” and many other films.

On television, Gavin played the starring role in the short-lived Western “Destry” in 1964 and followed up with the lead role on “Convoy” the following year.

He won a Golden Globe in 1959 as Most Promising Male Newcomer based on his performance in “A Time to Love and a Time to Die.”

“Reagan appointed Gavin as Mexico’s ambassador in 1981, a country he already had ties with,” the AP reports. “His father had invested in the country’s mines, and ancestors of his Mexican-born mother had been among California’s first Spanish settlers. Gavin had often visited Mexico in his youth and was fluent in Spanish and Portuguese.”

Here’s a short profile of Gavin that was posted on YouTube back in 2012 …

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