John George Agar Jr. (January 31, 1921 – April 7, 2002) was an American film and television actor. He is best known for starring alongside John Wayne in the films Sands of Iwo Jima, Fort Apache, and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. In his later career he was the star of B movies, such as Tarantula!, The Mole People, The Brain from Planet Arous, Revenge of the Creature, Flesh and the Spur and Hand of Death. He was the first husband of Shirley Temple.
Agar's career suffered in the wake of his divorce with Temple, but he developed a niche playing leading men in low-budget science fiction, Western, and horror movies in the 1950s and 1960s. John Wayne gave him several supporting roles in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In later years he worked extensively in television.
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Early life
Agar was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Lillian (née Rogers) and John George Agar, a meat packer. His great aunt was Edna Gladney. He was educated at the Harvard School for Boys in Chicago and Lake Forest Academy in Lake Forest, Illinois. He graduated from Trinity-Pawling Preparatory School in Pawling, New York, but did not attend college. He and his family moved from Chicago to Los Angeles in 1942, after his father's death.
In 1941, Agar joined the U.S. Navy Air Corps, had basic training in Texas, and instructed in physical training at March Field in Riverside, California. He was medically discharged from the Navy in 1943 due to an ear infection that affected his balance. He then enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps. He was a sergeant and a physical training instructor when he left the USAAF in 1946.
Career
Agar met Shirley Temple in 1943 when he was asked to escort her to a Hollywood party.
After his marriage with Temple in 1945, her boss at the time, David O. Selznick, signed Agar to a five-year acting contract starting at $150 a week, including acting lessons. Agar made his film debut as Temple's love interest in Fort Apache (1948), a John Ford western for RKO starring John Wayne and Henry Fonda. It was a financial and critical success.
Agar was reunited with Temple for his second film, a suffragette drama Adventure in Baltimore (1949), also for RKO, which was a huge flop.
RKO used him in The Woman on Pier 13 (1950), an anti-communist drama that was a pet project of Howard Hughes. It was Agar's first movie without Temple, and he was billed after Robert Ryan and Laraine Day. It was another flop.
More successful was a reunion with Wayne and Ford, She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), in which Agar played the romantic lead. It was a sizeable hit and has come to be regarded as a classic. Even more popular was the World War II film Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) where Agar supported John Wayne. Made by Republic Pictures, it was a sizeable hit, earning Wayne an Oscar nomination and getting Agar some good reviews. Toward the end of his life, Agar blamed John Wayne for getting him hooked on cigarettes and alcohol, two addictive habits that would later ruin his life.
Warner Bros put Agar in a war film, Breakthrough (1950) which relied extensively on pre-existing war footage. It was a reasonable success at the box office.
Warner Bros used him in Along the Great Divide (1951), supporting Kirk Douglas. He made a low budget Arabian Knights film for Sam Katzman with Lucille Ball, The Magic Carpet (1951).
In 1952 Agar was fired by Selznick for driving under the influence of alcohol, which affected his career with the large studios in Hollywood.
Personal life
Marriages
Agar's sister was a schoolmate of Shirley Temple. In 1944 Agar escorted Temple to a party held by David O. Selznick. The two were married in 1945. Agar and Temple had a daughter together, Linda Susan Agar, born 1948 (who was later known as Susan Black, taking the surname of her stepfather, Charles Alden Black). However, the marriage foundered, in part because of Agar's drinking (he had been arrested for drunk driving) and in part because of pressures of their high public profile. Temple sued for divorce on the grounds of mental cruelty in 1949. The two were divorced on December 7, 1950. After the divorce, Agar had little contact with his daughter or with Temple.
Agar married model Loretta Barnett Combs (1922–2000) in 1951. They tried to elope but officials refused to marry them for an hour because Agar had been drinking. They remained married for 49 years until her death in 2000. They had two sons, Martin Agar and John G. Agar III.
Legal issues
In 1950 Agar was fined for reckless driving. In 1951 he was sentenced to five months in jail for drunk driving, and released on probation after 60 days. In 1953 Agar was again arrested for drunk driving, and sentenced to 120 days in prison. In 1960 he was again arrested for drunk driving.
Political views
Agar supported Barry Goldwater in the 1964 United States presidential election, and Ronald Reagan in 1980.
Premature obituary
Agar was drinking at his friend and filmmaker Ed Wood's apartment one day in the late 1960s when the afternoon news program erroneously announced Agar's obituary. Wood called the studio and told them: "He's alive... he's sitting right here with me now!" The story was corrected shortly thereafter.
Death
Agar died on April 7, 2002, in Burbank, California from severe complications from emphysema, after being confined for months to an iron lung. He was 81.
Legacy
As for being associated with science fiction B movies, Agar said, "I don't resent being identified with B science fiction movies at all." Agar later said, "Why should I? Even though they were not considered top-of-the-line, for those people that like sci-fi, I guess they were fun. My whole feeling about working as an actor is, if I give anybody any enjoyment, I'm doing my job, and that's what counts."
John Agar has been referenced in multiple songs by various rock bands. Frank Zappa mentions Mr. Agar in the song "The Radio is Broken" from the 1983 album The Man From Utopia.
The Seattle band The Young Fresh Fellows recorded the songs "The New John Agar" and "Agar's Revenge" on the Topsy Turvy album in 1985.
John Agar is also mentioned by lesser-known bands such as The Underpeople (Zontar, The Thing from Venus) and The Dead Elvi (John Agar Rules).
The television series Mystery Science Theater 3000 has featured several of Agar's films, including The Mole People, Women of the Prehistoric Planet and Revenge of the Creature.
