The Word Garage

The Word Garage

Actor Kevin McCarthy Dies; Starred in ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers’

Veteran stage and screen actor Kevin McCarthy died of natural causes at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, Mass. He was 96.

McCarthy’s acting career spanned more than 70 years, from Broadway to Hollywood, but he was best known as the family doctor who uncovered the alien pod takeover of a small town in California in 1956’s ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers.’

McCarthy begin his career on stage in New York in the late 1930s, playing Biff Loman opposite Paul Muni’s Willy in the 1949 London production of ‘Death of a Salesman.’ He moved to the big screen, where he starred in ‘An Annapolis Story,’ ’40 Pounds of Trouble,’ ‘The Prize,’ ‘The Best Man,’ ‘Kansas City Bomber,’ ‘Buffalo Bill and the Indians,’ ‘Piranha’ and ‘The Howling.’ He even made a cameo appearance in the 1978 remake of ‘Invasion.’

Later he made guest appearances on such TV series as ‘The Twilight Zone,’ ‘Burke’s Law,’ ‘Flamingo Road’ and ‘Murder, She Wrote.’ In addition to his many Broadway and Hollywood credits, McCarthy toured for many years as President Truman in the one-man show ‘Give ‘Em Hell, Harry.’ [Los Angeles Times]