John Agar

Birth Name:

John George Agar Jr.

Birth Date:

January 31, 1921

Birth Place:

Chicago, Illinois

Death Date:

April 7, 2002

Place of Death:

Glendale Memorial Hospital, Glendale, California

Age:

Cause of Death:

Emphysema

Cemetery Name:

Riverside National Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

Show Business

John Agar was an American film and television actor best known for starring alongside John Wayne in the films Sands of Iwo Jima, Fort Apache, and She Wore a Yellow Ribbon. Insecure in his acting ability (with just cause, critics would say) John Agar was often the tall, handsome and static male hero, a secondary male lead to such charismatic actors as John Wayne, Henry Fonda and Kirk Douglas. In his later career he was the star of dozens 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. Agar's career suffered in the wake of his divorce, 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 before his passing in 2002.

Fun Fact

He made international headlines in 1945 by marrying child actress Shirley Temple, the world famous child star who was then a beauteous 17-year-old. They had met only months earlier through a friend of both families, the actress Zasu Pitts. Also, Temple was friends with Agar’s younger sister. That’s correct – he was the first husband of Shirley Temple and really, REALLY hated being referred to as Mr. Shirley Temple in the press.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Riverside National Cemetery

22495 Van Buren Boulevard

Riverside, California, 92518

USA

North America

Map:

Cemetery map of Riverside National Cemetery in Riverside, California.

Grave Location:

Section 55A, Site 18

Grave Location Description

As you enter the cemetery from the side gate off Village W Drive, drive straight ahead (veering slightly right) until you come to the intersection of Meuse-Argonne Drive and Mariana Drive. Continue on Meuse-Argonne Drive for 300 feet and park. On your left walk 20 feet into Section 55A for the final resting place of actor John Agar.