By Bradley Towle
Fulton - The life and career of late 20th-century character actor and West Fulton resident John McGiver deserves a lengthier exploration than will be found here. McGiver became a full-time actor in 1955 after a career as a teacher. His familiar face appeared in numerous acclaimed and popular films and television in his twenty-year career, including Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Manchurian Candidate, Midnight Cowboy, Gilligan's Island, and Bewitched. He settled in West Fulton with his wife, Ruth Schmigelsky, where they raised ten children (the couple's ninth child, Boris, has also become a staple of film and television and the only of John McGiver's offspring to pursue a career in acting).
McGiver appeared in two episodes of Rod Serling's classic The Twilight Zone. He first appeared in an episode entitled "The Bard" in the show's fourth season, where a talentless would-be television writer conjures William Shakespeare and enlists him to write a script. Burt Reynolds stars as a Marlon Brando-type actor, and McGiver plays Mr. Shannon in Serling's blatant satire of the television industry. "The Bard" was the final hour-long episode of the series. In 1964, McGiver had a starring role in the fifth and final season of the anthology series in an episode entitled "Sounds and Silences." McGiver plays Roswell G. Flemington, a retired Navy man who runs a model ship manufacturing company. Much to the chagrin of his employees and wife, Roswell Flemington enjoys loud noises to a level of absurdity and disregard for others entirely. Roswell's wife (portrayed by Penny Singleton, best known for portraying Blondie Bumstead from the "Blondie!'" movies of the 1930s and 1940s) finally has enough. She smashes one of her husband’s cherished records of a Naval bombardment of Okinawa and ultimately leaves him. Her departure thrusts Flemington into a bizarre existential crisis where even the slightest noises become cacophonous. A trip to a psychologist solves the problem, but a new issue arises when his wife returns one last time for her jewelry, and Flemington suddenly can no longer hear at all. Also of note is the episode was directed by Richard Donner, who went on to direct classic films of the 1970s and 80s like Scrooged, Goonies, Lethal Weapon and Superman.
If the episode does not ring a bell, there could be a reason. Three years before the episode aired on television, a script titled "The Sound of Silence" was submitted to the producers but ultimately rejected. After "Sounds and Silences" aired, the author of the original script successfully sued the show's creator (and Binghamton native) Rod Serling because of similarities in the plot, with a court awarding $3,500 in damages. Litigation was ongoing at the time of the initial syndication package, which meant the episode remained shelved until 1984, when it first resurfaced on a special holiday presentation. John McGiver's starring role in The Twilight Zone remained unavailable for nearly a decade after the actor passed away at his West Fulton home. "Sounds and Silences" is currently available on multiple streaming platforms and allows us to see a notable 20th-century character actor at work in one of television's most innovative and classic shows.
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