John Aylward, known for roles in 'ER' and 'West Wing,' dead at 75

Veteran film and television actor John Aylward has passed away for more than three decades according to his agent and longtime friend Mitchell K. Stubbs. He was 75 years old. Stubbs told CNN that Aylward died on Monday of natural causes. A wonderful actor and an exceptional person Stubbs said. A native of Seattle Aliward is best known for playing the stern but fair Dr. Donald Ansbaugh on NBCs ER and Barry Goodwin on The West Wing. Aylward graduated from the University of Washington School of Drama in 1971 and according to the schools website he worked primarily in theater for 15 years before moving on to work on the big and small screen the site says.

Among his early credits is a recurring role on Northern Exposure. Other jobs have included roles on shows like Family Law The Practice and Mad Men. Aylward has appeared in more than 70 episodes of ER during the shows 15 seasons. Through that especially at the height of the shows popularity when it regularly reached nearly 30 million viewers per week Aylward has become a very well known face. was in the show.

When I was doing Death of a Salesman in the ACT in 1998 I was still showing frequently on ER and it was right after Anspaughs sons death season. It was Monday a day off for the actors on stage And I was queuing up at the grocery store and this woman came running toward me and said Excuse me Im sorry to bother you Ive been out of the country...what happened to your son? And I said Oh hes dead Aylward told the newspaper. Oh no! And I said Yes we buried his ass last week! And the girl who was checking out the groceries turned white like a sheet so I had to stop and go Were talking about a TV show! I could tell he was thinking Who is this gruesome man who talks about his sons death in this way? The roles in the TV shows Brearybatch and Yellowstone were among the closing credits to Allward.