Trivia of John Gavin

Trivia of John Gavin (8 April 1931 - 9 February 2018)

*Gavin was of a Chilean, Mexican and Spanish descent.He received education from St. John’s Military Academy, Los Angeles and later at Villanova Preparatory in Ojai, California. He then enrolled at Stanford University where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts with honors in Economics and Latin American history.During the 1951 war in Korea, John Gavin served as an air intelligence officer till the end of the war in 1953.

*After his hitch in the Navy, John Gavin became a technical adviser to Bryan Foy, a family friend, and a film producer. Foy arranged a screen test with Universal-International for his movie, Princeton featuring Gavin but Gavin turned the offer down as he did not know acting but reconsidered the offer with his father’s encouragement. The test was successful, and that is how Gavin started his acting career with Universal.

*Alfred Hitchcock was unhappy with his performance in Psycho (1960). He thought John's acting style was wooden and referred to him as "The Stiff" in interviews.Before filming, Sir Alfred Hitchcock wanted either Stuart Whitman or Rod Taylor for the role of Sam Loomis, but Universal Pictures insisted on John Gavin.

*In the same year, 1960, he worked for two legendary directors: Psycho with Alfred Hitchcock and Spartacus with Stanley Kubrick.

*Gavin was considered for the role of James Bond after George Lazenby refused to continue playing the character after the film “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” (1969).Producers briefly thought the spy character should be American, so actor John Gavin signed a contract to play James Bond.But Gavin was out and be paid $100,000 to “heal the hurt”.Sean Connery returned to play James Bond.

*Studio bosses always liked internal competition to keep the pressure on their major stars; Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer signed Robert Taylor as a young backup to the King of Hollywood Clark Gable, and similarly, Gavin was positioned as the "next Rock Hudson" .Gavin disliked comparisons to Rock Hudson and in a 1960 interview said he considered quitting acting to take up law.

*After retired from acting in the 1980s, Gavin was appointed U.S. Ambassador to Mexico in June 1981 by President Ronald Reagan and served until June 1986.He also succeeded as a Businessman, Civic Leader, co-founding and managing several ventures in the US and Latin America.