John Herrick McIntire (June 27, 1907 – January 30, 1991) was an American character actor[1] who appeared in 65 theatrical films and many television series.

He played Christopher Hale, the leader of the wagon train (and successor to Bond's character, Seth Adams) from early 1961 to the series' end in 1965.

[4] He grew up primarily in Eureka, Montana, around ranchers,[3] an experience that later inspired his performances in dozens of film and television westerns.

He was already 40 when he made his big-screen debut in 1947 in the movie "The Hucksters", but went on to appear in films, often portraying police figures, doctors, judges, eccentric loners or other western characters.

In Ambush (1950) he displayed lithe surprising horsemanship skills playing a Cavalry scout alongside Robert Taylor’s, and the same year a shrewd card sharp and gun dealer in Anthony Mann's Winchester '73.

He also had an excellent, sympathetic turn as an aging detective in Scene of the Crime (1949), played a police commissioner in The Asphalt Jungle (1950), a sheriff in the 1960 Hitchcock thriller Psycho and a reverend in the 1960 drama Elmer Gantry starring Burt Lancaster, but though he technically played a supporting part, McIntire received top billing and his greatest critical acclaim for his portrayal of real-life reform politician Albert Patterson assassinated by the local gangsters in the fact-based crime movie The Phenix City Story (1955).

He guest-starred as Judson in the episode "Chinese Invasion" of NBC's one-season western series, Cimarron City, with George Montgomery and John Smith.

[10] McIntire procured a regular role on ABC's Naked City,[11]: 740  before his character was killed off (in the episode; 'The Bumper' done at his own suggestion as he found the New York based filming was not to his liking with him living on the west coast then and asked to be released from the show).

It's a good episode that in actuality foretells John McIntyre's casting of the trail Master a year later when Ward Bond passed away.

McIntire played Clay Grainger,[11]: 1143-1144  the brother of Bickford's character for four seasons, a major recurring leading role in a weekly 90-minute western series similar in size and scope to his earlier work on Wagon Train.

He played the supporting role of Judge Parker in Rooster Cogburn (1975), the sequel to True Grit starring John Wayne and Katharine Hepburn, and appeared as Owen Keating in the 1977 television miniseries Aspen.