Walter McGinn

He was an actor, known for The Parallax View (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975) and Eleanor and Franklin: The White House Years (1977). He was married to Robyn Goodman.

Thirteen years after the 1955 Warner Brothers feature film "East of Eden" was premiered in New York City, a musical-play adaptation of the John Steinbeck 1952 novel was developed in 1966, re-titled for a New York City Broadway presentation - "Here's Where I Belong". The official opening on Broadway's Billy Rose Theatre was postponed from February 20, 1968 to March 2, 1968, after previews began performances on February 7, to allow time for rewrites to the book. Terrence McNally wrote the musical's book, but left the production during the out-of-town try out, opening on January 15, 1968 at the Shubert Theatre, Philadelphia, PA., closing after 20 performances, to move to Broadway's Billy Rose Theater. Terrence McNally asked that his name be removed from the credits prior to opening night, with Alex Gordon as a pseudonym in the Playbill credits. The musical opened in New York City, Billy Rose Theater for previews on February 7, with 20 preview performances. Opening Date and closing date are the same, March 3, 1968 - with only 1 official performance. The James Dean's "East of Eden" film role featured Walter McGinn (b.1936, at 32 years) as Caleb Trask in the Broadway musical. Clive Barnes, in his review in The NEW York Times, questioned whether the book (East of Eden) could be a viable musical as it was too serious. Condensing the original book and film property into a stage musical was a momentous creative endeavor which became a major disaster to the team's attempt to translate into a two act musical-play. During the Philadelphia try-out performances, five musical numbers were dropped out of the show's song list, prior to the production's move to Broadway's The Billy Rose Theatre.

Walter McGinn, as Timmy Cleary, made an impressive Broadway Helen Hays Theatre debut on September 7, 1965, in the Pulitzer Prize and Tony winning play "The Subject Was Roses" opposite Maureen O'Sullivan as Nettie Cleary and Chester Morris as John Cleary, This new cast replaced the original 1964 production's cast: Jack Albertson (Tony Award) as John Cleary; Irene Dailey as Nettie Cleary; Martin Sheen as Timmy Cleary. Sheen, Dailey and Albertson departed the play, replaced with a new cast on September 7, 1965. Replacing Martin Sheen, Walter McGinn played Timmy Cleary, who returns home from his service during World War II. While he seems to vindicate himself in his father's eyes for surviving the war, his drinking and cursing disturb his mother. Though his parents, John and Nettie, seem to be happy, the peace proves to be a facade. Soon old emotional wounds and unresolved marital problems resurface. Caught in the middle, Timmy feels responsible for their squabbling, but can see no way to resolve their problems.

The Broadway Billy Rose Theatre was familiar ground for Walter McGinn (at age 28) who manned the orange juice and candy concession during the production play run of "Tiny Alice" - December 29, 1964 through May 22, 1965. "Tiny Alice" starred John Gielgud as Julian; Irene Worth as Miss Alice; William Hutt as Lawyer; Eric Berry as Cardinal; John Heffernan as Butler. McGinn had appeared in numerous churches, coffee houses, and in most major summer stock playhouses across the country. After McGinn completed a national tour as "The Boy" in "The Fantastics," he was performing as "Caleb Trask" in the 1968 musical adaptation of "East of Eden" - "Here's Where I Belong".

Of James Dean's three major films, "East of Eden" (1955), "Rebel Without A Cause" (1955) and "Giant" (1956), James Dean lived to see the release of only the first film. James Dean died in an automobile head-on crash on a two lane desert highway #466 between Bakersfield and Paso Robles, California, driving his new 1955 Porsche 550 Spyder to Salinas, CA - en-route to participate in a weekend auto race rally. Dean died at 5:15 pm on Friday, September 30, 1955. And on the day before his death, his "East of Eden" film costar Richard Davalos opened on Broadway, creating the role of 'Rodolpho' in the original production of Arthur Miller's "A View from the Bridge," and the day after Dean's death "East of Eden" film costar Lois Smith opened on Broadway in Sally Benson's play "The Young and Beautiful." Ironically, thirteen years after Dean's appearance in the film "East of Eden", the New York stage actor-musical performer Walter McGinn, played Dean's film role of 'Caleb Trask' in the premiere 1968 Broadway musical adaptation of "East of Eden," - re-titled "Here's Where I Belong". The superstitious - James Dean crash curse mystery has been identified to various instances with individuals directly and indirectly tied with James Dean's legacy. An ironic twist of the curse followed Walter McGinn after performing Dean's role as Caleb Trask in "East of Eden". Walter McGinn (age 40) died early in his life because of a fatal Los Angeles car accident. McGinn was killed on Interstate 210 when in an attempt to avoid an obstacle, his car skidded and plunged down an embankment, hitting a parked truck.

Walter McGinn was born on July 6, 1936 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA as Walter Vincent McGinn III.