John Hostetter dead: Murphy Brown actor dies at 69

John Hostetter, the actor known for playing an unflappable stage manager on the popular CBS sitcom Murphy Brown, died Sept. 2 in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, after a long battle with cancer. He was 69. His death was announced in a notice in the Evening Sun.

Hostetter portrayed John, a steady presence on the fictional news show FYI, in more than 60 episodes of Murphy Brown. The series, which ran from 1988 to 1998, also starred Candice Bergen, Joe Regalbuto, Faith Ford, and Charles Kimbrough, among others.

Hostetter’s other television credits included NYPD Blue, MacGyver, L.A. Law, ER, Family Ties, and G.I. Joe, and he had small roles in films such as Beverly Hills Cop II, Heartbreak Ridge, Into the Night, and Star Trek: Insurrection.

Born in Brooklyn, New York, Hostetter grew up in Hanover, Pennsylvania, and studied acting at Cornell University. He and his wife, Del Appleby, moved to Florida in 2001, and there he recorded several albums of original music, took up visual arts, and opened a gallery.

“I’ve had a very interesting career,” Hostetter told the Daytona Beach News-Journal in 2013. “I went from one extreme to the other. … I made almost a complete transition from a performing artist to a visual artist. … [My gallery] is the place where my imagination has free range. There is a lot of inspirational energy here and when someone views my work they’ll feel that energy.”