Background
White, John Sylvester was born on October 31, 1919 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Son of John Sylvester and Mary Catherine (O'Neill) White.
White, John Sylvester was born on October 31, 1919 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Son of John Sylvester and Mary Catherine (O'Neill) White.
Bachelor of Arts in English, University Notre Dame, 1941.
Before becoming known in the 1970s as the crabby, diminutive high school Assistant Principal (and later head principal) "Mr. Woodman", on the sitcom Welcome Back, Kotter, White had been best known for his starring role as "Keith Barron", the first husband of Mary Stuart"s character, Joanne Gardner on the television soap opera Search for Tomorrow from 1951 to 1952. Starting in 1970, he had guest appearances on various television shows before landing a recurring role on the Kotter show.
He was also the first husband of Joan Stanton who was known as Joan Alexander in the 1940s when she was the voice of Lois Lane on the radio version of “The Adventures of Superman”.
The couple was married in 1944 and were later divorced. He died in 1988 from pancreatic cancer in Waikiki, Hawaii.
White was 68 years old. John Sylvester White was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania but grew up in the new town of Colmar Manor, Maryland, a bedroom community suburb of northeast Washington, District of Columbia, where his father, an attorney also of the same name, was elected the first mayor of the community in July, 1927.
Member Dramatists Guild New York, Actors Equity, Screen Actors Guild, American Federation of television and Radio Artists, Societe des Auteurs Et Compositeurs Dramatiques, Paris.
Married Vasiliki Sarant, 1966.