User:Theleekycauldron/Drafts/List of The West Wing characters

The television series The West Wing is a political drama series which was originally broadcast on NBC.

During its seven seasons, the ensemble cast of stars, recurring stars and guest stars earned 157 acting nominations (often competing in the same category against other members of the cast) across a variety of award-granting organizations, earning 30 awards. Many actors noted for work in sitcoms appeared in dramatic roles on The West Wing, including John Goodman, Alan Alda, John Larroquette, Christopher Lloyd, Ed O'Neill, Matthew Perry, Patricia Richardson, and Lily Tomlin.

Cast Table

 * = Main cast (credited)
 * = Recurring cast (2+)

C. J. Cregg
Claudia Jean Cregg, played by Allison Janney, was the White House Press Secretary from the series pilot until the sixth season. She was then promoted to White House Chief of Staff, serving in this role until the series finale inaugurated Matt Santos as president. It has been speculated that the character was based to some extent off of Dee Dee Myers, who served as the White House Press Secretary to Bill Clinton and as a consultant on The West Wing – Sorkin, however, has denied this notion.

Mrs. Landingham
Dolores Landingham, played primarily by Kathryn Joosten, is Jed Bartlet's personal secretary in the first two seasons. Rather than playing a central political role, Mrs. Landingham often served as guidance for other characters, grounding them in the show's reality to remind the characters "who they should be working for".

She was killed off in the second-season episode "18th and Potomac", but reappeared for multiple flashbacks afterwards.

Lord John Marbury
''I am John, Lord Marbury, Earl of Croy, Marquess of Needham and Dolby, Baronet of Brycey, England's Ambassador to the United States, and a terrorist is a terrorist even if he wears a green necktie and sings "Danny Boy." Yes, you can call me John.''

Morris Tolliver
Morris Tolliver is the president's physician. He appears only in "Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc", the second episode of the first season. The president is trusting and fond of Morris throughout the episode; when Bartlet expresses worry about interacting with his military advisors, Tolliver comforts him. At the end of the episode, Leo tells the president that a plane carrying Morris to a humanitarian mission in Amman exploded in midair, destroyed by a missile launched on the order of the Syrian Defense Ministry. This creates the events of the next episode, "A Proportional Response", in which an angry and grieving Bartlet has to be talked out of drastic retaliation measures for the attack.

Gail
Gail is a goldfish, given as a gift from Danny to C. J. in the first season. Danny, after being told by Josh that C. J. liked goldfish, bought Gail for C. J. without realizing that Josh was referring to a cracker brand with the same name. Gail made numerous reappearances throughout the show, sporting various contextually significant decorations in her fishbowl. Sorkin donated Gail's fishbowl to the National Museum of American History, along with the Christmas tree shown in the first season episode "In Excelsis Deo".