LOCAL : Veteran Actor Dean Jagger Dies

Veteran character actor Dean Jagger, who won a best supporting Oscar for 1949’s “Twelve O’Clock High,” died at his Santa Monica home today, his wife said. He was 87.

Etta Jagger said that her husband had been recovering from the flu. He died in his sleep this morning, she said.

Mrs. Jagger said her husband acted in more than 150 movies, including “White Christmas,” “Bad Day at Black Rock” and “Elmer Gantry.”

The baldheaded Jagger won an Emmy in 1979 for a performance for the religious program “This Is the Life.” He also appeared as high school principal Albert Vane on the TV series “Mr. Novak” with James Franciscus from 1963 to ’65. But it was his sympathetic supporting and occasionally leading film roles that brought him the most attention.