Advertising executive and movie small-parts actor Bob Ginnaven of Little Rock died Sunday. He was 71.
Robert Addison Ginnaven Jr., whose movie appearances included "Steel Magnolias" and Oliver Stone's "JFK," died at St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center. No cause of death was available Monday.
Ginnaven had been a weather man for Little Rock television station KATV and was well-known in Little Rock's advertising, marketing and public relations community. In 1966-67, he was a creative writer for the Faulkner & Associates Advertising Agency, and from 1967-72 was a principal and creative director of the Leavitt, Ginnaven and Dietz agency.
From 1972-92 he was a principal and creative director of the Mangan Rains Ginnaven Holcomb Agency, and from 1992-99 he was principal and creative director of Ginnaven Patterson Associates.
Ginnaven had roles in 21 movies. In "JFK," he played Agent Y. In "White Lighting," he appeared as Harvey. In "Steel Magnolias," he was Mayor Brown. In television, he had roles in six episodes of the CBS prime-time soap "Dallas," as Bob. He performed in two off-Broadway plays.
In Little Rock, Ginnaven was the director of the fabled Farkleberry Follies, a semi-annual political spoof by Sigma Delta Chi, the Society of Professional Journalists.
He was the creator of national commercials for Radio Shack and Shell Oil Company.
He was a member of the Screen Actors Guild and the American Federation of Television & Radio Artists. He was also active as a former board member of the Arkansas Arts Center, Arkansas Repertory Theatre, Pulaski County Council on Aging, Little Rock Film Commission, and the Advisory Board of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Television and Radio Department.
He is survived by his wife, Jeanne Tyler Ginnaven of Little Rock; three sons: Robert A. Ginnaven III of Fayetteville, Christopher Crews Ginnaven of Sherman Oaks, Calif., and Marc Barclay of Nashville, Tenn.; a daughter, Elizabeth Leigh Ginnaven of Marietta, Ga; and six grandchildren.
The family asked that, instead of flowers, memorials be made to the Arkansas Art Center and the Arkansas Repertory Theatre. A memorial service is scheduled for 5 p.m. Tuesday in the Mallard Room of the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock.
A private burial service was scheduled by Ruebel Funeral Home of Little Rock.
For more information see today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.