Weathered, veteran character player who began his career on radio and appeared in more than 100 films, usually playing law officers, politicians and other figures of authority. Best known as the no-nonsense police chief in "The Asphalt Jungle" (1950), the timid sharecropper in "A Lion Is in the Streets" (1953) and the shocked sheriff in "Psycho" (1960), McIntire also played villains in three Anthony Mann Westerns: "Winchester .73" (1950), "The Far Country" (1955) and "The Tin Star" (1957).
From the late 1950s he became a familiar face on TV, starring as a veteran cop on "Naked City" (1958-59), replacing first the late Ward Bond as the wagonmaster on the popular "Wagon Train" (1961-65) then Lee J. Cobb as the ranch owner on "The Virginian" (1967-68) and playing the neighborly boat-builder on the comedy "Shirley" (1979-80). He married actress Jeanette Nolan in 1935. Their son was the late actor Tim McIntire ("American Hot Wax").