John Wheeler graduated from the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, earning a bachelors degree in Music. A singer and character actor most familiar from television, he appeared on episodes of The Odd Couple, Green Acres, The Brady Bunch, and on Star Trek (as the tellarite Gav in the episode "Journey To Babel"). Wheeler sang with the City Center Opera in New York and performed in Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel and Bernstein, Comden, and Green's Wonderful Town at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair, repeating his role in the latter work in its television premier that same year. On Broadway, he appeared in The Happiest Girl in the World, Kean, Cafe Crown, I Had a Ball, and Sweet Charity (as "Herman", the dance hall proprietor, a role that went to Stubby Kaye in the movie adaptation; Wheeler played a smaller role in the film). He remained active into the 1990s.

Apollo 13
1995 · as Reporter

Mame
1974 · as Judge Bregoff

Big Bad Mama
1974 · as Lawyer

Sweet Charity
1969 · as Dancer

Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here
1969 · as Newman

Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
1978 · as Mr. Fields

Support Your Local Gunfighter
1971 · as Croupier

With This Ring
1978 · as Bell Captain

Mrs. Santa Claus
1996 · as Man in Santa Suit

The Good Guys and the Bad Guys
1969 · as Bumper (uncredited)

Runaway Father
1991 · as Judge Ciglio

Rescue from Gilligan's Island
1978 · as Studio Guard

The Silent Gun
1969 · as Second Townsman

Honky Tonk
1974 · as Bank Manager

Seed of Innocence
1980 · as Trammer

Newman's Law
1974 · as Eastman's dinner guest (uncredited)

Bad Georgia Road
1977 · as Dub Douchette

Wonderful Town
1958 · as Officer Lonigan