John Houston Ingle was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He graduated from Verdugo Hills High School in Tujunga, Los Angeles, California. He graduated from Occidental College in Los Angeles. He began teaching English and theater in 1955 at Hollywood High School until transferring in 1964 to teach acting at Beverly Hills High School in Beverly Hills, California, where he remained until his retirement in 1985. His pupils included Nicolas Cage, Albert Brooks, Richard Dreyfuss, Joanna Gleason, Barbara Hershey, Swoosie Kurtz, Stefanie Powers, David Schwimmer, Jonathan Silverman, and Julie Kavner. He called former General Hospital actor Stuart Damon his "closest friend". Ingle, along with Actress Leslie Charleson, fought Damon's 2007 firing from "General Hospital".
Ingle played "Wise Paw" in the 21-episode 1985 syndicated series Paw Paws, a segment of the animated block The Funtastic World of Hanna-Barbera.
In December 2003, Ingle was fired and Edward was to be killed off. Without a contract to keep him at General Hospital, Ingle was free to court other offers and accepted the contract role of Mickey Horton, as a recast for the retiring John Clarke, on the soap opera, Days of Our Lives. Ingle left General Hospital in February 2004 and Edward was recast with Jed Allan.
Ingle returned to General Hospital as Edward Quartermaine after public complaints about Ingle's mistreatment by the producers, on a recurring basis, starting in April 2006.
In late 2008, Ingle underwent treatment for a small section of melanoma on his scalp. He was forced to wear a hat while onscreen to cover the bandage. Ingle was an active volunteer with Habitat for Humanity.
Ingle married Grace-Lynne Martin in 1954. They had five daughters. Grace-Lynne Ingle died on February 11, 2012. Ingle died seven months later on September 16, 2012, aged 84, after battling cancer.
