Ray Sharkey

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Raymond "Ray" Sharkey (born November 14, 1952 in Brooklyn , New York , USA ; † June 11, 1993 ibid) was an American film actor .

Life

Film career

Ray Sharkey, whose father left the family when the boy was five, was raised by his mother in a modest industrial district in New York City .

Sharkey knew he wanted to be an actor at the age of 17, after seeing the musical Hair on Broadway in 1969 , and took acting classes at HB Studios . His film debut took place five years later when he was in the film comedy 1974 The Lord's of Flatbush alongside Sylvester Stallone in front of the camera. Sharkey reached the peak of his acting career in 1980, when he was hired by director Taylor Hackford for the musical film The Idolmaker as a leading actor and was honored with a Golden Globe Award in 1981. He received another Globe nomination just a year later, in 1982, for the drama The Ordeal of Bill Carney . Although he was in front of the camera until shortly before his death, he was mainly present as a supporting actor in B-movies or as a guest actor in television series.

Private

In his private life, Sharkey led a shadowy existence , as he came into contact with drugs at an early age and soon became addicted to cocaine and heroin . He was involved in traffic accidents four times in an intoxicated state, two of which he was responsible for. In July 1992, he was arrested for drug possession while filming a commercial in Vancouver . Sharkey was released on bail. Few people knew about his addiction. Sharkey also successfully concealed the fact that he had become infected with the HI virus through the use of contaminated syringes . In 1987 he was diagnosed with AIDS .

After a brief liaison with the Italian actress Ornella Muti in the early 1980s, he married for the first time in 1981. His wife divorced in 1986 because of Sharkey's persistent drug addiction. With his second wife, with whom he was married from 1988 to 1992, he had a daughter in March 1989 despite his AIDS illness.

In 1992, Sharkey's illness became public when his girlfriend at the time sued the actor for US $ 52 million in damages for having infected her with AIDS while having unprotected sex. Although she won the lawsuit, she was never paid out because Sharkey was meanwhile penniless due to his costly drug addiction. Sharkey died of complications from his illness a year later at the age of 40.

Filmography (selection)

Awards

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Sharkey, Ray
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Sharkey, Raymond (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film actor
DATE OF BIRTH November 14, 1952
PLACE OF BIRTH Brooklyn , New York City , New York , United States
DATE OF DEATH June 11, 1993
Place of death Brooklyn , New York City , New York , United States