Stephen Stucker

Stephen Stucker (born July 2, 1947 in Des Moines , Iowa , † April 13, 1986 in Hollywood ) was an American actor. He became known for depicting larger-than-life, garish characters, e.g. E.g. that of the crazy control room worker Johnny Henshaw-Jacobs in The Incredible Journey in a Crazy Plane film series.

Life

Stucker was born on July 2, 1947 in Des Moines , Iowa . His family moved to Shaker Heights , Ohio , where he graduated from high school in 1965. At school he stood out from the others as a pianist and class clown with a dry sense of humor. Stucker made his screen debut in Gregory Corarito's 1975 exploitation Carnal Madness as Bruce Wilson, a gay fashion designer who breaks out of an asylum with two other inmates before he starts molesting students at a girls' boarding school. Although this short summary seems tasteless even by modern standards, the film Coraritos was very popular at the time, and even the exaggerated comedic performances of Stucker and his co-stars Michael Pataki and Bob Minor couldn't prevent the film from becoming a tasteless commercial sex film.

Unmistakable for his manic grin and bald head, Stucker continued with the 1977 Los Angeles earthquake comedy Cracking Up , along with later Spinal Tap stars Fred Willard , Michael McKean and Harry Shearer , before starring as the eccentric, grimacing court clerk Gordon Simley in the sketch film Kentucky Fried Movie directed by John Landis , conceived by filmmaker trio Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker (ZAZ) . Stucker proved to be a success with both Landis and the up-and-coming comedian team Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker, he appeared in both The Incredible Journey in a Crazy Plane and The Incredible Journey in a Crazy Spaceship , in addition to the one designed by Landis Trading Places from 1983. Stucker also had a number of guest appearances in Mork & Mindy (English title: Mork vom Ork ).

Stucker was one of the first actors to announce they had HIV . He died on April 13, 1986 at the age of 38 from complications related to AIDS. He was buried in the Chapel of the Pines Crematory .

In the audio commentary on the Airplane DVD, the directors recalled that when Stucker was a member of the Kentucky Fried Theater, he had a tendency to steal the show from others in every performance, even though he sometimes only played a supporting role .

Web links

• Stephen Stucker in the Internet Movie Database (English)