Stephen Stucker Biography

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Stephen Stucker (July 2, 1947–April 13, 1986) was an American comedy actor, known for his scene-stealing portrayals of larger-than-life flamboyant characters, most notably the insane control room worker "Johnny" in the 1980 film Airplane! and the cross-dressing, rubber-penis-waving stenographer in the courtroom sequence in 1977's The Kentucky Fried Movie.

Stucker was born in Des Moines, Iowa, on July 2, 1947, distinguishing himself at school as both an accomplished pianist and something of a class clown, blessed with a very dry wit. Stucker made his screen debut in Gregory Corarito's 1975 exploitation flick Carnal Madness as Bruce Wilson, a gay fashion designer who escapes an insane asylum with two fellow inmates before molesting and drooling their way through the pupils at a girls' reform school. Although the synopsis seems utterly tasteless by modern standards, Corarito's film was very much a product of its time, and the over-the-top comedy performances by Stucker and his co-stars Michael Pataki and Bob Minor prevented the proceedings from lapsing too far into tasteless sexploitation. Stucker, obviously a distinctive screen presence with his bald pate and maniacal grin, went on to land a noticeable role in the 1977 earthquake-in-Los Angeles comedy Cracking Up, alongside future Spinal Tap stars Fred Willard, Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, before appearing as the shamelessly mugging Gordon Simley in the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker conceived / John Landis-directed sketch film The Kentucky Fried Movie the same year. Stucker proved a hit both with Landis and the emerging spoof comedy team of Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker, as he appeared in both Airplane! and Airplane II: The Sequel, as well as Landis's Trading Places in 1983. Stucker also found time to notch up a series of guest appearances in the Robin Williams TV vehicle Mork and Mindy, but perhaps he was never destined for mainstream acceptance — he was too wild and unpredictable for that. The remainder of his once-burgeoning career was spent enlivening television series such as Growing Pains (1983) and unmemorable films such as The Hot Resort (1985), playing characters with names like Dr Bender.

Stucker was one of the first actors to publicly announce that he was suffering from AIDS. He died from AIDS related complications on April 13, 1986 at the age of 38.

In the audio commentary for the Airplane! DVD the directors remember that when Stucker was a member of the theater group "Kentucky Fried Theater" he had a tendency to steal the show in every skit he was in even if he was just an extra.

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