Stephen Stucker

Stephen Stucker

Born: July 2, 1947
Died: April 13, 1986
in Des Moines, IA
Stucker was born in Des Moines, Iowa. His family moved to Shaker Heights, Ohio, where he distinguished himself in school as a pianist and class clown. He graduated from high school in 1965. Stucker made his screen debut co-starring in the 1975 comedic sexploitation film Carnal Madness as Bruce Wilson, a gay fashion designer who escapes from an insane asylum with two fellow inmates, fleeing to an all-girls school. He went on to perform in the 1977 earthquake-in-Los-Angeles comedy Cracking Up, alongside Fred Willard, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer. In 1977 he appeared in the John Landis film The Kentucky Fried Movie, based on the troupe's sketches. This led to his supporting role in the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker comedy Airplane!, which he reprised in Airplane II: The Sequel. For the initial film, the writers gave Stucker the straight lines for his scenes and let him write his character's off-the-wall responses. In 1982 he had a guest role in a three-episode sequence in the TV series Mork & Mindy and, in 1983, had a small featured role in Landis' Trading Places. In 1984, he had a co-starring role as the sex-obsessed psychiatrist, Dr. Bender, in the teen comedy film Bad Manners (aka: Growing Pains).

On July 12, 1984, Stucker was diagnosed with AIDS. He later publicly announced his illness, making him one of the first actors to announce he was suffering from the disease. Stucker had apparently suffered from many different types of cancer-related symptoms as early as 1979, prior to public knowledge of what AIDS was. He died from AIDS-related complications on April 13, 1986 at the age of 38. He is interred in the Chapel of the Chimes.

Movies for Stephen Stucker...

Hot Resort
Title: Hot Resort
Character: Bobby Williams
Released: January 1, 1985
Type: Movie
Young guys on the make get a job at a resort hotel in the Caribbean.
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Bad Manners
Title: Bad Manners
Character: Dr. Bender
Released: November 11, 1984
Type: Movie
Four teens on the run from an orphanage spring a fellow orphan recently adopted by a rich family, then trash the whole house.
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Trading Places
Title: Trading Places
Character: Stationmaster
Released: June 7, 1983
Type: Movie
A snobbish investor and a wily street con-artist find their positions reversed as part of a bet by two callous millionaires.
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Airplane II: The Sequel
Title: Airplane II: The Sequel
Character: Jacobs / Courtroom Clerk
Released: December 10, 1982
Type: Movie
A faulty computer causes a passenger space shuttle to head straight for the sun, and man-with-a-past Ted Striker must save the day and get the shuttle back on track – again – all the while trying to patch up his relationship with Elaine.
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Airplane!
Title: Airplane!
Character: Johnny Henshaw-Jacobs
Released: July 2, 1980
Type: Movie
An ex-fighter pilot forced to take over the controls of an airliner when the flight crew succumbs to food poisoning.
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The Kentucky Fried Movie
Title: The Kentucky Fried Movie
Character: Stenographer (segment "Courtroom")
Released: August 10, 1977
Type: Movie
A series of loosely connected skits that spoof news programs, commercials, porno films, kung-fu films, disaster films, blaxploitation films, spy films, mafia films, and the fear that somebody is watching you on the other side of the TV.
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Delinquent Schoolgirls
Title: Delinquent Schoolgirls
Character: Bruce Wilson
Released: January 1, 1975
Type: Movie
Three mental patients--a bad impersonator, a baseball player, and a gay fashion designer--escape their asylum and sexually assault their way into a girls' private school. The girls' education includes wrestling and karate, so the three madmen will find stern opposition they never expected.