{"id":803,"date":"2009-11-03T05:30:14","date_gmt":"2009-11-03T09:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/buzzsandbox.movieunlimited.com\/?p=803"},"modified":"2011-01-04T20:33:49","modified_gmt":"2011-01-05T01:33:49","slug":"comic-actor-stephen-stucker","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=803","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Stucker: Johnny, What Can You Make Out Of This?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-1447\" title=\"Comic Actor Stephen Stucker: A short film history\" src=\"http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/stephen-stucker.jpg\" alt=\"stephen-stucker\" width=\"300\" height=\"197\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In a movie like 1980&#8217;s <a title=\"Airplane! Don\" href=\"http:\/\/www.moviesunlimited.com\/musite\/findresults_title.asp?search=Airplane!+Don\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Airplane!<\/a>, where the jokes are zooming past viewers at a rate of several\u00a0 per minute and the starring cast includes veteran stars the likes of Lloyd Bridges, Leslie Nielsen and Robert Stack, it takes a special kind of performer to make a lasting impression in a supporting role. However, that&#8217;s just what comic actor Stephen Stucker did in the role of the manic and&#8211;oh, how shall we say\u00a0it?&#8211;flamboyant airport control room worker Johnny.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Born in Iowa in July, 1947, Stucker&#8217;s interest in performing led him to California, where he would become a member of the Kentucky Fried Theatre comedy troupe and work with future filmmakers Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker. Stephen&#8217;s debut film role, however, would be in 1973, as a psychopathic fashion designer who breaks out of an asylum with fellow inmates Bob Minor and Michael Pataki in the somewhat tongue-in-cheek exploitation thriller <a title=\"Delinquent Schoolgirls\" href=\"http:\/\/www.moviesunlimited.com\/musite\/findresults_title.asp?search=Delinquent+Schoolgirls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Delinquent Schoolgirls<\/a>.\u00a0 He would later reunite with his stage colleagues in 1977&#8217;s sketch-filled <a href=\"http:\/\/www.moviesunlimited.com\/musite\/product.asp?sku=D18353&amp;loc=buzzsearch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Kentucky Fried Movie<\/a>, playing a wacky stenographer in a courtroom scene.<\/p>\n<p>The high point of Stucker&#8217;s Hollywood career, however, came in Abrahams&#8217; and the Zuckers&#8217; Airplane!, when as Johnny he would get the opportunity to truly camp it up and make off-the-wall remarks to whatever his more serious co-stars would say (&#8220;Johnny, what can you make out of this?&#8221; &#8220;This? Why, I can make a hat, or a brooch, or a pterodactyl,&#8221; or &#8220;What kind of plane is it?&#8221; &#8220;Oh, it&#8217;s a big pretty white plane with red stripes, curtains in the windows, and wheels and it looks like a big Tylenol.&#8221;). Stephen, along with several cast members, reprised his role in 1982&#8217;s <a href=\"http:\/\/www.moviesunlimited.com\/musite\/product.asp?sku=D18929&amp;loc=buzzsearch\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Airplane II: The Sequel<\/a>, the less said about which, the better, and he had a cameo the following year in the Eddie Murphy-Dan Aykroyd hit Trading Places.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, only a handful of turns in minor films followed in the mid-&#8217;80s, by which time Stucker made another, more ominous, sort of Hollywood notoriety by being one of the first actors to publicly announce he was HIV-positive. Stephen made a memorable appearance on a 1985 episode of The Phil Donahue Show, candidly talking about living with AIDS and showing his trademark humor (&#8220;Don&#8217;t I look fabulous?&#8221;) , but he would die of AIDS-related complications the following April at the age of 38.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In a movie like 1980&#8217;s Airplane!, where the jokes are zooming past viewers at a rate of several\u00a0 per minute and the starring cast includes veteran stars the likes of Lloyd Bridges, Leslie Nielsen and Robert Stack, it takes a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":1447,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[529],"tags":[1491],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-scene-stealers","tag-character-actors"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Comic Actor Stephen Stucker: A short film Appreciation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Comic character actor Stephen Stucker, the manic and flamboyant airport control room worker in the comedy Airport. An appreciation:\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=803\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Comic Actor Stephen Stucker: A short film Appreciation\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Comic character actor Stephen Stucker, the manic and flamboyant airport control room worker in the comedy Airport. An appreciation:\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=803\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"MovieFanFare\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Movies-Unlimited\/88679322377\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-11-03T09:30:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-01-05T01:33:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/stephen-stucker.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"197\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gary Cahall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gary Cahall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=803#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=803\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Gary Cahall\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a2c2ea32cf8c017c11e8f3ff4821d480\"},\"headline\":\"Stephen Stucker: Johnny, What Can You Make Out Of This?\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-11-03T09:30:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-01-05T01:33:49+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=803\"},\"wordCount\":395,\"commentCount\":2,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=803#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/stephen-stucker.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Character Actors\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Scene Stealers\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=803#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=803\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=803\",\"name\":\"Comic Actor Stephen Stucker: A short film Appreciation\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=803#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=803#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/stephen-stucker.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-11-03T09:30:14+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2011-01-05T01:33:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a2c2ea32cf8c017c11e8f3ff4821d480\"},\"description\":\"Comic character actor Stephen Stucker, the manic and flamboyant airport control room worker in the comedy Airport. An appreciation:\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=803#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=803\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=803#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/stephen-stucker.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2009\\\/06\\\/stephen-stucker.jpg\",\"width\":300,\"height\":197},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?p=803#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Stephen Stucker: Johnny, What Can You Make Out Of This?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"MovieFanFare\",\"description\":\"Movie Articles, Movie Reviews, New DVD Releases\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/a2c2ea32cf8c017c11e8f3ff4821d480\",\"name\":\"Gary Cahall\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a8404c32999bab24e48881263dd2494bae924f4ea8ea72c0ba427fb1b369cd4a?s=96&d=mm&r=g5143b3427c8003c3e81a9804e133cb59\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a8404c32999bab24e48881263dd2494bae924f4ea8ea72c0ba427fb1b369cd4a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/a8404c32999bab24e48881263dd2494bae924f4ea8ea72c0ba427fb1b369cd4a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gary Cahall\"},\"description\":\"Trapped in a world he never made...Movies Unlimited...since 1982, Gary's knack for mocking customers' tastes in films quickly moved him from the rental counter to the catalog department, where he still serves as co-writer\\\/editor, playing by his own rules in a deadly game of cat and mouse. A lifelong fan of Alfred Hitchcock, the Marx Brothers and Three Stooges, Universal and Hammer horror films, and all things dinosaur- and superhero-related, his 2001 bantering with Regis Philbin pops up now and again on GSN. Gary's not ashamed to admit he cried at the end of Titanic, after realizing he had just wasted three hours of his life.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.moviefanfare.com?author_name\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Comic Actor Stephen Stucker: A short film Appreciation","description":"Comic character actor Stephen Stucker, the manic and flamboyant airport control room worker in the comedy Airport. An appreciation:","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=803","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Comic Actor Stephen Stucker: A short film Appreciation","og_description":"Comic character actor Stephen Stucker, the manic and flamboyant airport control room worker in the comedy Airport. An appreciation:","og_url":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=803","og_site_name":"MovieFanFare","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pages\/Movies-Unlimited\/88679322377","article_published_time":"2009-11-03T09:30:14+00:00","article_modified_time":"2011-01-05T01:33:49+00:00","og_image":[{"width":300,"height":197,"url":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/stephen-stucker.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Gary Cahall","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Gary Cahall","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=803#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=803"},"author":{"name":"Gary Cahall","@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2c2ea32cf8c017c11e8f3ff4821d480"},"headline":"Stephen Stucker: Johnny, What Can You Make Out Of This?","datePublished":"2009-11-03T09:30:14+00:00","dateModified":"2011-01-05T01:33:49+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=803"},"wordCount":395,"commentCount":2,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=803#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/stephen-stucker.jpg","keywords":["Character Actors"],"articleSection":["Scene Stealers"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=803#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=803","url":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=803","name":"Comic Actor Stephen Stucker: A short film Appreciation","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=803#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=803#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/stephen-stucker.jpg","datePublished":"2009-11-03T09:30:14+00:00","dateModified":"2011-01-05T01:33:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2c2ea32cf8c017c11e8f3ff4821d480"},"description":"Comic character actor Stephen Stucker, the manic and flamboyant airport control room worker in the comedy Airport. An appreciation:","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=803#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=803"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=803#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/stephen-stucker.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/06\/stephen-stucker.jpg","width":300,"height":197},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?p=803#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Stephen Stucker: Johnny, What Can You Make Out Of This?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/","name":"MovieFanFare","description":"Movie Articles, Movie Reviews, New DVD Releases","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/#\/schema\/person\/a2c2ea32cf8c017c11e8f3ff4821d480","name":"Gary Cahall","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8404c32999bab24e48881263dd2494bae924f4ea8ea72c0ba427fb1b369cd4a?s=96&d=mm&r=g5143b3427c8003c3e81a9804e133cb59","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8404c32999bab24e48881263dd2494bae924f4ea8ea72c0ba427fb1b369cd4a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a8404c32999bab24e48881263dd2494bae924f4ea8ea72c0ba427fb1b369cd4a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Gary Cahall"},"description":"Trapped in a world he never made...Movies Unlimited...since 1982, Gary's knack for mocking customers' tastes in films quickly moved him from the rental counter to the catalog department, where he still serves as co-writer\/editor, playing by his own rules in a deadly game of cat and mouse. A lifelong fan of Alfred Hitchcock, the Marx Brothers and Three Stooges, Universal and Hammer horror films, and all things dinosaur- and superhero-related, his 2001 bantering with Regis Philbin pops up now and again on GSN. Gary's not ashamed to admit he cried at the end of Titanic, after realizing he had just wasted three hours of his life.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com?author_name"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=803"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.moviefanfare.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}