Wiseguy: Stairway to Heaven; White Noise
2:00 pm - 3:00 pm, Thursday, December 25 on WXNY Retro (32.5)
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About this Broadcast
Stairway to Heaven; White Noise
McPike is in an ethical bind when Vinnie offers to pay for his wife's operation; Vinnie is committed to a psychiatric ward where he has hallucinations of a final confrontation with Sonny Steelgrave (Ray Sharkey). Jenny: Jessica Harper. Dr. Auricchio: David Wilson.
1989
English
Crime Drama
Crime
Cast & Crew
Ken Wahl
(Actor)
.. Vinnie Terranova
Jonathan Banks
(Actor)
.. Frank McPike
Ray Sharkey
(Actor)
.. Sonny Steelgrave
Jessica Harper
(Actor)
.. Jenny
David Wilson
(Actor)
.. Dr. Auricchio
More Information
Did You Know..
Ken Wahl
(Actor)
.. Vinnie Terranova
Born:
October 31, 1962
Trivia:
Broad-shouldered American actor Ken Wahl has proven time and again that he's more than just a mass of muscle. After a handful of supporting roles, Wahl entered cult-film Valhalla with his starring role as a Bronx-Italian highschooler in The Wanderers (1979). Arguably, his best screen role was as the "see no evil" partner of conscience-stricken cop Paul Newman in Fort Apache, the Bronx (1981). His many film appearances aside, Wahl's popularity rests with his three-year performance as underground cop Vinnie Teranova in Wiseguys (1987-90), which was impressive enough to make viewers forget Wahl's earlier series-TV stint in the unlamented adventure series Double Dare (1985).
Jonathan Banks
(Actor)
.. Frank McPike
Born:
January 31, 1947
Birthplace: Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Birthplace: Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Trivia:
Jonathan Banks began his film career in the sort of roles described by character actor Frank Faylen as "sneezers." For example: if you sneezed, you'd miss Banks' microscopic part in 1980's Stir Crazy. He was more visible in such roles as the hitchhiker in the 1982 biopic Frances and Algren in the 1983 seriocomedy 48 Hours. On television, Jonathan Banks was cast as the scurrilous extraterrestrial Commander Kroll in Otherworld (1985) and as Frank McPike, Ken Wahl's choleric boss, in Wiseguy (1987). Banks would continue to appear in several more films over the coming years, like Dark Blue and Reign Over Me, as well as TV shows like Breaking Bad.
Ray Sharkey
(Actor)
.. Sonny Steelgrave
Born:
November 14, 1952
Died: June 12, 1993
Died: June 12, 1993
Trivia:
Trained at HB Studio, rough-edged American actor Ray Sharkey quickly graduated to movies and television. Sharkey's first film was The Lords of Flatbush (1974), a street-gang drama that also featured early appearances by Henry Winkler and Sylvester Stallone. The actor's breakthrough film was 1980's The Idolmaker, in which he played rock 'n' roll entrepreneur Bob Marcucci; that same year, he was Phil in the low-budget but highly praised Willie and Phil. Sharkey's best known role was as Atlantic City gangster Sonny Steelgrave on the TV series "Wiseguy" (1987-90). Shortly after finishing work on the 1992 Burt Reynolds vehicle Cop and A Half, Sharkey made public the fact that he had contracted AIDS through indiscriminate drug use; he died less than one year later.
Jessica Harper
(Actor)
.. Jenny
Born:
October 10, 1949
Trivia:
Birdlike, wide-eyed, brunette American actress Jessica Harper headed for New York after graduation from Sarah Lawrence college; her first professional gig was an understudy in the "tribal love rock musical" Hair. It would be one of the few major financial successes that Harper would ever be associated with. The actress is considered the uncrowned queen of "cult" films, among them such esoterica as Phantom of the Paradise (1974), Inserts (1977), and The Blue Iguana (1988), in which she played a female Castro! Even when selecting a "mainstream" role, Harper's choices have been somewhat offbeat: as Steve Martin's put-upon wife in Pennies from Heaven (1981), she has a musical number in which he imagines hacking her husband to death with a knife! Harper was at her most normal, and most appealing, in the nostalgic comedy My Favorite Year (1982), in which she played the girlfriend of "Mel Brooks-ish" comedy writer Mark Linn Baker. In Stardust Memories (1980), she was one of many stellar contributors to Woody Allen's impressionistic vision of fame. Offscreen, Jessica Harper is the wife of motion picture executive Thomas E. Rothman.
David Wilson
(Actor)
.. Dr. Auricchio
Born:
February 26, 1949
