James Stacy

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Birth Date:
23.12.1936
Death date:
09.09.2016
Length of life:
79
Days since birth:
31872
Years since birth:
87
Days since death:
2757
Years since death:
7
Categories:
Actor
Nationality:
 american
Cemetery:
Set cemetery

James Stacy (December 23, 1936 – September 09, 2016) was an American film and television actor.

In 1973, Stacy was hit by a drunk driver while driving his motorcycle, resulting in the amputation of his left leg and arm and the death of his girlfriend. He returned to acting in 1975 before retiring in 1991. In 1996, Stacy was convicted of molesting an 11-year-old girl for which he served a six-year prison sentence.

Spouses

Connie Stevens
(m. 1963; div. 1966)
Kim Darby
(m. 1968; div. 1969)

Early life

Stacy was born Maurice William Elias in Los Angeles to an Irish-Scottish waitress and a Lebanese-American bookmaker.

Career

Stacy made his film debut Sayonara in 1957, and his television debut in Highway Patrol. He had a recurring role as "Fred" in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet from 1958 to 1963. During the 1960s he made guest appearances in television shows, including Gunsmoke, Hazel, The Donna Reed Show, Have Gun - Will Travel, Perry Mason, and Combat!. In 1966 he appeared in the final episode of Perry Mason as actor and murder victim Barry Conrad in "The Case of the Final Fade-Out".

Stacy is perhaps best remembered as a star of the western series Lancer, along with Andrew Duggan, Wayne Maunder, and Paul Brinegar. Lancer aired on CBS from 1968 to 1970. Stacy played the character "Johnny Madrid Lancer", a former gunslinger, the son of Duggan's character, Murdoch Lancer. Stacy acted in several motion pictures from the 1950s through the 1970s, including a minor part in the musical South Pacific.

Motorcycle accident

On September 27, 1973, Stacy was taking Claire Cox for a ride on his motorcycle in the Hollywood Hills when a drunken driver struck them. She died and Stacy lost his left arm and leg. Stacy's ex-wife, actress and singer Connie Stevens, organized a 1974 celebrity gala to raise money for his expenses. The gala, whose attendees included Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand, raised $118,000 for his expenses. In 1976, he won a $1.9 million lawsuit against the bar that had served the drunk driver.

The 5/13/1996 People Magazine article states that it was Mr. Stacy's girlfriend, a waitress, Pia Isataki, who was the passenger on the motorcycle who was killed.

May 6, 1976, Newspaper article claims that Claire Cox was killed on 9/28/73 and Not Pia Isataski. A Clair A. Cox is also listed in the California Death index as dying on the same day as the motorcycle accident. The People Magazine article is in error.

Comeback

After his recovery, Stacy appeared in roles created to accommodate his handicap. His comeback film was the 1975 Kirk Douglas Western Posse, in which he was cast as newspaper editor "Harold Hellman", a part Douglas had written for him. In 1977, he starred in the TV movie Just a Little Inconvenience, playing a double-amputee Vietnam veteran. The role earned him his first Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama or Comedy Special. In 1980, Stacy starred in and produced the TV movie, My Kidnapper, My Love. His brother, Louie Elias, a character actor and stuntman, wrote the screenplay, based on the novel by Oscar Saul, to accommodate Stacy’s handicap. Elias was also the associate producer.

Other television appearances included Hotel, Cagney & Lacey (for which he was nominated for a second Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Performer in a Drama Series), and Highway to Heaven. His last TV role was in five 1990 episodes of the cop series Wiseguy, playing "Ed Rogosheske."

Personal life

Marriages

Stacy has been married twice. He married actress and singer Connie Stevens on October 12, 1963 in Hollywood. They were divorced in November 1966. Stacy's second marriage was to actress Kim Darby in 1968. They had a daughter, Heather, before divorcing in 1969.

Arrest and conviction

In November 1995, Stacy pleaded no contest to a charge of molesting an 11-year-old girl. On December 7, 1995, he failed to appear for sentencing in Ventura County Superior Court and was arrested the next day in a Honolulu, Hawaii, hospital after having fled California. He attempted suicide by jumping off a cliff. After recovering, Stacy waived extradition and returned to California. On March 5, 1996, he received a six-year prison sentence. The prosecutor in the case initially said she believed Stacy might have been eligible for probation for the molestation, but his post arrest behavior, coupled with two arrests in June 1995 for prowling at the homes of other girls, led her to seek a prison sentence. He served his sentence at the California Institution for Men at Chino.

Death

Stacy died on September 09,2016 in Ventura, California at the age of 79.

 

Source: wikipedia.org

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