Archive: Ray Sharkey, June 11, 1993
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Ray Sharkey (November 14, 1952 - June 11, 1993) was an American
actor.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, he was a poor kid from a tough
neighborhood. He studied acting at the Herbert Berghof Studio in New
York City and made his film debut in 1974 with a small part in The
Lords of Flatbush. Sharkey went on to appear in more than forty motion
pictures and a dozen guest appearances on various television series.
In 1981 he won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor - Motion Picture
Musical or Comedy for his performance in The Idolmaker and the
following year was nominated for another Golden Globe Award for Best
Performance by an Actor in a Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for TV
for his role in "The Ordeal of Bill Carney."
In 1987, Sharkey played the role of Sonny Steelgrave on the first
season of the Wiseguy television series. Addicted to alcohol and drugs,
in 1992 he was arrested while working in Vancouver, British Columbia
and charged with possession of cocaine and heroin.
Sharkey died in New York City at the age of forty in 1993 of AIDS
believed to have been contracted from the use of dirty needles. He is
interred in Saint Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale, Long Island, New
York.
Bill Schenley
Photo: http://www.dvdscan.com/wise_200_b.jpg
FROM: The New York Times (June 15th 1993) ~
By Thomas J. Lueck
Ray Sharkey, a television and film actor whose portrayals of rough-hewn and
emotionally vulnerable tough guys won wide acclaim, but whose personal life
descended into a nightmare of drug and alcohol abuse, died on Friday at
Lutheran Medical Center in Brooklyn. He was 40 years old.
He died of AIDS, according to Herb Nanas, his manager since 1975.
Mr. Nanas said he believed Mr. Sharkey contracted the AIDS from a
contaminated needle during five years of heroin addiction in the mid-1980's.
Mr. Sharkey's biggest film achievement came in 1980, shortly after his
arrival in Southern California from New York City, when he was cast as a
rock music promoter -- a character drawn from the life of a producer, Bob
Marcucci -- in "The Idolmaker." His performance won him a Golden Globe
award.
But he may be best remembered for his 1987 performances in "Wiseguy," a
crime series in which he played the role of Sonny Steelgrave, an Atlantic
City mob boss. So popular was his character that fans of the program formed
what they called the "Sonny Steelgrave Memorial Society" after the character
was killed off.
"He played a Godfather, a killer, and actually got America to love him,"
said Mr. Nanas, in an interview from his home in Los Angeles, where Mr.
Sharkey had lived for 13 years.
Mr. Sharkey was born in 1953 in the Red Hook section of Brooklyn. In
interviews, he described a turbulent childhood and said his inspiration to
become an actor came from Jack Lemmon's portrayal of an alcoholic in "Days
of Wine and Roses."
Mr. Sharkey appeared in several films in the 1980's, including "Trackdown"
and "Who'll Stop the Rain." "Scenes from a Class Struggle in Beverly Hills,"
and "Wired."
He married Carol Goodman of Los Angeles in 1988. The marriage ended in
divorce in September.
He is survived by a daughter, Cecilia Sharkey of Los Angeles, and his
mother, Cecilia Sharkey of Brooklyn.
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Photo: http://www.tvsquad.com/media/2006/06/raysharkey.jpg