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Ken Wahl

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Years active
  
1979–1996

Name
  
Ken Wahl

Role
  
Film actor


Ken Wahl How Wiseguy Actor Ken Wahl Helps Kittens Help Veterans

Born
  
February 14, 1957
1954-10-311957-02-14
)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.

Spouse
  
Shane Barbi (m. 1997), Lorrie Vidal (m. 1993–1997), Corinne Alphen (m. 1984–1991)

Children
  
Raymond Wahl, Louie Wahl, Cody Wahl, Kyra Wahl

Awards
  
Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series – Drama

Movies and TV shows
  
Similar People
  
Shane Barbi, John Friedrich, Sidney J Furie, Philip Kaufman, Stephen J Cannell

Profiles

Ken wahl


Ken Wahl (born February 14, 1957) is an American film and television actor, popular in the 1980s and 1990s, best known for the CBS television crime drama Wiseguy. A severe injury in 1992 effectively ended his acting career. He is divorced from Corinne Alphen, and after a brief second marriage, he married Shane Barbi, in 1997. The two later became advocates against animal abuse and for veterans' rights.

Contents

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Ken wahl tv movie


Early life and career

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A Newspaper Enterprise Association syndicated article in 1988, citing records checked by the CBS publicist for Wahl's television series Wiseguy, gave February 14, 1957, a date that corresponded with that of his high school graduation: "A call to Bremen High School in the Chicago suburb of Midlothian reveals Wahl graduated from there in June 1975, presumably at age 18."

Ken Wahl Barbi Twins and Ken Wahl help Veterans 22MOONCOM

Wahl himself is elusive about his personal life. Entertainment Weekly wrote in 2004:

Ken Wahl Ken Wahl Bundy Ranch standoff is 39first salvo of the

The mystery surrounding Wahl goes all the way back to the beginning. Ken Wahl was born in Chicago on... well, no one quite knows when Wahl was born. Some reports say Halloween 1954, others say Valentine's Day 1956, but these reports seem to be attempts by the actor to stymie curiosity seekers. "There's a reason for that", Wahl states cryptically, "but I'm not gonna get into why." Oh, one other thing: Ken Wahl is not actually Ken Wahl. At least he wasn't when he was born. While he declines to disclose his birth name, he does say that the moniker he's gone by for the past 25 years is the name of the person who saved his father's life in the Korean War.

Ken Wahl Actor Ken Wahl on The Dana Show 8613 YouTube

According to his official biography, he was born "in a tiny apartment on the south side of Chicago, in the late fifties, when a young couple welcomed ... their third child, Kenny."

In the late 1960s, it continues, his "family of 8" moved to the New York City borough of The Bronx, where he attended junior high and, for a time, high school. The NEA article, however, says Wahl was the ninth of 11 children from a blue-collar German/Italian family and "attended different high schools as the family moved to the [Chicago] suburbs of Midlothian and Worth." According to Entertainment Weekly, Wahl played baseball, as a shortstop, in unspecified venues that might have included youth leagues and high school teams, before crashing a motorcycle and hurting his knee at age 16. His official biography says he then worked as a janitor while in high school and as a gas-station attendant at his family's service station. After either graduating from Midlothian's Bremen High in 1975 he left home, his bio says, "at the age of 18 ... in his ‘69 Dodge Dart" and crossed the United States working odd jobs. Eventually living in Los Angeles, he worked as an extra on movies including The Buddy Holly Story (1978).

By 1981, Wahl's father had remarried, and, in-between acting jobs, Wahl stayed in Chicago with his father and stepmother or with his sister.

Wahl first gained recognition in 1979 when he was cast in the leading role of director Philip Kaufman's film The Wanderers.

He was subsequently cast opposite Paul Newman in Fort Apache, The Bronx (1981), and went on to play the lead in movies including Race for the Yankee Zephyr (1981), The Soldier (1982), Jinxed! (1982), Purple Hearts (1984) and other films. In 1984, he then suffered another motorcycle crash, while on his way to meet with Diane Keaton about the role that eventually went to Mel Gibson in the film Mrs. Soffel. Not wearing a helmet, Wahl was injured badly enough to require 89 stitches in his scalp.

Wiseguy

After appearing in the ensemble of the TV-movie The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission (1985) and co-starring with Billy Dee Williams in the six-episode TV series Double Dare, Wahl was cast in the lead role of Vinnie Terranova in the television series Wiseguy in 1987. Wahl said the following year, "The feature market dried up for me. When 'Wiseguy' came along I was hesitant to do it, but I thought the quality was good. I had to make a living, so I decided to do it. I didn't have to audition or anything." The show ran until 1990 and brought Wahl a Golden Globe Award, as well as an Emmy Award nomination. Wahl wrote an episode of Wiseguy in 1989 and directed an episode in 1990.

During the second season, he injured himself again, on an episode directed by Jan Eliasberg. As Wahl recalled in 2004, "She had me walking into my own POV shot, and ... I was stepping up, and the [camera] wheel caught my right heel and it just ripped out the Achilles tendon. ... But she wanted to do it again, so I said, 'Okay, you're the boss.'" Series creator Steven J. Cannell said the camera ran over Wahl a second time, leaving him in such pain Cannell replaced him for three episodes while Wahl healed.

He went on to star in The Taking of Beverly Hills (1991) and The Favor (1994), as well as a Wiseguy reunion TV-movie in 1996, his final screen performance.

Injury

Wahl's acting career was derailed by a broken neck. He claimed that in 1992 he had endured another motorcycle crash, but eventually confessed to having fallen down a flight of stairs at the home of comedian Rodney Dangerfield's girlfriend and eventual wife, Joan Child. "We were dating casually ... I stayed over at her house one night, fell down these stairs, and she begged me not to say that in the press", Wahl said in 2004.

As his official biography describes the incident:

[In] August of 1992 ... Ken accidentally fell down some slippery marble stairs at a friend’s home, causing his neck to break and his spinal column to be injured. Because his friend was in the public eye, she asked Ken not to say where the accident occurred. So, later on, when the media inquired about the scar on his neck, Ken simply offered the explanation that he had broken his neck in a motorcycle accident, in a sincere effort to protect the privacy of his friend.

In an interview, Wahl said it took him 2 1/2 years to learn how to walk again.

Blaming a "botched" undisclosed surgery and the refusal of doctors to prescribe pain medication, Wahl in a different interview said he told himself, "Okay, I can't get a prescription, so I'll get a bottle of vodka. I was in such chronic, agonizing pain 24 hours a day that I started drinking to kill the pain." After gaining weight through lack of exercise, and with a growing alcohol problem, he worked 16 days on the reunion movie "and barely got through it. That's when I knew I couldn't do it anymore."

Personal life

Wahl married his first wife, former Penthouse Pet of the Year Corinne Alphen, in 1983 or 1984, (sources differ), divorcing in 1991. They have one child, Raymond. Wahl married his second wife, Lorrie Vidal, in 1993 and divorced in 1997. They had one daughter and one son. Wahl said he met Shane Barbi (twin sister of Sia Barbi, glamour models known as the Barbi Twins) at a grocery store in 1996, and they married on September 17, 1997. They renewed their wedding vows in 2008.

In 1995, Wahl was charged with disturbing the peace and arrested on an outstanding warrant for a drunken-driving charge, eventually pleaded nolo contendre to both charges and receiving probation. A year later, he was arrested for allegedly threatening a bartender with a hunting knife for refusing to serve him alcohol. He pleaded nolo contendre again and was ordered to enter a live-in alcohol rehabilitation program. Wahl says he and Barbi married after attending 12-step meetings together.

In 2009, Wahl sued his former business manager, Henry Levine, alleging Levine conspired with Wahl's ex-wife Corinne Alphen, to defraud him.

Animal and disabled veterans activism

Wahl and his wife Shane Barbi are supporters of animal rights and of disabled United States military veterans.

On January 19, 2010, he offered his Golden Globe Award as part of a reward then being assembled by the Second Chance Rescue Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to help find and convict the person who glued a 7-month-old orange tabby to Minnesota State Highway 60, where travelers found it on December 18, 2009; the cat, which rescuers called Timothy, died days later.

In 2012, Wahl stood against the Hayden Law Repeal, which would have revoked the Hayden Law for shelter pets in California, which had extended the number of days owners had to find their lost pets or for injured animals to receive donations or to be adopted.

For Memorial Day 2012, Wahl sent a message saluting the military, alongside the group Pets for Patriots, supporting adoption of pets for veterans.

Later in the year he took part in the documentary Saving America's Horses, about both wild and domestic horses and the issues that plague them. In December 2012 he reiterated the need to support wounded veterans, and help reduce suicide rates, by pairing rescued animals with veterans. He has said of Israel, "[W]e should defend them at all costs. They're the only democracy in the Middle East."

Awards

  • 1989: Nomination, Emmy Award, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, as Vinnie Terranova in Wiseguy
  • 1989: Nomination, Golden Globe Award, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama, for Wiseguy
  • 1990: Golden Globe Award, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama, for Wiseguy
  • Filmography

    Actor
    1996
    Wiseguy (TV Movie) as
    Vinnie Terranova
    1994
    Search for Grace (TV Movie) as
    John 'Johnny' Danielli / Jake
    1994
    The Favor as
    Tom Andrews
    1991
    The Taking of Beverly Hills as
    Boomer Hayes
    1987
    Wiseguy (TV Series) as
    Vinnie Terranova / John Terranova
    - Brrump-Bump! (1990) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Sanctuary (1990) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Meltdown (1990) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Let Them Eat Cake (1990) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Hello Buckwheat (1990) - Vinnie Terranova
    - His Master's Voice (1990) - Vinnie Terranova
    - A One Horse Town (1990) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Romp (1990) - Vinnie Terranova
    - To Die in Bettendorf (1990) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Meet Mike McPike (1990) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Day Nine (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Day Seven (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Day Four (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Day One (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - The Reunion (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - People Do It All the Time (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - How Will They Remember Me? (1989) - Vinnie Terranova / John Terranova
    - Sleepwalk (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Heir to the Throne (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Sins of the Father (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Battle of the Barge (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - A Rightful Place (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Le Lacrime D'Amore: Part 2 (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Le Lacrime D'Amore: Part 1 (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Call It Casaba (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Living and Dying in 4/4 Time (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - The One That Got Away (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Hip Hop on the Gravy Train (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - High Dollar Bop (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - The Rip-Off Stick (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - And It Comes Out Here (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Dead Dog Lives (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - White Noise (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Stairway to Heaven (1989) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Postcard from Morocco (1989) - Vinnie Terranova (credit only)
    - Where's the Money? (1989) - Vinnie Terranova (credit only)
    - All or Nothing (1989) - Vinnie Terranova (credit only)
    - Next of Kin (1988) - Vinnie Terranova
    - 7th Avenue Freeze Out (1988) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Aria for Don Aiuppo (1988) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Last of the True Believers (1988) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Revenge of the Mud People (1988) - Vinnie Terranova
    - School of Hard Knox (1988) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Going Home (1988) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Date with an Angel (1988) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Dirty Little Wars (1988) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Phantom Pain (1988) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Blood Dance (1988) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Squeeze (1988) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Not for Nothing (1988) - Vinnie Terranova
    - The Merchant of Death (1988) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Player to Be Named Now (1988) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Smokey Mountain Requiem (1988) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Fascination for the Flame (1988) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Independent Operator (1988) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Last Rites for Lucci (1987) - Vinnie Terranova
    - No One Gets Out of Here Alive (1987) - Vinnie Terranova
    - The Marriage of Heaven & Hell (1987) - Vinnie Terranova
    - A Deal's a Deal (1987) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Prodigal Son (1987) - Vinnie Terranova
    - One on One (1987) - Vinnie Terranova
    - The Birthday Surprise (1987) - Vinnie Terranova
    - The Loose Cannon (1987) - Vinnie Terranova
    - New Blood (1987) - Vinnie Terranova
    - Pilot (1987) - Vinnie Terranova
    1986
    Omega Syndrome as
    Jack Corbett
    1986
    The Gladiator (TV Movie) as
    Rick Benton
    1985
    Double Dare (TV Series) as
    Ken Sisko
    - Double Talk (1985) - Ken Sisko
    - Three's a Killer (1985) - Ken Sisko
    - Now You See It, Now You See It (1985) - Ken Sisko
    - Three's A Killer (1985) - Ken Sisko
    - Hong Kong King Con (1985) - Ken Sisko
    - Double Negative (1985) - Ken Sisko
    1985
    The Dirty Dozen: Next Mission (TV Movie) as
    Louis Valentine
    1984
    Purple Hearts as
    Don Jardian
    1982
    Jinxed! as
    Willie Brodax
    1982
    The Soldier as
    The Soldier
    1981
    Treasure of the Yankee Zephyr as
    Barney
    1981
    Fort Apache the Bronx as
    Corelli
    1980
    Running Scared as
    Chas McClain
    1979
    The Wanderers as
    Richie
    Writer
    1989
    Wiseguy (TV Series) (story - 2 episodes)
    - How Will They Remember Me? (1989) - (story)
    - White Noise (1989) - (story)
    Director
    1990
    Wiseguy (TV Series) (1 episode)
    - Romp (1990)
    Soundtrack
    1979
    The Wanderers (performer: "Stranger Girl")
    Self
    2012
    Saving America's Horses: A Nation Betrayed (Documentary) as
    Self
    2001
    E! True Hollywood Story (TV Series documentary) as
    Self
    - The Barbi Twins (2001) - Self
    1984
    The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (TV Series) as
    Self
    - Jay Leno (guest host), Ken Wahl, Kevin Pollak, Brock Yates, The Manhattan Transfer (1991) - Self
    - Joan Embery/Franklyn Ajaye/Ken Wahl (1984) - Self
    1989
    The 41st Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (TV Special) as
    Self - Nominee
    Archive Footage
    2021
    One Man, One Unit - Casting 'The Soldier' (Video documentary short) as
    The Soldier (uncredited)
    2021
    Regardless of Risk - Designing 'The Soldier' (Video documentary short) as
    The Soldier (uncredited)
    2017
    Chroma (TV Series) as
    Self
    - Les Affranchis (2017) - Self
    2005
    James Glickenhaus: Memories of the Soldier (Video documentary short) as
    The Soldier (uncredited)
    1997
    Welcome to Twin Peaks (TV Special documentary) as
    Vinnie Terranova (uncredited)

    References

    Ken Wahl Wikipedia


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