Other names L. Wolfe Perry, Jr. Name Wolfe Perry | Role Actor Education Stanford University | |
Born January 22, 1957 (age 67) ( 1957-01-22 ) New Orleans, Louisiana Occupation Television actor,
basketball player TV shows The White Shadow, Up and Coming | ||
Wolfe Perry (born Lieutenant Wolfe Perry, Jr.; 22 January 1957) is an African American actor and former college basketball player at Stanford University.
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Life and career
Perry was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. As an actor, Perry is primarily known for his role as Teddy Rutherford, one of Coach Ken Reeves' new players in the third season of the CBS TV series The White Shadow.
Perry was a standout basketball player at Stanford University and graduated in 1979 with a degree in theatre arts. Perry, who stands 6'2", was a four-year letterman and starting guard for the Cardinal. He led the Cardinal in scoring average his senior season, 1978–79, with 18.3 points per game, and he was a second-team All-Pac-10 selection. He scored a career-high 34 points in an upset win that season against national powerhouse UCLA. For his college career, Perry scored 1,287 points (18th all time at Stanford) with 258 assists (12th) and 112 steals (9th).
Perry was a favorite of the basketball fans at Stanford, many of whom expected him to be drafted into the NBA. He was drafted in the fifth round in 1979 by the Utah Jazz, but was cut before the regular season. He then put his Stanford drama experience to work and landed the role of Rutherford on The White Shadow in 1980. He wore the uniform number 21 in his role, which is the same number he wore at Stanford.
In 1980, Perry was a cast member of the short-lived PBS series Up and Coming, which was the first weekly American TV drama centered on an African American family. Additionally, he appeared in the controversial 1986 film Soul Man, which starred C. Thomas Howell as a Caucasian student who uses medication to disguise himself as an African American and obtain a Harvard Law School scholarship intended for African American students.
He also made an appearance in the 1980s detective show Rip Tide.
Today, Perry coaches boys' basketball at St. Elizabeth High School in Oakland, California.