Stephen Young

Born Stephen Levy in Toronto, Canada, on May 19, 1939, solid character actor 'Stephen Young' (qv) is the son of a Toronto-based financier. Directly following high school, the naturally-gifted teen athlete signed on the dotted line for a career with the Cleveland Indians, but his professional bid ended before the first ball was even thrown when he seriously injured his knee playing ice hockey. He spent the next few years as a salesman, then wound up in radio and TV commercial production.While traveling with a friend on a European excursion in the early 60s, he was given by chance a bit part in the monumental film _Cleopatra (1963)_ (qv), then landed similar minor assignments in such other European-lensed epics as _55 Days at Peking (1963)_ (qv), _The Leopard (1963)_ (qv) [The Leopard] and _The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)_ (qv). Upon returning to Toronto, Young decided to become a full-time actor, originally billing himself under his given name of Stephen Levy and appearing in leads on both daytime and prime-time TV dramas. He headed the cast of one adventure series _Seaway (1965)_ (qv) in which he played Nick King, part of a special police force that protected the St. Lawrence Seaway.Moving to Hollywood in 1966, he subsequently scored as young, hot-shot legal eagle Ben Caldwell, top assistant to flamboyant, high-profile criminal attorney Clinton Judd (Emmy winner 'Carl Betz' (qv)) in the contemporary series drama _Judd for the Defense (1967)_ (qv). The series was abruptly canceled despite its critically-lauded marks after only two seasons. He progressed to high-ranking character actor mixing work in such prestigious 70s films as _Patton (1970)_ (qv) and _Soylent Green (1973)_ (qv) with more standard filming in _Rage (1972)_ (qv) and _Lifeguard (1976)_ (qv). A reliable player in mini-movies, he continued to return to his homeland from time to time where he was handed film leads in the low-budget horror thrillers _The Clown Murders (1976)_ (qv) and _Deadline (1980)_ (qv).Into the millennium he continues to appear in sturdy, authoritarian roles as shown by his recent work in the crime dramas _Spiel der Angst (2002)_ (qv) and _The Skulls II (2002)_ (qv) and his output on Canadian TV. He was last seen on-camera in the films _Charlie Bartlett (2007)_ (qv) and _The Angel Inn (2013)_ (qv).::Gary Brumburgh / [email protected]