THE CONVOLUTED LIFE AND DEATH OF AN AMERICAN ACTOR. Pts. 1-2

I was watching an old segment of “Highway to Heaven” on NetFlix last night. The title of this segment was “The Hero.”

The plot behind this particular episode involved a disabled veteran who, as a machine gunner in the Vietnam War, had managed to save several men in his platoon, and had, in so doing, lost an arm and a leg to mortar fire.

When the actor portraying “Joe Mason” first appears on the screen, it is immediately obvious that he has a very real disability. Oh, not one of those “Lieutenant Dan,” kind of disabilities in which the film has been digitally manipulated to replicate an amputation. No, “Highway to Heaven” aired in the mid-80’s when that sort of Hollywood magic was not yet in vogue. I knew as soon as I saw him. This was the “real McCoy.”

James Stacy was born Maurice William Elias; (a much more “highfalutin” name, if I say so myself).

He made his film debut in 1957, and appeared in both “movie movies,” including, “South Pacific,” and various television productions, such as “Gunsmoke,” “Hazel” and “Perry Mason.” He is, however, best remembered for the “Lancer” TV series.

September 27, 1973 proved to be a singular and memorable day for the 37 year old Stacy. He and his girlfriend, Claire Cox were riding a motorcycle in the Hollywood Hills when a drunken driver slammed into their vehicle. The young lady was killed, while James Stacy was severely injured, and it was necessary to amputate his left arm and leg. His ex-wife, the well-known actress Connie Stevens, organized a celebrity fund raiser attended by the likes of Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand. Ultimately, James Stacy received a two million dollar settlement for his injuries.

Pt. 2

After this fine performer recovered from the accident, he continued to act in roles which were created to accommodate his disability, including a television movie, “Just a Little Inconvenience,” in which he portrayed a double-amputee Vietnam veteran.

As I watched the “Highway to Heaven” episode in my living room yesterday, I realized it was the only time and place I had ever had the pleasure of seeing Stacy perform. Based on his impressive mobility, it is obvious that the actor had come to grips with navigating his environment, and doing it very well. He moved as quickly on his crutches as anyone I have ever known, and in one scene he folded and tossed his wheelchair into the truck of his car with his one hand.

To say the actor’s life was difficult and convoluted would be an understatement of the first degree.

In November of 1995 he pled guilty to molesting an 11 year old girl in his home; at which time he received a six year sentence. As the sentence was read the girl’s mother was reported to have shouted, “Justice is served!” James Stacy had previously read a statement in which he stated, in part, “I regret what happened in my home that day. I only hope that my actions didn’t affect that young girl’s innocent mind.”

Both interestingly and strangely enough, after the jury pronounced the guilty verdict, but prior to the sentencing hearing, Stacy had fled to Hawaii where he attempted suicide by jumping off Pali Lookout. However, rather than falling into the Pacific Ocean, 1200 feet below, he landed on a soft patch of grass just 50 feet below the precipice, and “lived to tell the tale.”

Apparently, September was not the actor’s best month. Not only had he experienced an excruciating, life-changing accident in the ninth month of the year, but on September 9, 2016 he succumbed to anaphylactic shock in Ventura, California; after having been administered an antibiotic injection in his doctor’s office. He was 79 years old.

Afterward

I don’t why I was so transfixed with finding out all I could about this man; after seeing him perform in a single television segment. Perhaps it was simply the “unusualness” of the actor’s injuries, that he was still acting, and that he had, seemingly, gained such a significant amount of conciliation with those awful injuries.

Some people might say that, in terms of his decisions, James Stacy brought it all on himself. Others would say it was a mixed bag. From my perspective, the two September events in his life were a little bit of both.

While he climbed aboard a motorcycle, and allowed his girlfriend to climb on also, (something I will never do) multiplied millions of people consider it an acceptable mode of transportation. Obviously, he could not have accounted for that drunken driver who would, in his abject stupidity, change three lives forever.

Twenty-two years later, James Stacy purposely and voluntarily molested a minor child, and ‘earned’ himself a six year prison sentence, and the loss of both his character and reputation.

I know nothing of the last decade and a half of this actor’s life. I can only hope the unfortunate man came to terms with his past, that, at some level, he was able to rebuild his character and reputation, and that a significant amount of peace was restored to his life, and with his God.



by William McDonald, PhD. Excerpt from "McDonald's Daily Diary." Vol. 73. Copyright pending.

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