STEPHEN CAFFREY

Stephen Caffrey is my favorite actor. He was born in 1961 in Cleveland (Ohio) and became interested in acting at a fairly young age. In highschool, he participated in several plays. Later on, he and a group of friends founded the Immediate Theatre in Chicago (Illinois). This theatre indirectly helped him on his way to his later roles in tv series and movies. In 1985, he moved to New York, where he played in several Big Apple based productions. A couple of years later, he made the big step to Los Angeles -- and to the bigger tv and movie productions.
Stephen Caffrey is well-known for this three-year role in "Tour of Duty" -- a tv series on the Vietnam War -- in which he played Lieutenant Myron Goldman. Some people may also know him from his role in the Aids drama movie "Longtime Companion". Stephen also did guest appearances in several other tv series.
This page is my own dedication to my favorite actor -- an actor that most people have never heard of!

Here's an overview of the movies and tv series that Stephen has played in...

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HARD KNOX

Year of Release: 1984
General Info: war -- movie on rookie life in an army camp
Character: young rookie (name unknown)
The Story: unknown
Additional Info: this is a movie on a group of young soldiers. For Stephen, it was a good practice for his future role in "Tour of Duty". This young rookie already shows all talents for a future lieutenant!

TOUR OF DUTY

Year of Release: 1987-1990
General Info: war -- tv series on a platoon in the Vietnam War
Character: lieutenant Myron Goldman
The Story: this tv series focuses on the daily life of the soldiers in the Bravo 26 company -- the platoon of lieutenant Goldman and sergeant Anderson (Terence Knox). The best thing about the series is the fact that it not only deals with the fighting and the terror, but also with the way the soldiers themselves felt about the war. There is a lot of sadness and fear, but also happiness.
Additional Info: this tv series made Stephen a little famous at the time. The tv series was (and still is) very popular in Europe. Strangely enough, it never reached the same level in the United States, where only a small group of Vietnam veterans liked to watch it.
For more information on Tour of Duty, go to the Tour of Duty Webpage.

HARD RAIN - THE TET 1968 (1989)

Year of Release: 1989
General Info: war movie, again on the Vietnam War (however, this movie is NOT related to Stephen's work in Tour of Duty)
Character: unknown
The Story: this is the sad story of the Tet Offensive in Saigon, Vietnam, in 1968. Tet is the Vietnamese New Year celebration. The New Year festivities in 1968 were different compared to previous years; this time, the Vietcong had provided real fireworks.
Additional Info: this movie also features Terence Knox (sergeant Anderson in Tour of Duty)

COLUMBO - COLUMBO GOES TO COLLEGE

Year of Release: 1990
General Info: tv series (season 10, episode 1)
Character: Justin Rowe -- an arrogant frat boy
The Story: Columbo teaches a class at college. Two students steal an exam paper in another class. Their professor, however, finds out and plans to throw the two arrogant frat boys out. The boys decide that they are going to kill to professor, thus saving their own academical career. In order to kill the professor, they use a gun that is fired by remote control from their car, while they happen to be in Columbo's lecture class. Soon, the police investigates the murder on the professor, and the guys set up false trails that link the death with the professor's investigations into organised crime. Two tapes from the murder -- one from the security camera and another one accidentally picked up by a man with a satellite dish -- eventually lead Columbo to the two students.
Additional Info: and he looks like such an intelligent, dedicated young student...!

LONGTIME COMPANION

Year of Release: 1990
General Info: emotional Aids drama
Character: Alan ("But everybody calles me Fuzzy") -- a gay entertainment lawyer
The Story: a group of gay friends are leading a happy life -- with various relationships within the group -- until the newspaper reports of the so-called mysterious cancer that seems to affect only homosexual men. It really frightens Fuzzy, although his friends don't really seem to worry too much about it -- until one of them is diagnosed as having Aids. Soon it becomes clear that the disease is fatal and that it spreads through unprotected sex. The movie is full of emotions -- as one by one the main characters die. As the group grows smaller, the survivors have to deal with saying last goodbyes to loved ones and desperately hoping for a medicine that would save future lives -- possibly their lives. The movie story ends in 1989, with only two survivors.
Additional Info: although this movie is rated "R" in the United States, it contains (in my opinion) NO explicit language or excerpts.

MURDER, SHE WROTE (MURDER IN F-SHARP)

Year of Release: 1990 (air date: December 16, 1990)
General Info: tv series (season 7, episode 10)
Character: Alex Seletz
The Story: Jessica plays a tape sent to her by Dennis. Bad luck follows a famous concert pianist as he bums his hands and then loses his wife.
Additional Info: none

THE BABE

Year of Release: 1992
General Info: movie on baseball legend Babe Ruth
Character: Johnny Sylvester, aged 30
The Story: the movie is about the life of Babe Ruth -- his poor youth in a juvenile delinquency institution and his rich adult life as one of the most legendary baseball players of the United States. Throughout the years, the Babe reaches the highest point of stardom. In these years, he signs a baseball for a seriously ill young boy. The Babe signs the baseball for him and as he hands it over to the ill boy, the boy -- Johnny Sylvester -- asks him to do two home runs for him. The Babe promises to do so, but asks Johnny a favor too -- that Johnny will get better. Throughout the years, the Babe gets less and less popular. At one point, people who used to love him are now throwing rotten tomatoes and eggs at him. Just as he is about to leave the stadium -- feeling very depressed -- a man climbs over the fence and tells the Babe to wait for him. Babe Ruth is uninterested, until the man takes a signed baseball out of his pocket and hands it over to Babe Ruth. The man, now 30 years old, is Johnny Sylvester -- who has kept his promise. The role of Johnny Sylvester is played by Stephen Caffrey. As Babe Ruth is about to leave the baseball stadium for the very last time, Johnny tells him that he's the best baseball player there ever was.
Additional Info: none

DIAGNOSIS: MURDER (I - DIAGNOSIS OF MURDER)

Year of Release: 1992
General Info: tv series (season 1, episode 1)
Character: dr. Jack Parker
The Story: ** soon to come **
Additional Info: this episode is a 2-hour movie

DIAGNOSIS: MURDER (II - THE HOUSE ON SYCAMORE STREET)

Year of Release: 1992
General Info: tv series (season 1, episode 2)
Character: dr. Jack Parker
The Story: ** soon to come **
Additional Info: this episode is a 2-hour movie, and also known as "Murder on Sycamore Street"

DIAGNOSIS: MURDER (III - A TWIST OF THE KNIFE)

FOR RICHER, FOR POORER

Year of Release: 1992
General Info: none
Character: Mark
The Story: unknown
Additional Info: none

MURDER OF INNOCENCE

Year of Release: 1993
General Info: drama movie, based on a true story
Character: Matthew Wade
The Story: Matthew Wade is a business man who meets the woman of his dreams during a business lunch in the restaurant where Laurie works. They marry and everything seems to be normal. Until Laurie starts to act strange. She hardly ever does something in the household, she makes weird phone calls to friends, she messes up the house and she writes on the walls with red paint or lipstick. When Matthew asks Laurie's parents for advice, they say that Laurie is a perfectly normal woman. Matthew is really getting desperate when Laurie starts lying to him and when she looses one job after the other without telling him. Still, he doesn't want a divorce. Laurie becomes paranoid and wants to poison people in her neighborhood; in fact, she has set up a whole list of people that she wants to kill. Matthew is the first on the list, and she accuses him of raping her. Things go completely out of hand as Laurie -- to the world outside her family and friends a perfectly normal, adorable woman -- purchases a gun. She also makes some candy to poison the children that she babysits every week, but this attempt is not very successful as the children immediately notice that the candy smells funny. Laurie drives to a nearby elementary school, where she leaves the two children in the back of the car. She walks into one of the classroom and suddenly pulls the gun out of her pocket. She causes a blood bath while opening fire on the children and their teacher -- thus killing three children and wounding several others. She flees into a nearby house, where a mother and her adult son are just having lunch. The son tries to calm Laurie down while his mother manages to get out of the house to warn the police. As the police arrives at the scene, Laurie has shot the son in his leg and went upstairs. The two children that Laurie was supposed to look after are still in the car, and they identify the lady who caused the blood bath at the elementary school as Laurie Wade. While the police is surrounding the house, Matthew and Laurie's parents are warned and they rush to the house. Matthew stands helpless while looking at Laurie's father, who is making attempts to make his daughter surrender to the police. There is no reply, and as the police enters the house, they find Laurie in one of the bedrooms -- she has committed suicide. On the wall is a drawing in red lipstick of a head with a bullet wound.
Additional Info: none

YOUNG INDIANA JONES AND THE HOLLYWOOD FOLLIES

Year of Release: 1994 (air date: October 15, 1994)
General Info: tv series (episode 29)
Character: John Ford
The Story: to earn college tuition money, young Indiana takes a job as an assistant to a studio executive. His assignment is to get extravagant director Erich von Stroheim to bring in his latest epic on time and on budget -- or else...
Additional Info: none

VIRUS

Year of Release: 1995
General Info: horror movie
Character: Tad
The Story: unknown
Additional Info: this movie is based on the suspense novel by Robin Cook

919, FIFTH AVENUE

Year of Release: 1995
General Info: none
Character: unknown
The Story: unknown
Additional Info: none

NOTHING LASTS FOREVER

Year of Release: 1995
General Info: movie on euthanasia
Character: Paige's boyfriend -- an architect
The Story: three young assistant nurses in a Californian hospital face several problems with staff members. One of the nurses, Paige, runs into a terminally ill old man, who is suffering from cancer. His wife doesn't want to look after him and the rest of the nurses and doctors ignore the man -- as they think he is a very annoying man who complains about everything. This nurse, however, starts talking to him and becomes a real friend in his last days. In the meantime, she and her boyfriend are planning on buying a new house, on a rock overlooking the sea. The situation of the old man is rapidly deteriorating and he asks the nurse a favor -- he wants her to help him out of his misery. At first, the nurse tells him she can't do it, but the man is obviously in a lot of pain. Without consulting his doctor or anybody else in the hospital, she gives him a lethal injection. A couple of days later she finds out that the man -- as a thanks for her help -- has changed his will and left all his money -- a very high amount -- to her. His wife is furious. The police thinks that she has killed the man deliberately, but the nurse didn't know anything about his fortune. This, and the fact that her boyfriend has gone bankrupt, is enough reason to take her to court.
Additional Info: this movie is after the novel by Sidney Sheldon

CHICAGO HOPE (EX MARKS THE SPOT - I)

Year of Release: 1996 (air date: May 13, 1996)
General Info: tv series (season 2, episode 44)
Character: Mr. Calverton -- a wealthy brain surgery patient
The Story: Suttons mind reels as wives 2 and 3 ask him for a very great personal and professional favor and wife 1 checks in for a serious medical problem. Kale anxiously awaits news of who will be appointed as the new head of surgery. Dr. Shutt performs delicate surgery on a wealthy quadriphelic who cannot be anesthesized and whose beautiful fiance attracts Nyland's attention.
Additional Info: none

CHICAGO HOPE (EX MARKS THE SPOT - II)

Year of Release: 1996
General Info: tv series (season 2, episode 45)
Character: Mr. Calverton -- a wealthy brain surgery patient
The Story: Austin's appointment as chief of surgery is overshadowed by the news that the hospital board is considering a buy out by a group headed by her ex-husband. Also sharing the spotlight is a rumored outbreak of the Ebola virus in the emergency room, with a nurse as the first victim. And while Calverton begins his recuperation, his fiance continues to see Nyland romantically. Hancock's sister is again brought into the hospital as a victim of spousal abuse. Diane's research work for the last two years is called into question, threatening all she has done and the future of her grant.

BURIED ALIVE II

Year of Release: 1997
General Info: horror movie
Character: Randy Riskin
The Story: as Randy's wife Laura inherits a fortune from an aunt, she is planning a bright future for them. Randy, however, is more interested in running of with his secret lover and the money. He poisons Laura and buries her, and runs off with his lover. Laura, however, has survived the poison murder attempt and finds herself buried alive. She climbs out of her grave and as she looks for her husband, she finds out that he ran off with his secret lover. Of course, she is furious and seeks revenge.
Additional Info: none

LINK: Buried Alive II

THEATRE PLAYS & OTHER PRODUCTIONS

STEPHEN CAFFREY LINKS