Latest news with #StephanieBliss
Daily Mail
05-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Alfie Wise dead at 82: Burt Reynolds' co-star and friend passes away
Alfie Wise has died at the age of 82. He passed of natural causes on July 22 at the Thomas H. Corey Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Palm Beach, Florida, his fiancee Stephanie Bliss, told The Hollywood Reporter on Tuesday. The Hollywood movie and TV actor was best known as a good friend and costar of '70s icon Burt Reynolds. The Pennsylvania native worked with Reynolds on 1974's The Longest Yard, 1977's Smokey And The Bandit, 1978's Hooper, 1981's The Cannonball Run, 1981's Paternity, 1983's Stroker Ace and 1984's City Heat. And Wise appeared on Reynolds' TV shows BL Stryker and Evening Shade. Apart from Reynolds' films, Wise appeared in Midway (1976), Swashbuckler (1976), Hot Stuff (1979), Rad (1986) and Catherine's Grove (1997). And Wise also appeared on several popular TV shows such as Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, The Jeffersons, The Sandy Duncan Show and Tour of Duty. 'He loved his friends, and he really kept us very close,' Wise said of Reynolds in an interview with The New York Daily News shortly after Reynolds' death in 2018. 'His films were like an ongoing block party. 'I think the audience caught on to that. You always knew you were going to have a great time with a Burt Reynolds movie.' He also served as Reynolds' assistant during their many years together. 'I've been very lucky to get to know and work with such a good friend,' he said in the late '70s in a story published in his hometown Altoona Mirror. 'Burt is one of the true gentlemen in the business as well as a caring and warm man.' Wise was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania. He attended Keith Jr. High School and Altoona Area High School, graduating in 1960. Next was college at Pennsylvania State University which was followed by serving in the United States Navy. He began his screen career in 1972, appearing in the television film Call Her Mom. In the same year, he appeared in the sitcom television series The Sandy Duncan Show. Later in his career, in 1983, Wise starred as paramedic Sidney Pacelli in the ABC medical drama television series Trauma Center, starring along with James Naughton, Jack Bannon, Lou Ferrigno, Wendie Malick and Dorian Harewood. He retired from acting in 2000 and became a real estate agent in Jupiter, Florida.
Yahoo
05-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Alfie Wise, Actor in ‘The Cannonball Run' and Lots of Other Burt Reynolds Movies, Dies at 82
Alfie Wise, the actor who showed up in Smokey and the Bandit, The Cannonball Run and eight other films with his fun-loving pal Burt Reynolds, has died. He was 82. Wise died July 22 of natural causes at Thomas H. Corey VA Medical Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, his longtime fiancée, Stephanie Bliss, told The Hollywood Reporter. More from The Hollywood Reporter Jane Morgan, "Fascination" Singer and 'Ed Sullivan Show' Staple, Dies at 101 Jonathan Kaplan, Director of 'The Accused' and 'ER,' Dies at 77 Loni Anderson, 'WKRP in Cincinnati' Star, Dies at 79 Wise played a trooper in the prison-set The Longest Yard (1974), his first onscreen collaboration with Reynolds, and he worked with the movie star in The End (1978), Hooper (1978), Starting Over (1979), Paternity (1981), Stroker Ace (1983), City Heat (1984) and Heat (1986) as well. The 5-foot-5 Wise also was the butt of Reynolds' jokes as marina owner Oliver Wardell on all 12 episodes of the 1989-90 ABC crime series B.L Stryker, and he appeared on a 1991 installment of Reynolds' longer-lasting CBS sitcom, Evening Shade. 'He loved his friends, and he really kept us very close,' Wise said of Reynolds in an interview with The New York Daily News shortly after Reynolds' death in 2018. 'His films were like an ongoing block party. I think the audience caught on to that. You always knew you were going to have a great time with a Burt Reynolds movie.' Wise also portrayed Charles Nelson Reilly's sidekick, Mr. Rabbit Ears, on the 1975-76 kids show Uncle Croc's Block and was one-half of a paramedic team (Lou Ferrigno was the much bigger other half) on the 1983 ABC series Trauma Center, starring James Naughton, Wendie Malick and Dorian Harewood. Born in Altoona, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 17, 1942, Ralph Louis Wise attended Keith Jr. High School and Altoona Area High School, where he served as class president for three years before graduating in 1960. After graduating in 1964 from Penn State, where he was class president for four years, he served in the U.S. Navy — he produced and hosted shows on his ship — and moved to the Los Angeles area, where he landed a job as an NBC page. In 1972, he appeared in the ABC pilot telefilm Call Her Mom, starring Connie Stevens, and on an episode of CBS' The Sandy Duncan Show. In one of his more prominent roles, Wise played the cowardly assistant to the director (Robert Klein) of the action film The Spy Who Laughed at Danger at the center of Hooper, which features Reynolds as a stunt coordinator. He was a patrolman in Smokey and the Bandit (1977) and the tow-truck driver known as 'Batman' in The Cannonball Run (1981). He also served as Reynolds' assistant during their many years together. 'I've been very lucky to get to know and work with such a good friend,' he said in the late '70s in a story published in his hometown Altoona Mirror. 'Burt is one of the true gentlemen in the business as well as a caring and warm man.' Wise's résumé also included the films Midway (1976), Swashbuckler (1976), Hot Stuff (1979), Rad (1986) and Catherine's Grove (1997) and the TV shows Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, The Fall Guy, The Jeffersons and S Club 7 in Miami. He showed up as a panelist on Match Game, too. More recently, he worked as a real estate agent in Reynolds' old stomping grounds of Jupiter, Florida. Best of The Hollywood Reporter The 25 Best U.S. Film Schools in 2025 The 40 Greatest Needle Drops in Film History The 40 Best Films About the Immigrant Experience
The Sun
05-08-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Alfie Wise dead aged 82: Burt Reynold's pal who starred in Smokey & the Bandit & The Cannonball Run star dies
ALFIE Wise, who acted in Smokey and the Bandit and a host of other movies alongside pal Burt Reynolds, has died at 82. The veteran screen actor passed away from natural causes at a medical facility in West Palm Beach, Florida, according to long-time fiancée, Stephanie Bliss. 2 2 Alfie played a trooper in the prison-set The Longest Yard (1974) - his first onscreen collaboration with Reynolds, who was a famous star in the 1970s and 80s. He worked again with Reynolds in The End (1978), Hooper (1978), Starting Over (1979), Paternity (1981), Stroker Ace (1983), City Heat (1984) and Heat (1986). .
