Link to the n*de dudes
Stephen was born in Cincinnati in 1964, attended a performing arts high school and New York University, and made his mark as a theatrical actor. In 1984, he was nominated for a Tony for his performance in The Human Comedy, based on the William Saroyan novel.
Then he humped...I mean jumped into movies:
After Heaven Help Us, Fraternity Vacation (1985): Two frat brothers (Tim Robbins, Cameron Dye) take their nerdy pledge Wendell (Stephen) to Palm Springs, where they compete over a bikini babe. It got lousy reviews, even for a teen s*x comedy.
Fright Night (1985): Evil Eddie (Stephen), sidekick to high schooler Charlie (William Ragsdale), is heavily queer-coded; as heavily as you could be in 1985. The Vampire (Chris Sarandon) seduces him like a potential boyfriend. Then eats him.
Queer-coded guys in horror movies! Stephen had found his niche!
During the next few years, he played queer-coded guys in episodes of Amazing Stories and The Twilight Zone, and in 976-EVIL (1988), his second most famous movie.
Unfortunately, in the 1980s, queer-coded usually meant evil. He found himself playing a nasty prison inmate in The Chair (1988), a nasty drug dealer in Moon 44 (1990), where he didn't even get to kiss Brian Thompson, and a nasty rent boy in Wild Blade (1991), reviewed as "a painfully awful piece of sludge."
But he had performed Shakespeare and William Saroyan! At this point Stephen gave up.
On Hollywood, that is.
He had developed a muscular physique, so why not find his new niche in gay films? First as Larry Bert, then as Sam Ritter, Stephen appeared in 29 over the next decade.More after the break.