Ken Wahl

Ken Wahl (born February 14, 1957)^{[1][dubious – discuss][2]} is an American retired actor. Rising to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s, he starred in the CBS television crime drama Wiseguy.

Early life and career

Wahl, who was born in Chicago, Illinois,^[3] is elusive about his personal life, and has given more than one birthdate. A Newspaper Enterprise Association syndicated article in 1988, citing records checked by the CBS publicist for Wahl's television series Wiseguy, gives February 14, 1957, a date that corresponds with the year of his high school graduation: "A call to Bremen High School in the Chicago suburb of Midlothian reveals Wahl graduated from there in June 1975, presumably at age 18."^[1] In 2004, Entertainment Weekly noted the confusion surrounding Wahl's date of birth and added that "Ken Wahl is not actually Ken Wahl. At least he wasn't when he was born. While he declines to disclose his birth name, he does say that the moniker he's gone by for the past 25 years is the name of the person who saved his father's life in the Korean War".^[3]

According to Wahl, he was born "in a tiny apartment on the south side of Chicago, in the late Fifties".

By 1981, Wahl's father had remarried. Between acting jobs, Wahl stayed in Chicago with his father and stepmother or with his sister.[5]

Acting career

Wahl first gained recognition in 1979 when he was cast in the leading role of director Philip Kaufman's film The Wanderers (1979).^[6] He was subsequently cast opposite Paul Newman in Fort Apache, The Bronx (1981), and went on to play the lead in movies including Race for the Yankee Zephyr (1981), The Soldier (1982), Jinxed! (1982), Purple Hearts (1984) and other films. In 1984, he then suffered another motorcycle crash, while on his way to meet with Diane Keaton about the role that eventually went to Mel Gibson in the film Mrs. Soffel. Not wearing a helmet, Wahl was injured badly enough to require 89 stitches in his scalp.^[3]

After appearing in the ensemble of the

[In] August of 1992 ... Ken accidentally fell down some slippery marble stairs at a friend's home, causing his neck to break and his spinal column to be injured. Because his friend was in the public eye, she asked Ken not to say where the accident occurred. So, later on, when the media inquired about the scar on his neck, Ken simply offered the explanation that he had broken his neck in a motorcycle accident, in a sincere effort to protect the privacy of his friend.

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Blaming a "botched" undisclosed surgery and the refusal of doctors to prescribe pain medication, Wahl said in an interview that he told himself, "Okay, I can't get a prescription, so I'll get a bottle of vodka. I was in such chronic, agonizing pain 24 hours a day that I started drinking to kill the pain." After gaining weight through lack of exercise, and with a growing alcohol problem, he worked 16 days on the Wiseguy reunion movie "and barely got through it. That's when I knew I couldn't do it anymore."^[3]

Personal life

Wahl married his first wife, former Penthouse Pet of the Year Corinne Alphen, in 1983. With Alphen, he had a son, Raymond, and a step-son, Louis, from Alphen's previous marriage.^[8][9] They divorced in 1991.^[4][9]

Traci Lords revealed in her autobiography, Traci Lords: Underneath It All, that she had a brief affair with Wahl in 1988 after she had a guest appearance on his TV series. Lords said of Wahl that he "was tall, dark, and brooding with a mischievous smile. He took me to dinner that night at a down-home Italian joint near my hotel. It had a low-key vibe and sensational food. He was a star with simple tastes, which impressed me. He was kind to people and bantered easily with the staff as he leaned back in his chair… He was one sexy man."^[10] She further added that he "was the first civilian I'd made love to post-porn"^[10] and that he made her think differently about relationships.

In 1995, Wahl was charged with disturbing the peace and arrested on an outstanding warrant for a drunken-driving charge, eventually pleaded no contest to both charges and receiving probation. A year later, he was arrested for allegedly threatening a bartender with a hunting knife for refusing to serve him alcohol. He pleaded no contest again and was ordered to enter a live-in alcohol rehabilitation program.^[3]

Wahl married his second wife,

In 2009, Wahl sued his former business manager, Henry Levine, alleging that Levine conspired with Wahl's first wife, Corinne Alphen, to defraud him.^[11]

Animal and disabled veterans activism

With his career tanked because of injury, Wahl and his wife Barbi, turned their attention to supporing animal rights and disabled United States military veterans.^[12]

On 19 January 2010, he offered his

In 2012, Wahl stood against the Hayden Law Repeal, which would have revoked the Hayden Law for shelter pets in California, which had extended the number of days owners had to find their lost pets or for injured animals to receive donations or to be adopted.[14]

For Memorial Day 2012, Wahl sent a message saluting the military, alongside the group Pets for Patriots, supporting adoption of pets for veterans.^[15] Later that year, he took part in the documentary Saving America's Horses, about both wild and domestic horses and the issues that plague them.^[16] In December 2012, he reiterated the need to support wounded veterans, and help reduce suicide rates, by pairing rescued animals with veterans.^[17]

Awards

• 1989: Nomination,
  Emmy Award, Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, as Vinnie Terranova in Wiseguy^[18]
• 1989: Nomination,
  Golden Globe Award, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama, for Wiseguy^[19]
• 1990:
  Golden Globe Award, Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series - Drama, for Wiseguy^[19]