James Stacy
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Maurice William Elias, better known by the pseudonym James Stacy, (December 23, 1936 – September 9, 2016) was an American actor in film and TV and convicted felon. He pleaded no contest in 1995 to a single count of child molestation and, following a brief stint as a fugitive after fleeing the state, was sentenced to six years in prison. He died of an anaphylactic shock in 2016.
Biography edit
Career edit
Stacy is perhaps best remembered as a star of the western series Lancer, playing a retired gunslinger named Johnny Lancer. His television debut was in the 1950s series Highway Patrol, and his film debut was in the 1957 drama film Sayonara. He made multiple TV guest appearence in the 60s, including Perry Mason and Have Gun - Will Travel. Stacy was married to actress Connie Stevens in 1963, but they divorced some time after and he married another actress named Kim Darby. They went on to have a daughter named Kim before divorcing in 1969.
However, Stacy's career hit a serious roadblock when he was involved in a car crash in September 1973. A drunk driver crashed into his motorcycle and killed his passenger, Claire Cox. Stacy himself was injured so badly he had to have his left arm and leg amputated. In 1976, he won a $1.9 million lawsuit against the bar that had served the drunk driver. Despite his serious injuries, Stacy made a comeback in 1976 in the Kirk Douglas film Posse as journalist Harold Helleman. However, his real comeback was in 1977, when he starred in the TV movie Just a Little Inconvenience as a disabled veteran. His career was extremely successful until his retirement in 1991
Assault conviction edit
In 1980, Stacy was arrested after an incident at a hotel when he broke a waitress' nose in a drunken rage. It was also alleged that he threw a chair at a security guard. After a brief trial, Stacy was convicted of assault against the waitress and fined $750. He was also ordered to do community service. Charges relating to the alleged attack on the security guard were dropped.
Sex crimes edit
Five years after his retirement, the Los Angeles Times reported that an 11-year-old acquaintance of Stacy had accused him of inviting her to his house for a swim and touching her genitals. Stacy was charged with having molested a child and was released on bail.
However, during his release Stacy was accused of "prowling" the neighbourhood looking for children to molest. When a family with two underage girls moved in next door, the wheelchair-bound Stacy loitered outside their house and drunkenly yelled into their door, “Come talk to me, I know you’re in there!”, for which he was arrested but not charged. Just a week later, Stacy began harassing a ten-year-old girl in her mother's backyard. He was arrested again and diagnosed as a pedophile by a psychiatrist. Shortly after, Stacy entered a no contest plea.
Rather than attend his sentencing, Stacy fled the state and surfaced in Hawaii. He attempted suicide by jumping off a cliff, only to survive and get arrested at the hospital. Stacy willingly returned to California rather than be extradited, and was sentenced to six years in prison. Ironically, the prosecutor said that if Stacy hadn't run he would likely have only got probation. He served out his prison time quietly at the California Institution for Men at Chino. Upon his release, Stacy spent the remainder of his days in obscurity.
On Sept. 9, 2016, James Stacy died after going into anaphylactic shock due to receiving antibiotics, according to his fiancée Antigoni Tsamparlis. He was 79 years old.