John Beradino (May 1, 1917-May 19, 1996) was an American actor known for portraying Dr. Steve Hardy on the ABC daytime soap opera General Hospital, where he was an original cast member.
He was also a professional baseball player with the St. Louis Browns, Cleveland Indians and Pittsburgh Pirates.
Early life and education[]
Born Giovanni Berardino in Los Angeles, California on May 1, 1917. He attended Belmont High School, located in Downtown Los Angeles.
Beradino is often mentioned as having appeared in the silent Our Gang comedies produced by Hal Roach as a child actor, but has not been identified as having appeared in any of the existing films.
Baseball career[]
After attending the University of Southern California, where he played baseball under coach Sam Barry and was a member of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity, Beradino was a major league player from 1939 to 1953[2] (except for three years of military service in the U.S. Naval Reserve[3] during World War II, from 1942 to 1945). He played second baseman and shortstop for the St. Louis Browns (currently the Baltimore Orioles), Cleveland Indians and Pittsburgh Pirates, winning the World Series with the Indians in 1948.[4] After injuring his leg and being released by Pittsburgh in 1952, he retired from baseball and returned to acting, having appeared in his first film in 1948.
Acting career[]
Beradino appeared briefly in an uncredited role as a state trooper in the 1954 thriller Suddenly, starring Frank Sinatra and Sterling Hayden, and later performed as a policeman who allows Roger Thornhill (Cary Grant) to make a phone call to his mother in the 1959 Alfred Hitchcock thriller, North by Northwest.
Beradino had a cameo role in the classic 1954 sci-fi thriller Them, and a guest role in a 1955 episode of the television series Adventures of Superman, in the episode titled "The Unlucky Number". He played a small-time criminal who struggled with his life-style and wanted to reform.
Beradino appeared twice on the western series Annie Oakley, with Gail Davis, as Gorman in "Annie Rides the Navajo Trail"; and as Roscoe Barnes in "Amateur Outlaw" (both 1956). He guest starred as well on John Bromfield's syndicated crime drama with a modern western setting, Sheriff of Cochise, and Bromfield's successor series, U.S. Marshal. He was also cast in an episode of David Janssen's crime drama series, Richard Diamond, Private Detective.
On December 2, 1959, Beradino was cast as Al, a professional baseball player, in the episode, "The Third Strike" of the syndicated adventure series Rescue 8, starring Jim Davis and Lang Jeffries. In the storyline, the player loses consciousness when struck by a wild pitch and soon awakes with short-term amnesia.[5]
After appearing in more than a dozen B-movies, as well as supporting roles as FBI agent Steve Daniels in the espionage series I Led Three Lives and as LAPD sergeant Vince Cavelli in The New Breed,[2] he was offered the role of Dr. Steve Hardy on the soap opera General Hospital. He also played a version of his General Hospital character Dr. Steve Hardy on an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. He played Steve Hardy from GH's inception in 1963 until becoming ill from pancreatic cancer in 1996.[2] Beradino passed away on Sunday, May 19, 1996 in Los Angeles, California.[2]
Recognition[]
For his contribution to the television industry, Beradino has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame[2] at 6801 Hollywood Blvd. He has also been inducted into the University of Southern California Athletic Hall of Fame.
He is the only person to have won a World Series (1948) and have his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1993).
Beradino received three Daytime Emmy Award nominations for best actor in a daytime drama.[2]
In tribute to the actor, General Hospital left Beradino's image with that of Rachel Ames (Audrey Hardy) in its opening sequence for a year-and-a-half after his death, through several updates. Though that image was finally removed in early 1998 (leaving Ames with a new solo image), an "action" clip of Beradino's Steve Hardy in the hospital remained in the sequence until the sequence's 2004 retirement.
On the 50th anniversary episode of General Hospital, which aired April 2, 2013 (even though the actual anniversary was April 1), the General Hospital staff dedicated a portrait of John Beradino as Dr. Steve Hardy, which was said to hang in the board room at the hospital.
The onscreen Italian restaurant "Beradino's" was named in his honor.
Outside Links[]
References[]
- ↑ http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/person/14223%7C0/John-Beradino/
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 Grimes, William. "John Bernadino, 79, an Enduring Soap Opera Star", The New York Times, May 22,1996, p. 21.
- ↑ Baseball in Wartime.com
- ↑ (February 24, 2009 (Vol. 34, No. 8)) “Athletic Support”, Soap Opera Digest, 67.
- ↑ The Third Strike, Rescue 8, December 2, 1959. Internet Movie Data Base. Retrieved on January 29, 2013.