Remembering the flamboyant ‘Airplane!’ star who laughed in the face of fear during the AIDS crisis

Image Credit: ‘Airplane!,’ Paramount Pictures

Today marks the 45th anniversary of the wacky disaster movie parody Airplane!, a film that changed the face of comedy as we know it. Wait, Airplane! was released 45 years ago? Surely you can’t be serious!

Between its absurdist gags (the “crash positions” bit), silly cameos (co-pilot Kareem Abdul-Jabbar), and endlessly quotable lines (“don’t call me Shirley”), the Jim Abrahams and Zucker Brothers-created hit delivered wall-to-wall laughs that are still remembered to this day, but we don’t talk enough about the fact that one of its funniest characters was a gay man.

The late Stephen Stucker stole nearly every scene as flamboyant air traffic controller Johnny, who was fond of prancing around the room, shading other’s fashion choices, and who

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