Stephen Young (born Stephen Levy; May 19, 1939) is a retired Canadian actor and television host. He worked mostly as a character actor and had supporting roles in the films Patton (1970), Soylent Green (1970), and The Silent Partner (1978).
Young was born in Toronto, Ontario to a financier father. He attended high school at Forest Hill Collegiate Institute where he was student president. Afterwards, he signed with the Cleveland Indians, but his professional bid ended when he seriously injured his knee playing ice hockey. He spent the next few years as a salesman, then wound up in radio and TV commercial production.
While travelling with a friend on a European excursion in the early 1960s, Young by chance got a bit part in the epic Cleopatra (1963), then landed similar minor assignments in such other European-filmed epics as 55 Days at Peking (1963), The Leopard (1963), The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), and The Thin Red Line (1964).
Upon returning to Toronto, Young decided to become a full-time actor, originally billing himself under his birth name and appearing in leads on both daytime and primetime TV dramas, including the Toronto-based daytime serial Moment of Truth. He headed the cast of the Canadian adventure series Seaway. Moving to Hollywood in 1966, he subsequently starred as young lawyer Ben Caldwell, assistant to high-profile criminal attorney Clinton Judd (Carl Betz) in the drama Judd, for the Defense. The series was abruptly cancelled after only two seasons. Stephen Young also guest-starred in the cult science fiction TV series The Starlost in the episode "Astro-Medics" (1973).
Young's theatrical film role appearances include Patton (1970), Soylent Green (1970), Rage (1972), Lifeguard (1976), Deadline (1980), and his final appearance in the 2013 low budget independent film The Angel Inn.
Young was a friend of John Candy and worked together on a few projects, including a lead role in the low-budget horror thriller The Clown Murders (1976), as well as the Interior Decorator in Who's Harry Crumb? (1989), and Freddie in The Silent Partner (1978), the latter of which he also produced.
He appeared in television films, including the low-budget project The Mask of Sheba (1969), The Death Squad (1974), Between Friends (1983), A Perry Mason Mystery: The Case of the Jealous Jokester (1995), Strange Justice and Execution of Justice, both in 1999, and The Last Debate (2000).
Young briefly hosted the Canadian game show Just Like Mom (1980âÂÂ81).
In addition to recurring roles, Young guest starred, playing characters for a number of popular Canadian and American television series including The Mod Squad (1972), the character Dallet on both The Six Million Dollar Man and The Bionic Woman (1976), two episodes of The Littlest Hobo (1979, 1981), Magnum, P.I. (1983), Danger Bay (1985), Airwolf (1987), and In The Heat of the Night (1991), among others. In 1993, on the Canadian crime-fighting series Counterstrike, Young portrayed Senator David Carmichael who dies on an icy road while being chased by journalists working for Morton Downey Jr.'s character Monroe Park, who slandered him on his controversial news-talk show The Raw Truth. He also appeared in the Canadian series Traders (1997), followed by the 2002 television film A Portrait of Murder (also known as The Rendering) playing Detective Nick Sousa.