‘Cannonball Run’ Star Alfie Wise Dies at 82
Alfie Wise, best known for starring in films and television shows alongside his close friend Burt Reynolds, passed away on July 22, 2025, from natural causes in West Palm Beach, Florida. He was 82 and is survived by his longtime fiancée, Stephanie Bliss.
Born Ralph Louis Wise on November 17, 1942, in Altoona, Pennsylvania, he served as class president throughout junior high and high school, then again at Penn State, where he graduated in 1964. After serving in the U.S. Navy, where he produced and hosted shows aboard ship, Wise moved to Los Angeles and got his start in television as an NBC page. His first credited roles came in the early 1970s, including an appearance in the ABC pilot Call Her Mom and an episode of The Sandy Duncan Show.
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His big break came in 1974 when he played a prison guard in The Longest Yard, marking the beginning of a long friendship and working relationship with Burt Reynolds. From there, he became a staple in Reynolds’ comedies, appearing in Smokey and the Bandit, The End, Hooper, Starting Over, Paternity, Stroker Ace, City Heat and Heat. Fans may especially remember him as the tow truck driver “Batman” in The Cannonball Run. On television, he played Oliver Wardell in the ABC series B.L. Stryker and later appeared on Evening Shade, both starring Reynolds.
Outside of Reynolds’ circle, Wise played Mr. Rabbit Ears on the children’s series Uncle Croc’s Block and starred as a paramedic opposite Lou Ferrigno in the short-lived medical drama Trauma Center. He also made guest appearances on shows like Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman, The Fall Guy, The Jeffersons and S Club 7. He was even a panelist on the game show Match Game. Later in life, Wise shifted away from acting and found success in real estate in Jupiter, Florida, where he remained close to Reynolds until the actor’s passing in 2018.
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1970s Fall TV
September 2023
Take a trip back to the ’70s by looking at the TV Guide Magazine Fall Preview primetime lineups.
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