John Beradino

• Name — Johnny Berardino • Position — Second baseman / Shortstop • Bats — Right • Throws — Right • Birth Name — Giovanni Berardino • Born — 1 May 1917 • Birthplace — Los Angeles, California, U.S. • Died — 19 May 1996 • Place of death — Los Angeles, California, U.S. • Debutleague — MLB • Debutdate — April 22 • Debutyear — 1939 • Debutteam — St. Louis Browns • Finalleague — MLB • Finaldate — September 19 • Finalyear — 1952 • Finalteam — Pittsburgh Pirates • Statleague — MLB • Stat1label — Batting average • Stat1value —.249 • Stat2label — Home runs • Stat2value — 36 • Stat3label — Runs batted in • Stat3value — 387 • Teams — * St. Louis Browns (–, –) • Cleveland Indians (–) • Pittsburgh Pirates • St. Louis Browns • Cleveland Indians • Pittsburgh Pirates

• Illustration — Publicity photo for the 10th Anniversary of General Hospital, 1973 Beradino was born on May 1, 1917 in Los Angeles and was raised near Hollywood. He attended Belmont High School in downtown Los Angeles. Beradino won a football scholarship to the University of Southern California in 1936, but he soon switched to baseball. Although Beradino is sometimes believed to have appeared in the silent Our Gang comedies as a child actor, he has not been identified as having appeared in any of the existing films.

After attending the University of Southern California, where he played baseball under coach Sam Barry and was member of Phi Kappa Tau fraternity, Beradino was a major league player from 1939 to 1952, except for three years of military service in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II from 1942 to 1945. He played for the St. Louis Browns, Cleveland Indians and Pittsburgh Pirates, winning the World Series with the Indians in 1948. While primarily a middle infielder, playing second baseman or shortstop, he also played first and third base. 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.

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 Hitchcock thriller North by Northwest. Beradino (still billed as John Berardino) played a cameo role in the 1954 sci-fi thriller Them!. He also appeared in a 1956 episode of the television series Adventures of Superman titled "The Unlucky Number" as a small-time criminal struggling to reform. Beradino appeared twice on the Western series Annie Oakley: as Gorman in "Annie Rides the Navajo Trail" and as Roscoe Barnes in "Amateur Outlaw" (both 1956). He appeared as an outlaw in the opening scenes of Budd Boetticher's Seven Men From Now in 1956. He guest-starred 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. Beradino played a minor gangster in The Untouchables pilot that originally aired as an installment in the Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse. He then played the recurring role of gangster Augie Viale in two episodes from the first season of The Untouchables series, "The Jake Lingle Killing" and "One-Armed Bandits". On December 2, 1959, Beradino appeared in the episode "The Third Strike" of the syndicated adventure series Rescue 8, playing a professional baseball player who loses consciousness when struck by a wild pitch and awakens with short-term amnesia. After appearing in more than a dozen B-movies, as well as in supporting roles on the series I Led Three Lives and The New Breed, he was offered the role of Dr. Steve Hardy on the soap opera General Hospital. Beradino also played a version of his General Hospital character on an episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

• Illustration — Cast of General Hospital 1973 (top): John Beradino, Emily McLaughlin (bottom): Martin West, Rachel Ames, Peter Hansen For his contribution to the television industry, Beradino has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame 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. In tribute, General Hospital left Beradino's image with that of Rachel Ames in its opening sequence for more than a year after his death, through several updates. His image was finally removed in early 1998, but an action clip of Beradino's character remained in the sequence until its 2004 retirement.

Beradino had two children, Toni and Cindy from his first marriage, and two children, Katherine Ann and John Anthony from his second marriage. He was married to his third wife, Marjorie, at the time of his death. Beradino was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 1996 and died later that year, aged 79, on May 19, 1996 in his Los Angeles home. Beradino supported Barry Goldwater in the 1964 United States presidential election.

• Illustration — John and Marjorie Beradino, 1971.

• Year — Title — Role — Notes • 1954 — I Led Three Lives — Special Agent Steven Daniels — recurring from 1954 to 1956 • 1956 — Sheriff of Cochise — Walt Harris — episode: "Deputy's Wife" (S 2:Ep 6) • Annie Oakley — Gorman — episode: "Annie Rides the Navajo Trail"(S 3:Ep 25) • Adventures of Superman — Dexter Brown — episode: "The Unlucky Number" (S 4:Ep 2) • Annie Oakley — Henchman Roscoe Barnes — episode: "Amateur Outlaw" (S 3:Ep 28) • 1957 — Richard Diamond, Private Detective — Marty Stopka — episode: "The Torch Carriers" (S 1:Ep 9) • 1958 — Tombstone Territory — Frank Leslie — episode: "Shoot Out at Dark" (S 1, Ep 13) • Tales of Wells Fargo — Kendall — episode: "The Counterfeiters" (S 3"Ep 13 • Sea Hunt — Athlete Father Dave Crane — episode: "The Lost Ones", S 1, Episode 28 • 1959 — Have Gun - Will Travel — Nelson Pike — episode: "Juliet" (S 2:Ep 20) • Rescue 8 — Al — episode: "The Third Strike" (S 2:Ep 11) • Bronco — Turk Hansen — episode: "The Belles of Silver Flat" (S 1:Ep 14) • The Untouchables — Johnny Giannini, Augie Viale — episode 1: pilot, Episodes 3 and 17 • The Texan — Duke Ellis — episode: "The Marshal of Yellow Jacket" • 1960 — U.S. Marshal — Carl Tabor — episode: "Backfire" (S 2:Ep 25) • Lawman — Walt Carmody — episode: "Dilemma" (S 3:Ep 7) • Checkmate — Floyd Venner — episode: "The Dark Divide" (S 1:Ep 9) • 1961 — Tales of Wells Fargo — Virgil McCready — episode: "Border Renegades" (S 5:Ep 15) • Route 66 — Police Lieutenant Fielding — episode: "Sleep on Four Pillows: (S 1:Ep 18) • Dante — Phil Diamond — episode: "Not as a Canary" (S 1:Ep 20) • Coronado 9 — Andre Machado — episode: "Caribbean Chase" (S 1:Ep 24) • Michael Shayne — Danny Fleck — episode: "The Body Beautiful" (S 1:Ep 25) • Coronado 9 — Will — episode: "Excursion to Algiers" (S 1:Ep 26) • Miami Undercover — Tom Dane — episode: "The Tom Dane Story" (S 1:Ep 11) • Surfside 6 — Granger — episode: "Circumstantial Evidence" (S 1:Ep 29) • The Brothers Brannagan — Don Girard — episode: "Treasure Hunt" (S 1:Ep 33) • Whispering Smith — Claude Denton — * episode: "The Mortal Coil" (S 1:Ep 12) * credited as John Berardino • The New Breed — Sgt. Vince Cavelli • Cain's Hundred — Al Krajac — episode: "Crime and Commitment: Part 1" (S 1:Ep 1–Pilot) • Bronco — Ross Kinkaid — episode: "The Cousin from Atlanta" (S 4:Ep 1) • 1963 — General Hospital — Steve Hardy — from 1963 to 1996 • 1968 — Batman — Doctor — episode: "Penguin's Clean Sweep" (S 3:Ep 20) • 1968 — One Life to Live — Steve Hardy — 1 episode; crossover appearance • 1971 — Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate — Det. Hallum — directed by Ted Post and the screenplay adapted by John D.F. Black from a novel of the same name by Doris Miles Disney. • 1972 — Moon of the Wolf — Dr. Druten — directed by Daniel Petrie • 1978 — A Guide for the Married Woman — Doctor — directed by Hy Averback • 1981 — The Love Boat — Dr. Cotts — episode: "Black Sheep/Hometown Doc/Clothes Make the Girl" (S 4:Ep 21) • Don't Look Back: The Story of Leroy 'Satchel' Paige — Jake Wells — directed by Richard A. Colla and based on Leroy's autobiography Don't Look Back: Satchel Paige in the Shadows of Baseball. • 1992 — The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air — Dr. Harding — episode: "Ill Will" (S 2:Ep 18)