John Friedrich

John Friedrich b March 15 1958 California is an American film actor A talented and enigmatic character actor of the 1970s and early 1980s John Friedrich is probably best known for his portrayal of Joey Capra in The Wanderers 1979 Philip Kaufmans film adaption of Richard Prices novel A familiar face on television throughout the 70s Friedrich made guest starring appearances on the police drama series Baretta and The Streets of San Francisco He also had a strong supporting role in the John Travolta telefilm The Boy in the Plastic Bubble In 1984 Friedrich played the lead role of Marshall Weatherly in The Paper Chase episode Not Prince Hamlet In 1978 he appeared in the muchcriticized disco film Thank God Its Friday The year later he was cast as Joey in The Wanderers In 1982 he worked alongside James Woods in the prison drama FastWalking in which he portrayed a gay convict called Squeeze Another of Friedrichs most recognizable roles was as Frank Cleary the oldest of the Cleary brothers in the 1983 miniseries The Thorn Birds based on the novel by Colleen McCullough In both The Thorn Birds and Friedrichs final film release The Final Terror he worked with the British actress Rachel Ward After working in The Thorn Birds Friedrich ended his film career The Final Terror which was filmed in 1980 under the title Three Blind Mice was released after Friedrichs retirement due to the popularity of its female leads Rachel Ward and Daryl Hannah At the peak of his career with The Thorn Birds Friedrich retired to New Mexico married started a family and began a career as a financial consultant1 He also became something of a cult icon as his films developed a cult following Rumors persisted about him including one recurring myth that he was working as a livein gardener for his Wanderers costar Ken Wahl2 who had gone on to success in the television series Wiseguy There has also been confusion between the film actor and an Australian criminal and former government official of the same name who committed suicide in 1991 At least one website listing actors Answerscom has claimed that the actor and the criminal John Friedrich are one and the same3 In 2007 Friedrich resurfaced when he appeared on stage at the University of Hawaii to discuss his films with UH professor Marc Moody During this stage appearance Friedrich shared anecdotes of his decadelong career and commented that he would like to return to acting to complete that chapter in his life4