Al Calavicci

Albert Calavicci
Albert "Al" Calavicci
First appearance	"Genesis" (March 26, 1989)
Last appearance	"Mirror Image" (May 5, 1993)
Created by	Donald P. Bellisario
Portrayed by
Information
Nickname(s)	Al
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Occupation	Pilot Companion/Assistant to Dr. Sam Beckett
Title	Rear admiral
Family	Unnamed father (deceased) Unnamed mother Trudy Calavicci (sister, deceased)
Spouse(s)	Beth Calavicci
Children	Alexis Calavicci, Ella Calavicci, Samantha Calavicci, Janis Calavicci
Relatives	Jack (uncle), Stawpah (uncle)

Rear Admiral Upper Half Albert "Al" Calavicci, USN, is a fictional character on the science fiction television series Quantum Leap, played by .

Al was born on June 15, 1934. His father, who worked in construction, immigrated from Abruzzi, Italy and his mother was a Russian immigrant. Al had a younger sister, Theresa "Trudy" Calavicci, who had Down's syndrome. During his childhood, Al's mother left the family and married another man. His father tried to keep the family together, but when his work required him to move to the Middle East, he was forced to put Al into an orphanage and Trudy into a mental institution, which was common practice for the mentally handicapped in the 1940s. A few years later, Al's father returned and the family was reunited until Al's father developed a serious case of cancer. After the death of their father, Al and Trudy were once again sent to the orphanage and the institution, respectively.

Al was a troubled, but by no means dangerous, youth. To keep himself out of trouble, he explored many hobbies, including acting and boxing. Al speaks fluent Italian. At one point, Al ran away from the orphanage and lived on the road with an African-American pool shark, but after his mentor and friend was arrested, Al was returned to the orphanage. When Al was 19, he went to the mental institution so he could be reunited with his sister, but discovered that she had contracted pneumonia and died, likely due to the institution's negligence.

As a young man, Al joined the United States Navy, and became an officer and a Naval Aviator. His friend Chip Ferguson nicknamed him "Bingo" after a line he'd used when caught with triplets. In 1957, Al had a brief relationship with a Navy trauma nurse, Lieutenant Lisa Sherman, who was already married. It was during this time that Al was accused of raping and murdering his commanding officer's wife (she had in fact been accidentally killed by Chip during consentual sex but he never came forward). Al was cleared when Sherman provided his alibi and was left heartbroken when she died later that day, and by the gossip people made about her. (One of Sam's leaps would later alter the timeline, preventing both Sherman's death and the wife's accidental killing.)