Troy Donahue
| Troy Donahue | |
|---|---|
Donahue in Hawaiian Eye, 1959
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| Born |
Merle Johnson, Jr. January 27, 1936 New York City, New York, U.S. |
| Died | September 2, 2001 (aged 65) Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Cause of death | Heart attack |
| Alma mater | Columbia University |
| Occupation | Actor, singer |
| Years active | 1957–2000 |
| Spouse(s) |
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| Partner(s) | Zheng Cao |
| Children | Janine and Sean |
Troy Donahue (born Merle Johnson Jr., January 27, 1936 – September 2, 2001) was an American film and television actor and singer. He was a popular male sex symbol in the 1950s and 1960s.
Born in New York City, Donahue was the son of a retired stage actress and the manager of the motion picture department of General Motors. Donahue later recalled in a 1959 interview:
Acting is all I ever wanted. Ever since I can remember I've studied and read plays. My mother would help me but my parents didn't want me to become an actor. They preferred something more stable—doctor, lawyer, Indian chief, anything.
"I can remember always being exposed to Broadway and theater people," he added in 1984. "I can remember sitting with Gertrude Lawrence while she read her reviews in The King and I."
To please his parents he attended a New York military academy. He was going to attend West Point but suffered a damaged knee at a track meet. He volunteered for the army but was rejected.
When he was 18 he moved to New York and got a job as a messenger in a film company founded by his father (who had died when he was 14). He was fired, he says, because he was too young to join the union.
He attended Columbia University and studied journalism. He acted in summer stock at Bucks County. He trained briefly with Ezra Stone and then moved to Hollywood.
One evening, the producer William Asher and the director James Sheldon spotted Donahue in a diner in Malibu and arranged for a screen test with Columbia Pictures, but it was unsuccessful. Some time later, Donahue was in a car accident in which he drove off a road and plunged 40 feet down a canyon.
The actress Fran Bennett introduced him to the agent Henry Willson, who represented Rock Hudson, among others. Willson signed him and changed his name to Troy Donahue. "At first they had Paris, the lover of Helen of Troy, in mind," Donahue says. "But I guess they thought they couldn't name me Paris Donahue because there was already a Paris, France, and Paris, Illinois." He later added, "it took me five minutes to get used to" his new name.
Donahue signed with Universal Studios in 1956. He established himself with uncredited roles in The Monolith Monsters and Man Afraid in 1957, leading to larger parts in several films and on TV shows. Donahue starred in Monster on the Campus, Live Fast, Die Young, and The Tarnished Angels, all in 1958. He won praise in a small role in Imitation of Life.
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