Hollywood Hunk Troy Donahue Dies

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Hollywood Hunk Troy Donahue Dies Troy Donahue, the all-American teen pinup of the 1950s and '60s who shot to stardom opposite Sandra Dee in A Summer Place, died Sunday of complications from a heart attack. He was 65. He suffered the heart attack on Thursday and was taken to a Santa Monica hospital, but he never recovered.

Donahue was the Freddie Prinze Jr. of his day--a matinee idol whose face sent many a girl into a tizzy, but whose films put many a critic to sleep.

He was born Merle Johnson Jr. on January 27, 1936 into a show-biz family. His dad ran the motion picture division of General Motors and his mother was a wannabe actress.

It was only after a stint studying journalism at Columbia University that he decided to give acting a shot, making the rounds in local theater and then moving to Tinseltown at age 19. But Merle Johnson was deemed too pedestrian by Hollywood standards, and the blond-haired, blue-eyed actor was rechristened Troy Donahue by his agent, Henry Willson (the same guy who turned Roy Harold Scherer Jr. into Rock Hudson).

Donahue got his big movie break in the 1957 flick Man Afraid. That caught the attention of Warner Bros., which signed him to a deal in 1959. And he reached full-blown Hollywood hunkdom that same year in A Summer Place.

He starred in such films as Parrish (1961), Rome Adventure (1962) and My Blood Runs Cold (1964) before segueing to TV in the early '60s series Surfside 6 and Hawaiian Eye. He also had a bit part in 1974's The Godfather, Part II, playing--in a Hollywood inside joke--a character named Merle Johnson. But by then his career was in decline.

In fact, Donahue's life stuck pretty close to a True Hollywood Story script. Unbelievable fame in his 20s, followed by failed marriages, drug and alcohol abuse and virtual anonymity. It was only after a year spent homeless in Central Park that he decided to get sober and try salvaging his life.

"He had some adversity in his life and challenged it all," frequent costar Connie Stevens said in a CNN interview Sunday.

A revitalized Donahue began appearing in low-budget, direct-to-video and indie films in the late 1980s and early 1990s, including such forgettable releases as Assault of the Party Nerds, Nudity Required and Bimbo Movie Bash, as well as a small part in John Waters' Cry-Baby (Waters was a self-proclaimed huge Donahue fan).

Donahue was married at least four times, including to actress Suzanne Pleshette, according to the Internet Movie Database. He is survived by a sister and two children and his fiancée, opera singer Zheng Cao.

-- Anonymous, September 03, 2001

Answers

Gawd, they're starting to get too close to home. Death from OD is one thing, but these heart attacks and cancer fatalities remind me too strongly of my own mortality. Troy Donahue--yes, he was one helluva hunk. Could he act? Hell, I don't remember and I'm sure I didn't care.

-- Anonymous, September 03, 2001

Engaged again, huh?

Git, I thought A Summer Place was one of the worst acted movies I have seen, at least Sandra Dee, but maybe it was the horrible script. OTOH, a good lesson in morality, at least back in the days when shame was still an option.

-- Anonymous, September 03, 2001


To someone in a dull, drab, grey-brown, still post-WWII Britain, I only remember the beautiful colors of the clothes and places! And Troy Donahue.

-- Anonymous, September 03, 2001

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