Troy Donahue facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Troy Donahue
Donahue in Hawaiian Eye, 1959
Born	Merle Johnson Jr. (1936-01-27)January 27, 1936 New York City, U.S.
Died	September 2, 2001(2001-09-02) (aged 65) Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Columbia University
Occupation	Actor singer
Years active	1957–2000
Spouse(s)	Suzanne Pleshette ​ ​ (m. 1964; div. 1964)​ Valerie Allen ​ ​ (m. 1966; div. 1968)​ Alma Sharpe ​ ​ (m. 1969; div. 1972)​ Vicki Taylor ​ ​ (m. 1979; div. 1981)​
Partner(s)	Zheng Cao (1991–Donahue's death 2001, engaged from 1999)
Children	2

Troy Donahue (born Merle Johnson Jr., January 27, 1936 – September 2, 2001) was an American film and television actor, best known for his role as Johnny Hunter in the film A Summer Place. He was popular in the 1950s and 1960s.

Biography

Early years

Merle Johnson Jr., later known as Troy Donahue, was born on January 27, 1936, in New York General Hospital. His father was Frederick Merle Johnson, the Production Chief of promotional motion pictures of General Motors. His mother, Edith "Dede" Johnson (née Frederickson), was a Swedish retired stage actress. Donahue stated 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."

When he was six years old, he contracted pneumonia and confined to bed for six weeks. Donahue's parents decided it would be better to move out the city for his recovery. They purchased a five-acre estate in Middle Road, in Bayport, Suffolk County on Long Island. The family acquired a variety of farm animals. His sister, Eve, was born a year after the move.

Frederick was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis when Donahue was young. As his father's health declined over two years, Donahue began to exhibit behavior issues. On December 5, 1950, Frederick died in St. Alban's Hospital in New York City when Donahue was 14 years old. Following his death, Donahue and his mother's relationship became strained.

Donahue dropped out of high school his sophomore year and in return his mother enrolled him into the New York Military Academy, where he roomed with English actor Owen Orr. There he met Francis Ford Coppola after casting him in school plays. He was to attend West Point, but suffered a knee injury at a track meet, knocking it out of the joint and tearing the cartilage. The injury ruined the chance for a sports scholarship. He volunteered for the United States Army, but was rejected due to his permanently damaged knee.

After Donahue was left unable to participate in sports, he turned to writing and acting. He also wrote for the school paper, eventually ending up as the editor. He graduated from the academy in June 1954.

When Donahue was 18, he moved back to New York and got a job as a messenger for Sound Masters, a commercial film company that his father had founded. He attended Columbia University and studied journalism. He acted in summer stock in Bucks County. He trained briefly with Ezra Stone, an American actor, director, and a family friend. During this time, Donahue had very little money and was kicked from six different apartments for not paying rent. He would move around different cheap hotels, refusing to move back in with his mother and sister - who had both moved back to New York. He would visit occasionally to eat a meal there.

He was fired from his job at Sound Masters, after being promoted to film cutter, due to being too young to join the union. Donahue wrote a letter to Darrell Brady, a family friend and working associate of his father, who managed a film company, Commercial Film Industries, in Los Angeles. After a few months, Brady wrote back and offered him a job with his company. He also invited Troy to stay at his home until he found a proper place to live.

Career

1956-1958: Early career

In February 1956, Donahue moved to California, staying in Brady's Calabasas home. He worked cutting film at Brady's company. He would later rent a garage apartment in Malibu, near his mother and sister's new home.

In spring that same year, producer William Asher and director James Sheldon spotted Donahue in a diner in Malibu and arranged for a screen test with Columbia Pictures. The weekend before the big meeting, Donahue suffered a near-fatal auto accident, plummeting 40 feet down into a canyon and smashing into a tree. He managed to escape the car and crawl back up to the road, meeting his friend who had been flung from the car and onto the road. The two were found by a passing motorist and taken to the hospital. Donahue suffered two cracked ribs, a bruised spinal cord, a concussion, a cracked kneecap, and a crushed kidney. In addition, he lost a tooth and had forty stitches.

Later that year, Donahue was introduced to actress Fran Bennett. Bennett introduced him to her agent Henry Willson, who also represented Rock Hudson. 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 [my] new name."

Donahue signed a six month contract, including extension options, with Universal Studios in October 1956. He earned a $125 weekly salary and with that, moved to North Hollywood. Donahue started off in small roles in films such as Man Afraid, Man of a Thousand Faces, The Tarnished Angels, Above All Things, and The Monolith Monsters (all 1957).

In 1958, he appeared in Charles F. Haas' Summer Love and Paul Henreid's Live Fast, Die Young.

Donahue's contract with Universal was at its end. He had spent all his money and had no work, leaving him unable to pay for his apartment. Willson was able to secure guest starring roles in several western shows, allowing Donahue to rent a slightly smaller apartment in Hollywood.

Donahue began appearing on TV in a guest part in Man Without a Gun. This was followed by parts in This Happy Feeling, Wild Heritage, Voice in the Mirror, The Perfect Furlough, and Monster on the Campus (billed fifth). He often had better roles on TV, guest-starring in episodes of The Californians, Rawhide, Wagon Train, Tales of Wells Fargo, and The Virginian.

Donahue achieved good reviews for a brief, but effective part in Douglas Sirk's Imitation of Life (1959), playing Frankie, a young white man who beats his new girlfriend after he discovers she is black.

1959-1964: A Summer Place and Warner Bros.

The big break of Donahue's career came when he was cast opposite Sandra Dee in the 1959 Warner Bros' film A Summer Place, directed by Delmer Daves. The movie was released to mixed critical reception, however still managed to gain widespread popularity and became a box office hit. The film was No. 1 at the US box office for two weeks. The film and its soundtrack have been continuously noted in popular culture since the films release - the first being in another Donahue film, The Crowded Sky (1960) between Donahue's character and co-star Efrem Zimbalist Jr., the popular "Theme from A Summer Place" is heard on the restaurant sound system. The music and scenes from the film have appeared in numerous later films, among them, Diner (1982) and Ocean’s Eleven (2001).

Donahue became a celebrity overnight, especially among teenage audiences. In John L. Scott's Los Angeles Times review, he wrote simply of him, "Donahue reveals promise." In 1960, he was named by The Film Daily as one of the five "finds" of the year. He would later receive the Golden Globe Award for "Most Promising Newcomer - Male" at the 17th Annual awards. Following the success, Warner's signed him to a long-term contract in 1959, with a beginning salary of $400 weekly ($4,300 weekly in 2024). Warner Bros immediately sent Donahue on a cross-country tour to promote the film.

Journalist Joan Beck wrote in the Chicago Tribune on October 22, 1959:

To plug the movie – and sell himself, too – Troy is touring the country with press agents and studio representatives from Warner Bros., to whom he is under contract. He’s lionized by reporters for high school newspapers at special teen press conferences. He talks on disk jockey radio programs, women’s television shows and teenage TV dancing parties. And for a dash of glamour, he’s being seen at posh restaurants and celebrity gathering spots. He’s interviewed by columnists and photographed by fan magazines – which appeal almost totally to teens these days. Along with the publicity build-up, Troy has acquired several other accouterments of a successful star. He has a top Hollywood agent. A business manager who keeps him on a $35 weekly allowance. A bachelor apartment. A Porsche. And a circle of  friends which includes many of the other rising young teen favorites of the movie  colony. Now that all the proper stops have been pulled out, Hollywood’s star makers expect teenagers to respond with a chorus of enthusiasm loud enough to sweep Troy into real movie stardom. They don’t doubt that the tall, blue-eyed actor has what it takes to capture the all-important high school audience.

Donahue guest starred in a variety of their western television series, including Colt .45 (1959), Maverick (1959), Sugarfoot (1959), The Alaskans (1960), and Lawman (1960). He had a support part in a disaster movie, The Crowded Sky (1960).

Donahue also had a brief tenure as a recording artist at the height of his fame in the early 1960s, releasing a handful of singles for Warner Bros. Records, including "Live Young" and "Somebody Loves Me". However, no recordings entered the Billboard Hot 100 list.

He was reportedly going to be cast in Elia Kazan's 1961 American period drama Splendor in the Grass, but missed out to Warren Beatty.

Donahue with showgirl Margarita Sierra in the ABC/Warner Bros. television series Surfside 6 (1961)

Donahue and Sierra on the set of Surfside 6.

Instead Warner Bros. put him in a TV series, Surfside 6 (1960–62), one of several spin-offs of 77 Sunset Strip, announced in April 1960. On Surfside 6, Donahue starred with Van Williams, Lee Patterson, Diane McBain, and Margarita Sierra in the ABC series, set in Miami Beach, Florida. The show launched him to a household name.

He was sent on press junkets around the country to visit radio and television stations. Warner Bros. charged thousands for an appearance of him, yet Donahue never received a bonus. Donahue's face was plastered on merchandise - from posters to lunch boxes to board games.

After Surfside 6 was cancelled, Donahue joined the cast of Hawaiian Eye, another spinoff of Sunset Strip, for its last season from 1962 to 1963 in the role of hotel director Philip Barton, joining Robert Conrad and Connie Stevens in the series lead.

Donahue struggled with acting in television, believing himself to be a movie star, as opposed to a TV star. Both Donahue and Stevens expressed disinterest in the shows and their current career paths. They complained of a "mediocre pattern" and a "lack of great scripts" to journalist Edith Efron. This unhappiness began to fuel Donahue's bad habits. In return, criticisms began to rise concerning his acting. Journalist Rick Du Brow wrote of him, "Troy is big and strong and has the rare ability to make the most glamorous and exciting events seem colorless and flat."

Donahue's career received another big break when Joshua Logan dropped out as director of Parrish (1961). Logan was replaced by A Summer Place director, Delmer Daves, who brought in Donahue to star. The movie became a box office hit. Donahue would later describe the film as the most satisfying of his movies to date. "I had the best script and the best opportunity as an actor", he said. "Not too many of those came my way."

Donahue and Daves reunited for another melodrama in 1961, Susan Slade, with Connie Stevens, Dorothy McGuire and Lloyd Nolan also starring. They made a fourth film, Rome Adventure (1962), a romance starring Suzanne Pleshette, Angie Dickinson, and Rossano Brazzi.

In 1962, he claimed he received 5,000–7,500 fan letters a week. The following year, exhibitors voted him the 20th most popular star in the US. Donahue had also gained wide popularity in Japan, later saying

"I guess because I was blond, blue-eyed, and tanned, people associated me with all those beach movies that were around then, even though I never did one." He later said. "I was always the goody-goody, the guy who did what he was supposed to."

He did appear in a nearly beach-party film, Palm Springs Weekend (1963), alongside several other Warner Bros. players. His final film for Warner Bros was the 1964 western A Distant Trumpet, the last film of director Raoul Walsh.

1965-1968: Leaving Warner Bros. and bankruptcy

In 1965, Donahue was cast as a psychopathic killer opposite Joey Heatherton in William Conrad's My Blood Runs Cold. While Donahue was happy to break type and play a different type of role, it was not well received by the public. His contract with Warner Bros. ended shortly thereafter—although it ran until early 1968, Donahue asked to be released from it in January 1966. Donahue later claimed:

Jack Warner called every studio I used to work for and used his muscle to keep me busted. I was blackballed and everyone in the business knew it. Please print that. I made one film in Europe playing a Victorian astronaut, but no one ever saw it. Then by the time I could get work again, it was too late because my type was already out of fashion.

He later reflected on this period,

"They pumped me til the well went dry. My image came out of Warner Bros. and it was one that was on its way out. I think I'm a little deeper than the roles I was given to play." In 1967, he said Parrish had been the most satisfactory of his movies. "I had the best script and the best opportunity as an actor. Not too many of those came my way. But I did get great exposure at Warner [Bros.]. Now I'm free to call my own shots. I've made more money in two years on my own than the whole time I was under contract."

Donahue appeared in a variety of smaller projects, including a spy spoof, Come Spy with Me (1967); a British adventure tale, Jules Verne's Rocket to the Moon (1967); and a western for Albert Zugsmith, The Phantom Gunslinger (1970).

From 1966 to 1967, Donahue co-starred in The Owl and the Pussycat on tour with wife, Valerie Allen. The show had great success, resulting from Donahue's dedicated fanbase.

In 1967, Donahue was slated to co-star in a Poor Richard production with Allen at the Pheasant Run Playhouse. A few days before opening, he walked, despite Allen begging him to stay. Terry Moore was brought in at the last minute to replace him. Donahue was sued for $200,000.

On February 22, 1968, Donahue signed a long-term contract with Universal Studios for films and TV. This lasted a year and saw him get four roles: guest shots on Ironside (1968), The Name of the Game (1968), and The Virginian (1969), and an appearance in the TV movie The Lonely Profession (1969).

Due to his recent divorce from Allen and other lawsuits, Donahue was advised to file bankruptcy by lawyer and he reluctantly did so on October 1, 1968. He eventually lost his home and began sleeping on friends couches. He claimed that he "spent a lot of time judging beauty contests and opening banks" during this time.

"I was living like a movie star but wasn't being paid like one", he says. "I lived way over my head and got into great trouble and lost everything. I went from a beautiful home, garden, swimming pool to living in shabby apartments."

Donahue was struggling to make his way in a changing Hollywood. As he said later, "If you're the boy next door and you're supposed to be squeaky clean, all you had to do was let your sideburns grow and suddenly you were a hippie." Donahue says when he met casting directors they would ask, "Why don't you comb your hair? How come you have grown a moustache? What are you doing with a beard?"

Donahue also believed his career was hurt by the fact he was an anti-Vietnam War Democrat while "everybody assumed I was a Republican." In spite of this fact, Donahue was invited by the USO to Vietnam in 1968 and accepted, due to having "no place to go." He was sent home. The Department of Defense still awarded Donahue a Certificate of Appreciations in February 1969.

1969-1974: New York, video nasties and The Godfather Part II

In 1969, Donahue moved from Los Angeles to New York City and into his new wife, Alma Sharpe's, Mahattan apartment. While in New York, Donahue appeared in the daytime CBS drama The Secret Storm for six months.

Donahue was interviewed by Carol Kramer for New York Today in May 1970. Kramer noted key differences in Donahue's appearance and demeanor, reporting that he was not the heartthrob that fans once knew and loved. She noted his love for astrology, belief in God and reincarnation, and has tried psychoanalysis. By 1971, Donahue blamed his inability to find work on the outdated image created for him a decade before by the studio. At the same time, Wilson had retired, leaving him without an agent.

He starred in the 1971 Robert L. Robert's film Sweet Savior as a Charles Manson-esque cult leader. The movie received criticism for being a video nasty exploitation film, being credited as a "blood-gushing shocker!" Donahue shocked the public when he assumed a Manson-like appearance, from clothing to hair. He also had roles in low-budget films such as The Last Stop (1972), and Seizure (1974), Oliver Stone's directorial debut.

By this time, Donahue's finances were ruined. After splitting from Sharpe, Donahue claimed he was homeless and lived in a bush in Central Park. To survive, he depended on friends and even fans. Donahue stated, "I went home with fans for a hot meal or a shower. And a couch or bed to sleep in. I did what I had to do."

In November 1971, Donahue chopped his hair, shedding his new look, and moved to Atlanta, Georgia to play a cop in Michael Meola's independent film Without Last Rights. However, the project was never completed after the funds ran out in just a few weeks. Donahue and the rest of the cast and crew were never paid.

With no upcoming acting jobs, Donahue accepted a celebrity-for-pay engagement to host a mall-wide fashion show at the Lafayette Plaza Shopping Center in Bridgeport, Connecticut on May 26, 1972. When interviewed by the Bridgeport Post, He said he had been either “working to the extreme,” or concentrating on “intensely goofing off.”

In the spring of 1973, Donahue traveled to the Philippines to make the low budget gory action film South Sea Massacre. The film was directed by Pablo Santiago and written by Leo Martinez. The movie was criticized for a lack of story, beatings, machete slayings, and machine gun attacks. The film was never released theatrically in the United States. He also appeared in Cockfighter (1974) for director Monte Hellman.

In December 1973, Donahue returned to Atlanta to promote and participate in a concert at Omni Coliseum to raise money for the Wounded Knee defense fund. Donahue assisted the local AIM office to generate publicity for the benefit concert which starred Paul Ortega, a Mescalero Apache. He acted as the Master of Ceremonies at the show which featured banjo picker John Hartford, actor Burt Reynolds, Doc and Merle Watson, Yoko Ono, several local performers, and Sacheen Little Feather.

In 1974, former classmate Francis Ford Coppola learned of Donahue's situation. Coppola cast him in a small part in The Godfather Part II as the fiancé of Connie Corleone. His character was named Merle Johnson, a nod to Donahue's real name. Donahue was paid $10,000 ($63,000 in 2024) for the role for one week's work.

1974-2000: Final years

He made his first television appearance in years as a guest star on The Merv Griffin Show in August 1974. Donahue moved back to Los Angeles the same year.

On March 15, 1975, he participated in the Easter Benefit Ball in San Francisco. The proceeds from the event benefited the Easter Seal Society for Crippled Children and Adults of San Francisco. Donahue led the celebrity judge panel that included film stars Jane Withers, Janet Blair, and Terry Moore.

Without a studio to promote him, with no money to afford a publicist, and news agencies uninterested in covering his every move, he was at a loss and disadvantage in the market. In the summer of 1975, he licensed his name and likeness to a marketing company called First Seen, Inc. in New York. For $5.98, the company sent a specially recorded LP album featuring Donahue explaining how to get into show business. Advertisements appeared in tabloids around the country.

He acted in occasional television guest spots such as, Ellery Queen, The Hardy Boys, and CHiPs. Donahue appeared in a variety of whiskey commercials for the Japanese television market. Donahue said in 1978:

After eight years at Warners, I did a few independent pictures that never went any place. I travelled, played stickball, had a few marriages and many affairs. I just totally enjoyed myself and did the things I didn't get to do when I was a kid. Now I've decided I wanna go back to work again and I've been encouraged by a lot of people who feel that I have the talent and everything that goes with it.

Following his 1981 divorce from fourth wife, Vicki Taylor, he fell off the grid, and lost contact with most of his friends – many of whom had lost patience with him long before. His agent had let him go, professionals were not calling him, and they didn’t return his calls. One friend warned him, that in his current physical state, he was uninsurable for producers. He spent months at the beach, often spending the night there in his car.

Aaron Spelling gave Donahue his first television job after becoming sober in 1982. Matt Houston was a crime drama series starring Lee Horsley as Matt Houston, a rich Texas oilman who works on the side as a private investigator in Los Angeles. Donahue appeared in a supporting role in the 1984 feature film Grandview, U.S.A.

On October 6, 1985, he hosted a telethon in Palm Springs to raise money for the American Red Cross Mexican Earthquake Relief Fund. On September 19, an 8.0 earthquake had caused major damage to Mexico City, and killed at least five thousand people. The telethon was broadcast live from the ballroom of the Sheraton Plaza Hotel. Numerous celebrities participated including Cameron Mitchell and June Lockhart. Trini Lopez performed. The five-hour event raised more than $27,400.

He appeared in John Waters' 1990 romantic comedy musical Cry-Baby, paying tribute to his idolism of the 50s.

In 1997, Donahue toured from January to May with Encore Attractions' production of Bye Bye Birdie. He starred alongside Casey Marshall, Krista Pigotti, and Chuck Ragsdale.

In July 1998, he joined Sandra Dee at the Castro Theatre for a one-night revival of A Summer Place. Donahue also worked for Holland-America Lines, sailing for two months each year, doing a seminar discussing film and theater improvisations.

Donahue continued to act in films throughout the 1980s and into the late 1990s. However, he never obtained the recognition that he had in the earlier years of his career. His final film role was in the 2000 comedy film The Boys Behind the Desk, directed by Sally Kirkland.

Personal life

Children

In 1982, Donahue learned he had a son, Sean, by a woman with whom he had a brief relationship in 1969. As he recalled in 1984:

She walked over and introduced herself and I remembered that we had been together four or five times in L.A. in 1969. Nothing serious. Just fun and games. She said, "I'm glad I saw you. I've always wanted to tell you about something. Look over there, Troy." I looked and across the room I saw a 13-year-old spitting image of what I looked like when I was young. "This is your son, Sean," she said. "He's known all his life that you are his father."... I see him every couple of weeks now.

In early 1987, Donahue learned that he had another child. He was contacted by Janene Curtis, a woman claiming to be his daughter. Curtis was born in 1964 to an unidentified woman and was given up for adoption at birth by her biological mother. Upon finding her mother, she was informed that Donahue was her biological father. Janene reached out to Donahue and the two later met. They remained close until his death.

Death

On August 30, 2001, Donahue suffered a heart attack and was admitted to Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California. An emergency angioplasty was performed successfully, however Donahue suffered a second heart attack. He underwent a bypass surgery on September 1.

He died on September 2 at the age of 65.

Discography

• Live Young (1963)
• Somebody Loves Me (1963)

Filmography

Film

Television

Box office ranking

• 1960: voted 5th most likely star of Tomorrow
• 1961: 24th most popular star in the US
• 1963: 20th most popular star in the US

Theatre

Awards and nominations