Troy Donahue(1936-2001)
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Troy Donahue was a journalism student at Columbia University when he
began playing in stock productions. He made his film debut in Man Afraid (1957)
and in 1959 signed as a contract player with Warner Bros., which
promoted him to stardom with A Summer Place (1959) that year. He was soon a teenage
heartthrob, his blond hair and blue eyes appearing frequently on the
covers of movie magazines. His most successful film was Parrish (1961), in
which he played the title character. A few years after that his career
went into a decline; he made only a few television movies between the
mid-'60s and his small role in The Godfather Part II (1974) (in which his character's name,
Merle Johnson, was actually his real name). His later films were almost
entirely for the low-budget home video market, e.g., Sexpot (1990) and
Nudity Required (1989).
On August 30, 2001, Donahue suffered a heart attack and was admitted to the hospital in Santa Monica, California. He died three days later on September 2 at the age of 65.
On August 30, 2001, Donahue suffered a heart attack and was admitted to the hospital in Santa Monica, California. He died three days later on September 2 at the age of 65.