Troy donahue biography book
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In 1971, he was penniless, drug-addicted, homeless and living in the bushes in Central Park.
This is the story of teen idol/actor Troy Donahue.
Author: Michael Gregg Michaud
Paperback Published February 2023 518 pages
"Playwright/artist/photographer Michaud (Sal Mineo: A Biography) focuses on Troy Donahue (1936-2001), known as the handsome heartthrob of the 1950s and '60s who starred in such films as A Summer Place and Parrish.
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On October 21, 1966, Donahue married actress Valerie Allen in Dublin. Interested in acting, Donahue later moved to Hollywood and met agent Henry Willson, who famously represented Rock Hudson and Tab Hunter. His most successful film was Parrish (1961), in which he played the title character.
He earned a bachelor's degree in 2019 from the University of Ilorin.
Troy Donahue was a journalism student at Columbia University when he began playing in stock productions.
Producer William Asher and director James Sheldon spotted Donahue in a Malibu diner, leading to a screen test with Columbia Pictures.
Although unsuccessful, fate intervened when he survived a car accident, and actress Fran Bennett introduced him to agent Henry Willson, who renamed him Troy Donahue.
Initially, they considered naming him Paris, like Helen of Troy's lover, but decided against it due to existing locations with the same name.
In 1960, he won a Golden Globe for Most Promising Male Newcomer, and by 1962, he was receiving 7,000 fan letters a week. Donahue moved to New York at 18, working as a messenger in his father's film company. Adjusting to his new name took him just five minutes.
Troy Donahue Age
The American film and television actor and singer was born on January 27, 1936, in New York City, U.S.
and died on September 2, 2001, in Santa Monica, California, U.S. Troy Donahue is 65 years old as of 2023. He grew up in Bayport, Long Island, and attended a New York military academy where he met Francis Ford Coppola.
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Instead of West Point, he intended to join but suffered a knee injury at a track meet.
They wed on January 5, 1964, in Beverly Hills. Born Merle Johnson Jr., Donahue had his life changed at age 14 when his father died, which led to poor choices and bad behavior and resulted in a stint at military school, Michaud writes. 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).
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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.Willson was the one who dubbed Merle "Troy Donahue" and promoted his career. After brief studies at Columbia University and acting in summer stock, he headed to Hollywood. He was soon a teenage heartthrob, his blond hair and blue eyes appearing frequently on the covers of movie magazines. By 1962, he was a top box office star, received 7,000 fan letters a week, and won the Photoplay Magazine Award for the Most Popular Male Star.
His mother, Edith Johnson, was a retired stage actress
Troy Donahue Wife and Children
Donahue was married four times and had one child named Sean.