Born Merle Johnson Jr., Troy Donahue was one of the first real teen idols of his era and today he’s barely remembered by those that didn’t grow up with him. It might seem a bit sad and even kind of regrettable, but the fact is that it’s pretty natural since he belonged to a different time. It’s kind of ironic really that he became a popular name in his time since his parents didn’t want him becoming an actor at all. They wanted him to take up the mantel of a doctor, a lawyer, or anything that felt more stable than the life of an actor. Some folks tend to view the life of an actor as a hard and very demanding road that offers little if any real payoff unless a person happens to get inordinately lucky. Troy knew what he wanted to do with his life though, and was not about to be stopped. But to appease his parents he did manage to attend a New York military academy where he met Francis Ford Coppola. He was even going off to West Point before a knee injury at a track meet derailed his plans. after that he volunteered for the army but was rejected.
He had a few chances before he managed to really got his big break.
Troy acted in summer stocks and was given a screen test by James Sheldon, a noted director at the time, but it didn’t go too well. At one point he drove his car off the road, accidentally, and fell 40 feet into a canyon. Eventually Henry Willson, an agent, signed him and chanced his name to Troy Donahue. Troy said it took him all of five minutes to get used to his new name, and then he was ready to go. Eventually Donahue would sign with Universal Studios in 1956 and started off in small roles to get him going. By 1958 though he started picking up slightly bigger roles and appearing on TV. His TV roles would often be better than his film roles, giving him a lot more exposure as he continued to learn.
His career really got rolling when he signed with Warner Bros.
By 1959 he’d signed with Warner Bros. and been cast opposite of Sandra Dee in A Summer Place. He was signed to a long-term contract by Warner and they put him to work immediately, sticking him in several series as he was quickly made into the star they wanted. He was a big hit with teenagers but was a big name overall since he was considered to be one of the biggest finds of the year. He was cast in Surfside 6 in 1960 and at that point his career was really rolling as he was receiving up to 7,500 fan letters a week. Surfside 6 was cancelled eventually but he was placed immediately on another show titled Hawaiian Eye for the last season. Around this time he was even cultivating a small singing career as he managed to record several singles for Warner Bros. None of his recordings entered the Billboard Hot 100 but that wasn’t really the point of them.
He went back to Universal Studios in 1968 and signed a long-term contract, but it only lasted for a year.
He had some serious problems after a while.
Troy declared bankruptcy in 1968 and wound up losing his home. He was living the life of a movie star but not getting paid enough to do so. Eventually he lost his spot in the sunlight and had to settle for a dingy apartment. Unfortunately he also admitted to abusing drugs and alcohol when he was still at the peak of his career. When his career started going down the tubes however the abuse continued and even got worse. He would wake up and get loaded, he would stay loaded throughout the day, and then he would do whatever it took to score more money so that he could continue this habit. From that point on his career kind of took a nosedive and he had to do whatever it took to earn a living.
While his addictions didn’t just go away he did manage to move to New York where he found another acting gig that he thoroughly enjoyed. Unfortunately it still wasn’t enough to keep him from spending all his money on his vices and ending up homeless for months at a time. In fact one of the only roles anyone might remember him in came during The Godfather Part II when he played Merle, Connie’s fiance.
Eventually he went back to Hollywood.
He moved back to LA where he was married a fourth time and continued to act. He was seen in films and on TV again and was quite candid about his life. Eventually in 1981 he decided to turn his life around and sought treatment for his addictions. He joined AA in 1982 and after maintaining his sobriety went back to working full time again and became the man that people had loved back in the day yet again. He never attained the same level of fame that he’d once had, but at the very least he’d gotten himself clean and back to work.
Donahue passed away due to a heart attack in 2001 at the age of 65. He’d been a big star in the making when he was younger and was making a comeback as he got older, but one thing is for certain, fame did some truly messed up things to this man that he had to carry with him for a lot of his life.
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