He later said "In most of those Universal pictures, if you went out for popcorn you missed me." ĭonahue achieved good reviews for a brief, but effective part in Imitation of Life (1959), playing a young white man who beats up his new girlfriend after he discovers she is black. He often had better roles on TV, guest-starring in episodes of The Californians, Rawhide, Wagon Train, and Tales of Wells Fargo and The Virginian. 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).
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He began appearing on TV in a guest part in Man Without a Gun. In 1958, he was also used in Summer Love, and had a slightly bigger part in Live Fast, Die Young. They started him 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). Universal ĭonahue signed with Universal Studios in October 1956. "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 " new name. "At first they had Paris, the lover of Helen of Troy, in mind", Donahue says. Willson signed him and changed his name to Troy Donahue. Īctress Fran Bennett introduced him to agent Henry Willson, who represented Rock Hudson. Some time later, Donahue was in a car accident in which he drove off a road and plunged 40 feet down a canyon. One evening, producer William Asher and director James Sheldon spotted Donahue in a diner in Malibu and arranged for a screen test with Columbia Pictures, but it was unsuccessful. He trained briefly with Ezra Stone, and then moved to Hollywood. He acted in summer stock in Bucks County. He attended Columbia University and studied journalism. He was fired, he says, because he was too young to join the union.
When Donahue was 18, he moved to New York and got a job as a messenger in a film company founded by his father (who had died when he was 14). He volunteered for the army, but was rejected. He was going to attend West Point, but suffered a knee injury at a track meet. To please his parents, Donahue attended a New York military academy, where he met Francis Ford Coppola. He and his family lived in Middle Road, in Bayport, Suffolk County on Long Island. "I can remember sitting with Gertrude Lawrence while she read her reviews in The King and I." "I can remember always being exposed to Broadway and theater people", he added in 1984. They preferred something more stable-doctor, lawyer, Indian chief, anything. My mother would help me, but my parents didn't want me to become an actor. Ever since I can remember, I've studied and read plays. Donahue stated in a 1959 interview:Īcting is all I ever wanted.
His mother, Edith Johnson, was a retired stage actress. He was a popular sex symbol in the 1950s and 1960s.īorn Januas Merle Johnson Jr., in New York City, Donahue's father was Merle Johnson, the manager of the motion-picture department of General Motors. Troy Donahue (born Merle Johnson Jr., January 27, 1936 – September 2, 2001) was an American film and television actor and singer.
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