|
| children = Janine and Sean〔http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20088442,00.html〕〔http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=20010903&slug=troy03〕 | partner = Zheng Cao | yearsactive = 1957–2000 }} Troy Donahue (January 27, 1936 – September 2, 2001) was an American film and television actor and singer. Donahue became a popular male sex symbol of the 1950s and 1960s. ==Early years== Born Merle Johnson, Jr. in New York City, Donahue was the son of a retired stage actress and the manager of the motion picture department of General Motors. Donahue later recalled 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.〔Teens Pick Our Movie Stars: Donahue Buildup an Example Beck, Joan. Chicago Daily Tribune (1923-1963) (Ill ) 22 Oct 1959: c3.〕 "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''."〔 To please his parents he attended a New York military academy. He was going to attend West Point but suffered a damaged knee at a track meet. He volunteered for the army but they rejected him.〔GOLDEN BOY TROY: Tall, Talented, and Terrific, He Has Attained the Fame Hedda Predicted for Him Last January Hopper, Hedda. Chicago Daily Tribune (1923-1963) (Ill ) 29 May 1960: b16.〕 When he 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 was fired, he says, because he was too young to join the union.〔 He attended Columbia University and studied journalism, and acted in summer stock at Bucks County. He trained briefly with Ezra Stone then moved to Hollywood. One evening, producer William Asher and director James Sheldon spotted him in a diner at Malibu and arranged for a screen test with Columbia Pictures. It was unsuccessful, and Donahue was in a car accident in which he drove off a road and plunged 40 feet down a canyon.〔 Actress Fran Bennett introduced him to Henry Willson, who represented Rock Hudson, among others. Willson signed him and it was he who changed Johnson's 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" his new name.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Troy Donahue」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|