Father Geek here with a sad posting for all the "Bobby Sockers" out there... TROY DONAHUE a very very big star in "Their" films in the late 50's and early 60's has passed on to the eternal Summer Place in the sky. Yeah. ol' Father Geek saw more than his share of Troy's flicks back in my youth... Had to take my little sister to them... over and over. It was the days of single screen theaters, so I didn't really have a choice, and you know what? After a while Troy grew on me and I actually begin to look forward to them... couldn't tell the guys in the gang that though. Of course like all the leading men of the era he did stray into the Horror genre from time to time, appearing in MONOLITH MONSTERS (57), MONSTER ON CAMPUS (58), MY BLOOD RUNS COLD (65), ROCKET TO THE MOON (67), and then later titles like OMEGA COP and SHOCK'EM DEAD. Here's what some of our readers had to say...
Fifties heartthrob Troy Donahue died today in a Santa Monica, California hospital. Originally a journalism student at Columbia college, the acting bug bit him when he began playing in summer stock productions. Warner Brothers signed him up as a contract player joining the ranks of young upcoming actors such as Clint Eastwood, Doug McClure, Burt Reynolds, Van Williams, Robert Conrad and William Smith.
In 1959, he gained overnight success as Sandra Dee's boyfriend in "A Summer Place." His good looks, blond hair and blue eyes graced the covers of many movie and teen magazines. In the sixties, he had two hit TV series, "Hawaiian Eye" and "Surfside Six" and appeared in "Rawhide," "77 Sunset Strip," "Maverick," "Colt.45," "Sugarfoot" and appeared in a few made-for-TV movies.
In 1974, he was cast in "Godfather II' in a small role as a playboy, after that, he decided to take a hiatus from the film business. In the eighties he was in several low-budget movies and most recently, appeared at the Hollywood Collector's Show signing autographs for his many fans. A good guy and a good actor. May he rest well.
Uncapie
Here's what another reader had to say about Troy...
Just for your own personal info, I thought I'd share that bit of news with you if you haven't yet heard. Yeah, I'll admit it's got major "ho-hum" factor all over it, but still... ol' Troy had quite a career when you step back from it. First film was "Man of a Thousand Faces," though he was uncredited. He worked with Douglas Sirk in "Imitation of Life," Delmer Daves in "A Summer Place," Monte Hellman in "Cockfighter." He was Connie Corleone's on-the-spot husband, Merle, in "Godfather II," he was in "Seizure," the first Oliver Stone feature (though Stone now refers to 'Salvador' as his proper debut). He worked with John Waters on "Cry Baby" and was in a few dozen other movies not really worth mentioning. And, in a roundabout way, he's in "Diner," because "A Summer Place" is the movie that's playing during Mickey Rourke's popcorn/pecker bet. That's the first place I saw him and it's what led me to watch "A Summer Place" in all it's bizarre, gooey glory one night when I stumbled upon it. Anyway, no matter what's going on, we're having a better day than he did today.
truth & soul,
Brother Putney
