dipity

Troy Donahue (January 27, 1936 – September 2, 2001) was an American actor, known for being a teen idol.

Merle Johnson Jr. was initially a journalism student at Columbia University before he decided to become an actor in Hollywood, where he was represented by Rock Hudson's agent, Henry Willson. According to Robert Hofler's 2005 biography, The Man Who Invented Rock Hudson: The Pretty Boys and Dirty Deals of Henry Willson, Willson tried out the name Troy on Rory Calhoun and James Darren, with no success, before it finally stuck to Donahue. The blond heartthrob established himself with uncredited roles in The Monolith Monsters (1957) and Man Afraid (1957), leading to larger parts in several films.

He starred in Monster on the Campus, Live Fast, Die Young (1958), and The Tarnished Angels, all in 1958, and opposite fellow teen idol Sandra Dee in A Summer Place in 1959. The latter made him a huge star, especially among teenage audiences. He signed a contract with Warner Bros. and played...

Created by dipity on Feb 7, 2008

Last updated: 03/11/10 at 10:43 PM

• Troy Donahue Died
  Sep 1, 2001

  Troy Donahue died

• The Monolith Monsters
  1956

  The Monolith Monsters (1957) is a science fiction film starring Grant Williams and Lola Albright. It is based on a story by Jack Arnold. A meteor crashes near a small town in the American desert southwest. One of a pair of geologists finds a piece of it in a roadway and, not recognizing the mineral, takes it back to their laboratory to study. In the morning his partner finds the lab wrecked and the man himself petrified. It is eventually determined that the substance composing the meteor uses water as a catalyst. If wet it grows into black, crystal-like shafts which absorbs all available silica nearby, including from any animals or humans who come in contact with it. Once all silica is absorbed and grown to its fullest possible height, the shaft becomes dormant, but may easily totter and collapse, shattering into a legion of fragments, waiting to grow entire new shafts at the next contact with water. The original meteor has also shattered all about the area where it crashed. A...,

• Troy Donahue's Birthday
  Jan 26, 1936

  Troy Donahue was born