Troy Donahue, actor, 65

["Deathwatch Central" <cdw@slick.org>]

Sunday September 2 2:50 PM ET 

Former Movie Heartthrob Troy Donahue Dead at 65

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Troy Donahue, a heartthrob actor who climbed to
stardom in the 1950s with his role in ``A Summer Place,'' only to fade
into obscurity later, has died, his publicist said Sunday. He was 65.

Donahue suffered a massive heart attack Thursday and died Sunday morning
at Saint John's Hospital and Health Center in Santa Monica, California,
said Bob Palmer, a family friend and the actor's publicist.

Born Merle Johnson Jr. in New York City, the blond, blue-eyed Donahue was
a journalism student at Columbia University when he began his acting
career.

His debut in the 1957 film ``Man Afraid'' was followed by another
half-dozen films before Donahue signed with Warner Bros. and starred as
Sandra Dee's young lover in ``Summer Place'' in 1959.

He soon became a teenage heartthrob, appearing in such films as
``Parrish'' (1961), ``Rome Adventure'' (1962) and ``My Blood Runs Cold''
(1964).

Around the same time, he also enjoyed success on the small screen,
appearing on ``Surfside 6'' (1960-62) and ``Hawaiian Eye'' (1962-63).

His career floundered after his contract with Warner Bros. ended in
1966. He appeared in ``The Godfather, Part II'' in 1974, in the bit part
of a playboy named Merle Johnson.

By the late 1980s, Donahue was appearing in mostly low-budget movies like
``Bad Blood'' (1989), ``Assault of the Party Nerds'' (1989) and
``Cry-Baby'' (1990).

He is survived by a son and a daughter and by his longtime companion and
fiancee, Zheng Cao, an opera singer, Palmer said. 



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