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Jeff Conaway | |
|---|---|
 Conaway in 1998 | |
| Born | Jeffrey Charles William Michael Conaway (1950-10-05)October 5, 1950 |
| Died | May 27, 2011(2011-05-27) (aged 60) Encino,California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1971–2011 |
| Spouses |
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Jeffrey Charles William Michael Conaway[1] (October 5, 1950 – May 27, 2011)[1] was an American actor. He portrayed Kenickie in the filmGrease and had roles in three television series: struggling actor Bobby Wheeler inTaxi (1978–1982), Prince Erik Greystone inWizards and Warriors, and security officer Zack Allan onBabylon 5. Conaway was featured in the first and second seasons of thereality television seriesCelebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew.
Conaway was born on October 5, 1950, inManhattan,New York City,New York, and raised in theAstoria,Flushing, andForest Hills neighborhoods ofQueens, New York City.[2] His father Charles[2] was an actor, producer, and publisher.[3] His mother Helen, an actress who went by the stage name Mary Ann Brooks,[2] taught music at New York City's Brook Conservatory. They divorced when he was 3,[3] and Conaway and his two older sisters lived with their mother.[4]
He spent time living with his grandparents inSouth Carolina, which gave him enough of a Southern accent[4] that when he accompanied his mother to a casting call for directorArthur Penn's Broadway playAll the Way Home, a story set inKnoxville, Tennessee, the 10-year-old Conaway landed a featured role as one of four boys.[3] The 1961Pulitzer Prize-winning play was nominated for aTony Award for Best Play and ran 333 performances and one preview from November 29, 1960, to September 16, 1961.[5] Conaway remained for the entire run, then toured with the national company of the playCritic's Choice.[3] Conaway also worked as a child model.
He attended high school at the Quintano School for Young Professionals.[3] After playing with the rock band3+1⁄2 beginning at age 15, he attended theNorth Carolina School of the Arts[3][6] and later transferred toNew York University.[3]
While at NYU, Conaway appeared in television commercials and had the lead in a school production ofThe Threepenny Opera.[3] He made his film debut in the 1971 romantic dramaJennifer on My Mind, which also featured future starsRobert De Niro andBarry Bostwick.[3]
The following year, Conaway appeared in the original cast of the Broadway musicalGrease, as anunderstudy to several roles including that of the lead male character, Danny Zuko, and eventually succeeded role-originatorBarry Bostwick.[2][7]
He played the role for2+1⁄2 years while his friendJohn Travolta, with whom he shared a manager, later joined the show, playing the supporting role of Doody.[2][8] The two reunited in the 1978 motion picture musicalGrease, in which Travolta played Zuko and Conaway his buddy Kenickie.[2]
After breaking into series television in 1975 withHappy Days, followed by guest spots in several other TV shows, and three more films includingGrease, he was cast as aspiring actor Bobby Wheeler onTaxi, which premiered in fall 1978.[9]
He had appeared in an episode ofThe Mary Tyler Moore Show for the same producers, and, he said in 1987, had been considered for the role of John Burns, which eventually went toRandall Carver:
But then one day I got the whole script and became real interested in the actor character, then called Bobby Taylor. And [the producers] said they had been thinking along the same lines, so I read again. Later I got a call from [original casting director] Joel Thurm, who says, 'Well, it's not good news, but it's not bad news either.' He says I'm the only choice for a white actor, but that they'd had a meeting and thought that maybe Bobby should beblack and that now they're looking at black actors. ... So I went back to read, and it was me,Cleavon Little, and somebody else.... I ended up reading with [star]Judd Hirsch and it went really well."[10]
Conaway leftTaxi after the third season. Part of the reason was his drug abuse after season one.[2]Taxi writerSam Simon recalled in 2008 that during production of Simon's first script for that show, a missing Conaway was found in his dressing room too high on drugs to perform. Conaway's dialogue for that episode was divided between his co-starsDanny DeVito andChristopher Lloyd, who delivered the jokes well enough so that Conaway's absence had little negative effect on the episode. This development caused the show's producers to realize that Conaway was expendable and this contributed to his termination.[11] Conaway was reported at the time to be dissatisfied with being typecast as a "blond bimbo" and the "butt of struggling-actor jokes," along with finding the nature of the role repetitive.[12] He also felt creatively stymied:
I wanted to do things with Bobby, but as the show went on, I could see I wasn't going to get that chance ... Lemme tell you — I loved Bobby, I identified with Bobby. So, yeah, I kind of took everything personally. I had a lot of meetings with [the producers] because I was unhappy ... Sure, partially it was ego, but let medo what Ido best. It was frustrating. I remember leaving the studio feeling guilty and unhappy. I just couldn't appreciate it and use it as just a job, as a learning experience. Instead I saw it as, "Hey, anybody could do this character." Like nobody else could do Louie or Jim, they were such defined characters. But Bobby — anybody could walk in and say, "Hi, Alex."[13]
Conaway starred in the short-lived 1983 fantasy-spoof seriesWizards and Warriors. He made guest appearances on such shows asBarnaby Jones,George and Leo, andMurder, She Wrote. He appeared in films such asJawbreaker,Elvira: Mistress of the Dark, andDo You Wanna Know a Secret?
From 1989 to 1990, he played Mick Savage onThe Bold and the Beautiful. In 1993, he appeared onstage inReal Life Photographs.[citation needed] From 1994 to 1999, he played Sergeant, later promoted to Security Chief,Zack Allan onBabylon 5. In 2010 he provided voice-over for the English version of the animated short filmDante's Hell Animated (released in 2013), in which he is credited as "Hollywood legend Jeff Conaway".
In addition to acting, Conaway dabbled in music. In the mid-1960s, he was the lead singer and guitarist for a rock band, The3+1⁄2, which recorded four singles forCameo Records in 1966 and 1967:
In 1979, Conaway recorded a self-titled debut album for Columbia Records. "City Boy" was released as a single.Bruce Springsteen's manager,Mike Appel, produced the album.[14] In 2000, he released the albumIt Don't Make Sense You Can't Make Peace on the KEGMusic label.[15]
His stepson,Emerson Newton-John,[1] is a race car driver.
Conaway was married three times. His first, short-lived marriage (when he was 21) was to a dancer he had been seeing for two years. It wasannulled.[1][3] His second marriage, from 1980 until their divorce in 1985, was to Rona Newton-John,[2] elder sister of hisGrease co-star,Olivia Newton-John.[16] His third marriage was to Kerri Young from 1990 to 2000.[17]
After experiencing a crisis in the mid-1980s, Conaway came to grips with having asubstance abuse problem. He underwent treatment in the late 1980s and often spoke candidly about his addictions.[citation needed]
By the mid-2000s he had relapsed. Conaway appeared inVH1'sCelebrity Fit Club, but was forced to leave and entered rehabilitation. In early 2008, Conaway appeared with other celebrities in the VH1 reality seriesCelebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. The show revealed that Conaway was addicted tococaine, alcohol, andpainkillers, and that he was in acodependent relationship with his girlfriend, who was also a user of prescriptionopiates. Conaway had suffered a back injury earlier in his career on the set ofGrease while filming the "Greased Lightning" scene, which had been exacerbated by lifting boxes in his home, and he had turned to substances to manage the pain.
Conaway's appearance on the show's first and second seasons drew much attention[citation needed] because of his severely crippled state, his constant threats to leave the facility, and his frequent inability to speak clearly. Upon arrival at the Pasadena Recovery Center (which was filmed as part ofCelebrity Rehab's first episode) Conaway, using a wheelchair, arrived drunk, mumbling toDrew Pinsky that he had binged oncocaine andJack Daniel's whiskey the previous night.
During the second episode ofCelebrity Rehab's first season, Conaway, fed up with hisback pain, withdrawal symptoms, and the humiliation of having to be assisted while using the toilet, told Pinsky that he wasthinking of killing himself. After Pinsky asked him to elaborate upon how he would carry out a suicidal act, Conaway glared at the mirror in his room and said, "I see myself breaking that mirror and slicing my fucking throat with it." During group sessions, Conaway revealed he was "tortured" during his childhood, as older boys in his neighborhood would put him into dangerous situations, tying him up and threatening him. He also related that he wasmolested when he was seven years old.[18] Conaway stated that he had been an addict since he was a teenager.[19]
With John Travolta's support, Conaway took courses andauditing from theChurch of Scientology to cope with his drug problem and depression,[20] although he did not intend to become a Scientologist.[21][22][23]
In June 2009, Conaway joinedCelebrity Rehab castmateMary Carey at the premiere of her parody filmCelebrity Pornhab with Dr. Screw.[24]
In August 2009, Conaway was interviewed byEntertainment Tonight. In the interview, the actor claimed he was much better after a fifth back operation, and that he had yet to use painkillers again. He also discussed unscrupulous doctors and enablers.[25]
In March 2010, shortly after the death of actorCorey Haim, Conaway toldE! News that he had warned Haim about dying because of prescription drug abuse.[26]
On May 11, 2011, Conaway was found unconscious from what was initially described as an overdose of substances believed to be pain medication and was taken toEncino-Tarzana Regional Medical Center inEncino, California, where he was listed in critical condition.[27] After initial reports,Drew Pinsky, who had treated Conaway for substance abuse, said the actor was suffering not from a drug overdose, but rather frompneumonia withsepsis, for which he was placed into an induced coma.[28][29]
Though his drug use did not cause his pneumonia, it hampered Conaway's ability to recognize how severely ill he was; he did not seek treatment until it was too late.[12]
On May 26, 2011, Conaway's family took him off life support after doctors determined they could do nothing to revive him. Conaway died the following morning at the age of 60.[12] Conaway's doctor attributed his death to his addiction, stating, "What happens is, like with most opiate addicts, eventually they take a little too much ... and they aspirate, so what's in their mouth gets into their lungs ... That's what happened with Jeff."[30]
An autopsy performed on Conaway revealed that the actor died of various causes, includingaspiration pneumonia andencephalopathy, attributable to drug overdoses.[31]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1971 | Jennifer on My Mind | Hanki | |
| 1976 | The Eagle Has Landed | Frazier | |
| 1977 | Delta County, U.S.A. | Terry Nicholas | |
| 1977 | Pete's Dragon | Willie Gogan | |
| 1977 | I Never Promised You a Rose Garden | Lactamaeon | |
| 1978 | Grease | Kenickie | |
| 1980 | For the Love of It | Russ | [33] |
| 1983 | Making of a Male Model | Chuck Lanyard | |
| 1984 | Covergirl | T.C. Sloane | [34] |
| 1986 | The Patriot | Mitchell | |
| 1988 | Elvira: Mistress of the Dark | Travis | |
| 1989 | Ghost Writer | Tom Farrell | [35] |
| 1989 | The Banker | Cowboy | |
| 1989 | Tale of Two Sisters | Taxi driver | |
| 1990 | The Sleeping Car | Bud Sorenson | [36] |
| 1991 | Dumb Luck in Vegas | [37] | |
| 1991 | Total Exposure | Peter Keynes | [38] |
| 1991 | A Time to Die | Frank | [39] |
| 1992 | Mirror Images | Jeffrey Blair | [40] |
| 1992 | Eye of the Storm | Tom Edwards | [41] |
| 1992 | Almost Pregnant | Charlie Alderson | [42] |
| 1992 | Bikini Summer II /Bikini Summer 2 | Stu Stocker (also director) | [43] |
| 1993 | Alien Intruder | Borman | |
| 1993 | In a Moment of Passion | Werner Soehnen | [44] |
| 1993 | L.A. Goddess | Sean | [45] |
| 1993 | Sunset Strip | Tony | [46] |
| 1993 | It's Showtime | Rinaldi | [47] |
| 1994 | 2002: The Rape of Eden | Reverend | [48] |
| 1997 | The Last Embrace | Jagger | |
| 1998 | Shadow of Doubt | Bixby | |
| 1999 | Jawbreaker | Marcie's Father | |
| 1999 | Man on the Moon | Jeff Conaway -Taxi Actor | Uncredited[49] |
| 2001 | Do You Wanna Know a Secret? | Agent Owen Sacker | |
| 2002 | Curse of the Forty-Niner | Reverend Sutter | |
| 2002 | The Biz | Gavin Elliot | [50] |
| 2003 | Miner's Massacre | [51] | |
| 2004 | Ymi | Digger's Dad | [52] |
| 2004 | Pan Dulce | Gabriel Levine | [53] |
| 2004 | The Corner Office[citation needed] | Dick | |
| 2006 | The Pool 2 | Agent Frank Gun | [54] |
| 2005 | From Behind the Sunflower | Leo | [55][56] |
| 2006 | Living the Dream | Dick | |
| 2006 | The Utah Murder Project | Sheriff Dan Patterson | [57] |
| 2008 | Wrestling | Franklin Conner | |
| 2010 | Dante's Inferno: Abandon All Hope[58] | 40-minuteshort film | |
| 2010 | Ladron | Commander Hill | [59] |
| 2010 | Dark Games | Tom Doyle | [1] Released 2017[citation needed] |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1975–1976 | Happy Days | Rocko | 2 episodes |
| 1975 | Joe Forrester | 1 episode, 1975 "The Best Laid Schemes" | |
| 1975 | Movin' On | Mike / Mike Miller | 2 episodes, 1974 "Landslide" (S01, E16), 1975 "The Long Way To Nowhere" (S02, Ep10) |
| 1976–1977 | Barnaby Jones | Jeff Saunders | 2 episodes |
| 1976 | The Mary Tyler Moore Show | Kenny Stevens | 1 episode |
| 1977 | Delta County, USA | Terry Nicholas | TV movie-ABC |
| 1978–1982 | Taxi | Bobby Wheeler | 69 episodes |
| 1978 | Kojak | Bert Gaines | 1 episode "May the Horse Be with You" |
| 1978 | California Jam II | Host and interviewer[60] | Tv Special byABC, first aired on May 19, 1978[60] |
| 1979 | Breaking Up Is Hard to Do | Roy Fletcher | TV movie |
| 1980 | For the Love of It | Russ | TV movie |
| 1981 | The Nashville Grab | Buddy Walker | TV movie |
| 1983 | Making of a Male Model | Chuck Lanyard | TV movie |
| 1983 | Wizards and Warriors | Prince Erik Greystone | 8 episodes |
| 1984–1994 | Murder, She Wrote | Howard Griffin / Nolan Walsh / Tom Powell | 4 episodes, 1984, 1986, 1993, 1994 |
| 1985 | Berrenger's | John Higgins | 11 episodes |
| 1985 | The Love Boat | Andy Jackson | 1 episode |
| 1985 | Who's the Boss? | Jeff | 1 episode, 1985 |
| 1986 | Matlock (NBC) | Daniel Ward | 1 episode, "The Affair" (S01, E5) |
| 1987 | Bay Coven | Josh McGwin | TV movie |
| 1987 | Hotel | Eric Madison | 1 episode |
| 1984–1987 | Mike Hammer | Harry Farris | 2 episodes, 1984 and 1987 |
| 1987 | Stingray | Ty Gardner | 1 episode |
| 1987 | Tales from the Darkside | Peter | 1 episode |
| 1988 | The Dirty Dozen: The Fatal Mission | Sergeant Holt | Television movie |
| 1989-1990 | The Bold and the Beautiful | Mick Savage | 61 episodes |
| 1989 | Freddy's Nightmares | Buddy Powers | 1 episode |
| 1989 | Monsters | Phil | 1 episode |
| 1990 | Good Grief | Winston Payne | 1 episode |
| 1990 | Shades of L.A. | Richard | 1 episode |
| 1993 | Matlock (ABC) | Slick/Waiter | 1 episode, "Matlock's Bad, Bad, Bad Dream" (S08, E11) |
| 1994–1998 | Babylon 5 | Zack Allan | 74 episodes |
| 1995 | Burke's Law | Dr. Alex Kenyon | 1 episode |
| 1995 | Hope and Gloria | Bud Green | 1 episode |
| 1996 | Mr. & Mrs. Smith | Rich Edwards | 1 episode |
| 1997 | George & Leo | 1 episode, "The Cameo Episode" | |
| 1998 | Babylon 5: The River of Souls | Zack Allan | TV movie |
| 1998 | Babylon 5: Thirdspace | Zack Allan | TV movie |
| 1999 | Babylon 5: A Call to Arms | Zack Allan | TV movie |
| 2000 | L.A. 7 | Manager of Radio Station | 1 episode |
| 2004 | She Spies | Zachary Mason | 1 episode |
| 2006 | The John Kerwin Show | Guest | 1 episode |
| 2012 | Planet Houston [citation needed] | Scareglow | Voice, 1 episode, "Dedicated to Jeff Conaway", Conaway's final project |
Olivia Newton-John with elder sister Rona
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| National | |
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| Other | |