Jeff Conaway

Jeffrey Charles William Michael Conaway was an American actor best known for his roles in the movie Grease and the US TV series Taxi and Babylon 5 He also directed the 1992 film Bikini Summer 2 Jeff spent some of his time living with his grandparents in South Carolina which gave him enough of a Southern accent that when he accompanied his mother to a casting call for director Arthur Penns Broadway play All the Way Home a story set in Knoxville Tennessee the 10yearold Conaway landed a featured role as one of four boys The 1961 Pulitzer Prizewinning play was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play and ran 333 performances and one preview from November 29 1960 to September 16 1961Conaway remained for the entire run then toured with the national company of the play Critics Choice Conaway worked as a child model and attended high school at the Quintano School for Young Professionals He attended the North Carolina School of the Arts and later transferred to New York University While at NYU he appeared in television commercials and had the lead in a school production of The Threepenny Opera He made his movie debut in the 1971 romantic drama Jennifer on My Mind which also featured future stars Robert De Niro and Barry Bostwick The following year Conaway appeared in the original cast of the Broadway musical Grease as an understudy to several roles including that of the lead male character Danny Zuko and eventually succeeded roleoriginator Barry Bostwick He played the role for 2 12 years while his friend John Travolta with whom he shared a manager later joined the show playing the supporting role of Doody After breaking into series television in 1975 with Happy Days followed by guest spots in several other TV shows and three more movies including Grease he was cast as aspiring actor Bobby Wheeler on Taxi which premiered in fall 1978 Conaway starred in the shortlived 1983 fantasyspoof series Wizards and Warriors He made guest appearances on such shows as Barnaby Jones George Leo and Murder She Wrote He appeared inJawbreaker Elvira Mistress of the Dark and Do You Wanna Know a Secret He also played Mick Savage on The Bold and the Beautiful From 1994 to 1999 he played Zack Allan on Babylon 5 In addition to acting Conaway dabbled in music In the mid1960s he was the lead singer and guitarist for a rock band The 3 12 which recorded four singles for Cameo Records in 1966 and 1967 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 treated in Encino California where he was listed in critical condition The actor was suffering not from a drug overdose but rather from pneumonia with sepsis for which he was placed into an induced coma On May 26 2011 Conaways 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 From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia