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Jeff Conaway
Jeffrey Charles William Michael Conaway
5 October 1950, New York City, New York
27 May 2011, Los Angeles, California
"Cheer up! A hickie from Kenickie is like a Hallmark card. We care enough to send the very best."
Jeff Conaway (Kenickie) Grease
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Jeffrey Charles William Michael Conaway (born October 5, 1950, New York City, New York, United States) is 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.
Conaway began acting on Broadway at age two. He is most commonly known for playing "Kenickie" in the 1978 motion picture musical Grease and for his role on the television series Taxi (1978–1981), where he played cocky, vain, struggling actor Bobby Wheeler. Conaway left Taxi during the fourth season. On The Howard Stern Show, Taxi writer Sam Simon claimed that when Conaway was absent during the production of one episode, his dialogue was reassigned to the other cast members who delivered the jokes as well or better, which made the producers realize that Conaway was expendable.
Conaway starred in the short-lived 1983 fantasy-spoof series, Wizards and Warriors. He appeared in an early episode of Murder, She Wrote. He made an appearance in the film, Jawbreaker, as the father of one of the teenage girls. In 1988, he appeared as a sleazy henchman in, Elvira, Mistress of the Dark. From 1989-1990, he was cast on The Bold and the Beautiful, in the role of "Mick Savage." He would later play Sgt. Zack Allan, on Babylon 5 (seasons two through five and the telefilm A Call To Arms, 1994–1999). He has made guest appearances on shows ranging from Barnaby Jones to George and Leo. He also appeared in the Disney film Pete's Dragon. In 2001, he was an F.B.I. agent in the film, "Do You Wanna' Know a Secret?"
Racecar driver Emerson Newton-John is Conaway's stepson with his first wife Rona Newton-John, the older sister of Olivia Newton-John. He co-starred with Olivia in the movie Grease.
After experiencing a crisis in the mid-1980s, Conaway came to grips with the fact that he had a substance abuse problem. He underwent treatment in the late '80s and often spoke candidly about his illness.
By the mid-2000s however, he had relapsed. Conaway appeared in VH1's Celebrity Fit Club, but was forced to leave and entered rehab. In early 2008 Conaway appeared with other celebrities in the VH1 reality series Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew. The show revealed that Conaway is addicted to cocaine, alcohol, and painkillers, and in a co-dependent relationship with his girlfriend Vikki, also a user of prescription opiates. Conaway had suffered a back injury earlier in his career, which had been exacerbated more recently as a result of lifting boxes in his home.
Conaway's appearance on the show's first and second seasons has drawn much attention due to his severely crippled state, his constant threats of leaving the facility and his frequent inability to speak clearly. Upon arrival at the Pasadena Recovery Center (which was filmed as part of Celebrity Rehab's first episode) Conaway, using a wheelchair, arrived drunk, mumbling to Dr. Drew that the night previous he had binged on cocaine and Jack Daniel's whiskey.
During the second episode of Celebrity Rehab's first season, Conaway, fed up with his dorsalgia, withdrawal symptoms and the humiliation of having to be assisted while using the toilet, told Dr. Pinsky that he was thinking 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 **** throat with it." During group sessions, Conaway revealed "torture" from his childhood, as older boys in his neighborhood would put him into dangerous situations, tying him up and threatening him. When he was seven years old, he was a victim of pedophiles and child pornographers. Conaway stated that he had been an addict since he was a teenager.
With John Travolta's support, Conaway took courses and auditing from the Church of Scientology to cope with his drug problem and depression, although he did not intend to become a Scientologist.
Conaway's appearance on Celebrity Rehab 2 did not go well. He admitted to Dr. Drew that he had relapsed on painkillers and cocaine, which was caused, Conaway claimed, by domestic issues with his girlfriend. During the season Conaway was obsessed with the belief that another back surgery (he'd had several of them prior to season 2) would cure his quasi-crippled state; Dr. Drew, along with Conaway's back surgeon, vehemently disagreed saying that another surgery will most likely make things worse. There was a scene on the show where Conaway threatened to kill himself if he could not get better. Conaway left shortly before rehab-graduation, due to an incident involving him kicking Vikki during an intense argument. To Dr. Drew's chagrin, Conaway continued (in front of a camera) using painkillers as soon as he arrived at his home. On the January 12, 2009 edition of The Howard Stern Show, Dr. Drew Pinsky said that Conaway was no longer his patient and that he wished him "good luck."
In August 2009 Conaway was interviewed by Entertainment 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.
In March 2010, shortly after the death of actor Corey Haim, Conaway told E! News that he had warned Haim about dying due to prescription drug abuse.
Dr. Drew Pinsky appeared on the November 29, 2010 airing of The Howard Stern Show where, when asked how Conaway was doing, said he was "struggling" but declined to elaborate further as to avoid violating doctor-patient confidentiality.
In 2008, on BBC Radio 2's Russell Brand Show, Noel Gallagher claimed that he got into a confrontation with Jeff Conaway backstage at a gig resulting in Conaway pulling a knife on Gallagher. According to his interview on the show the following week, Conaway confirmed he regularly carries a knife and that he carried a hatchet with him in his youth, which he blames on "growing up in New York."
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Jeff Conaway is an acting teacher and coach, with his students including James Evans and Joey Sylvester.
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Brother of Michele Conaway.
He has no children of his own. He has a step son with Rona.
His ex-wife, Rona Newton-John, is Olivia Newton-John's sister.
Is a grandfather (grandson born January 1997). (Admitted this on NBC's "Later with Greg Kinnear" (1994), July 6/98, with guest host Rita Sever).
Wanted to be an astronaut when he was little.
Youngest of three kids.
While filming Grease (1978), had to walk slightly stooped so John Travolta would appear taller.
Though he played Kenickie in the movie version of Grease (1978), he appeared in the Broadway production as Danny Zuko.
Appeared in an episode of "Murder, She Wrote" (1984) ("Birds of a Feather") as an Off-Broadway actor from New York who had been "mostly a cab driver" - a reference to his role in the TV series, "Taxi" (1978).
Admits to knowing little about computers, and when he found that his friend and fellow actor Michael Q. Schmidt was skilled in that area, enlisted him as his personal "computer guru".
Saw an episode of Babylon 5 on TV and liked it so much he went down to the production studio to see the show being filmed. He was spotted and used for a bit part, which grew into a recurring character, and eventually a full-time role in the series.
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On May 11, 2011, Conaway was found unconscious from what was initially described as an overdose of what was believed to be pain medication, and was taken to Encino Tarzana Medical Center in Encino, California, where he was listed as being in critical condition and in a coma. After the initial reports, Dr. Drew Pinsky, who had treated Conaway for substance abuse, said the actor was suffering not from a drug overdose but rather from "pneumonia with sepsis", for which he was placed into an induced coma. Though his pneumonia was not directly caused by drugs, his use of them hampered his ability to recognize how ill he was, and prevented him from seeking treatment for pneumonia until it was too late.
On May 26, 2011, Conaway's family took him off life support after doctors decided there was nothing they could do to revive him. Conaway died the following morning at the age of 60. Pinsky 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."
Conaway is survived by his sisters, Michelle and Carla.
