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RIP Kenickie, Jeff Conaway dies aged 60

Jeff Conaway

We always hate to post these types of news post on The Hollywood News, but it is with great sadness today that we report the passing of Jeff Conaway,  he who immortalised the character of Kenickie in GREASE all of the way back in 1978. The actor passed away at the Encino Tarzana Medical Center in California following an apparent drug overdose. He was just sixty years old.

Conaway lit up the screen as Kenickie in the iconic movie set in a 1950’s high school opposite screen legends John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, but the part, possibly his most well known, was not his first. In fact, Conaway started acting at the age of just two years old on Broadway, appearing in the play ‘All The Way Home.’ Film and TV parts followed with the actor appearing on Barnaby Jones and in the classic 1960’s set high school show Happy Days. It was his role on Happy Days that possibly paved the way for his role in GREASE a few years later. In the seventies Conaway also had parts in THE EAGLE HAS LANDED and the Disney’s live action/ animated pic PETE’S DRAGON.

Post-GREASE came a recurrring role in the TV series TAXI as Bobby Wheeler. Conaway’s role on the show ran for four years from 1978-1982 with Conaway appearing in a total of 55 episodes. He was said to have been fired from the show after contributing factors following him allegedly being found in his dressing room too high on drugs to perform. From there, he continued a varied TV career in Berrenger’s, a soap opera set in a New York department store, along with one off appearences in The Love Boat and Who’s The Boss? His TV career continued through the late eighties and nineties, along with roles in direct-to-video productions and more one-off TV movie roles. He did secure a part in the long running American soap The Bold and the Beautiful in 1989, and from 1994 to 1999 Conaway starred as Sergent Zack Allen in the cult sci-fi series Babylon 5.

Fast forward to 2008 when Conaway turned to reality TV, appearing in a VH1 show called Celebrity Rehab with Dr Drew. The show revealed that Conaway was addicted to cocaine, alcohol and painkillers. It was revealed that Conaway suffered a back injury early on in his acting career which plagued him since.

On May 11th of this year, Conaway was taken to the Encino Tarzana Medical Center after he suffered what was said to be an overdose of pain relief medication. He was listed as being in critical condition and in a coma. Later 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”. On May 26th Conaway’s family were said to have made the decision to have his life support turned off after doctors concluded that they were unable to revive him.  He died the following morning.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Conaway’s family. It’s always so sad and tragic to lose gifted and talented artists at such a relatively young age. Here’s Conaway’s finest moment in the film that made his name. GREASE. Rest In Peace Kenickie.

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