Friday, May 27, 2011

Jeff Conaway (1950-2011)

He was best known as cab driver Bobby Wheeler on Taxi during its first 3 seasons, and as Kenickie, Danny Zuko's best pal in the feature film adaptation of "Grease". Today, Hollywood mourns the passing of actor Jeff Conaway at 60.

Today's generation probably only knows Conaway from what they've read in the papers about his battles with substance abuse, made public during a stint on VH1's Celebrity Rehab. Post-Taxi, Conaway returned to television with a brief run on the soap, The Bold & the Beautiful, in 1989, then tried science fiction by joining the cast of Babylon 5. Conaway had lapsed into a coma a few days ago, and almost immediately, one of the tabloids declared him brain dead, claiming that "Grease" co-star John Travolta had tried to help him, but failed. Premature declaration? Of course. It was only yesterday that the actor's family had chosen to take him off life support.

Rest in peace, Jeff. You will be missed.

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