Jeff Conaway, Star of Grease on Stage and Screen, Dies at 60

Jeff Conaway, best known for playing bad boy Kenickie in the movie adaptation of musical Grease, died on May 27. He was taken off life support following two weeks in a coma at a Los Angeles hospital. The actor was found unconscious at his home on May 11, following a reported drug overdose. He was 60 years old.

New York native Conaway made his Broadway debut in the 1960 play All the Way Home. He went on to be an understudy in the 1972 cast of Grease on Broadway, and eventually took over the leading role of Danny Zuko. Conaway went on to play Zuko’s second-in-command, Kenickie, in the 1978 film adaptation, starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. Conaway is also well known for his role in ‘70s TV hit Taxi, in which he starred as out-of-work actor Bobby Wheeler. In recent years, Conaway appeared on VH1 shows Celebrity Fit Club and Celebrity Rehab.

Conaway is survived by a son, Emerson, with ex-wife Rona Newton-John (sister of Olivia Newton-John).