American actor from age ten in the Broadway production of “All the Way Home.” In youth, he worked as a fashion model and toured with a group for three years as a singer and guitarist. His first film was at 19, “Jennifer on my Mind.” He played in “Grease,” and landed a lead role in the TV series “Taxi” for three seasons. In 1980 he put out a vocal album that made no great impression.
Driving while drunk on 2/23/1990, he sideswiped and injured a bicyclist on Santa Monica Blvd, giving the guy a broken leg and head wounds. Convicted of DUI on 1/14/1991, his license was suspended for a year and he was given 60 days house arrest, three years probation plus attendance at AA meetings three times a week for three years.
In 1985 his five-year marriage to Rona, Olivia-Newton John’s older sister, ended in divorce. He kicked his cocaine addiction in 1991.
Conaway suffered from back problems for many years and had multiple surgeries which he said resulted in an addiction to painkillers. On a Howard Stern radio show, he claimed that he had tried to commit suicide more than 20 times in his life. In early 2010 he fell and suffered a brain hemorrhage and a broken hip. On May 11, 2011 he was found unconscious at his home in Encino, CA. He was put into a coma at the hospital. Two weeks later he was taken off life support and died on May 27, 2011.
Link to Wikipedia biography