Jeff Conaway, dead at 60

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

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'Grease' actor Jeff Conaway died Friday at age 60, Radar Online reports and The Hollywood Reporter confirms. The news comes just a day after reports that the star would be taken off life support.

Radar calls it "the end a long, sad road of addiction that made him one of Hollywood's cautionary tales." Conaway, known for his roles as Bobby Wheeler on 'Taxi' and T-Bird Kenickie in 1978's iconic 'Grease,' was a New York native who battled substance abuse for much of his career.

Conaway was checked into an L.A. hospital on May 11. As of May 26, he was reported to have been experiencing no brain activity. A source told Radar that Conaway's feeding tube had been removed as of Thursday afternoon and that "Jeff is in no pain whatsoever."

Conaway rocketed to fame in 1978 with his starring role in 'Grease' and in the same year began a three-year run on 'Taxi.' Roles dried up in the 1980s as his addictions worsened, but Conaway later found steady work on the sci-fi hit 'Babylon 5.'

Conaway, who had no children, was married twice -- once to Olivia Newton-John's sister Rona from 1980 to 1985, and again to Kerri Young in 1990.

In 2008, a disheveled and unhealthy Conaway joined celebrity doctor Drew Pinsky's VH1 show, 'Celebrity Rehab,' to address his addiction to drugs and alcohol. Sadly, his sobriety attempt failed and last year, the actor was injured in a fall while under the influence of OxyContin and methadone.

This time, in May of 2011, it was originally reported that Conaway was hospitalized due to a prescription drug overdose, but Pinsky later insisted the star was suffering from pneumonia and sepsis, a dangerous blood infection. Pinsky tweeted on May 21, "We all need to pray for him. Not doing well today suddenly."

Of his televised problems with addiction, Conaway told THR in 2009, "I think people are just enamored with other people's problems because they have enough of their own, and they want to stop thinking about their own and think about somebody else's for a while. I think that's what television is all about, really."

Earlier this year, Conaway and on-and-off-again girlfriend Victoria Spinoza filed restraining orders against each other. The night before Conaway was hospitalized, Spinoza paid him a visit that ignited controversy within the star's family.

Conaway's sister, Carla Shreve, filed a May 18 restraining order against Spinoza, alleging that after a recent breakup, Conaway feared for his life.

"He had just secured an apartment ... and was calling friends and family anxious to start this part of his life without her," reads Shreve's restraining order request, obtained by PEOPLE.

The magazine calls Conaway's rocky relationship with Spinoza "volatile," noting restraining orders each filed against the other earlier in 2011. Spinoza's friend and spokesperson, Aubry Fisher, tells PEOPLE Spinoza cared for Conaway for seven years and deems the new restraining order "horrible and wrong."

"When Vikki went to visit Jeff in the hospital, she sat by his side," Fisher said, referencing the day before the restraining order went through. "They were in the process of reconciling."

[Mikey]

No surprise - he'd been on the door for a little while - but still a shame. RIP, and remember, "A hickey from Kenickie's like a Hallmark card."

[Mikey]

Didn't think this belonged in B5.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Oh, sorry.

[Mikey]

NP. I've got to earn my keep somehow, right?

[Tholian_Avenger]

I pray he can finally find the peace he could never attain in life. May God rest his soul.

[McAvoy]

Well he did play a character in B5 that had a history in substance abuse. Always like the character in the show.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Well he did play a character in B5 that had a history in substance abuse. Always like the character in the show.

Zack Allan? Really?

[McAvoy]

Is that sarcasm?

[Graham Kennedy]

A shame to see him go at such a young age. He wasn't the best actor in the world, from what I've seen, but I always liked him on B5. He made a good "everyman" sort of a guy who wasn't up to saving the galaxy single handed, but did come across as a working Joe who you could relate to. B5 always had a feeling of characters as real people and Jeff's Zack was a good example of that.

[Mikey]

I had no idea that he was on B5.

[Tsukiyumi]

Mostly in seasons 3-5, but I think they introduced him in season 2, IIRC.

[Reliant121]

FROM: Wikipedia on Zack Allen


"During the second and third seasons of the series he was a security officer on the Babylon 5 station. In the fourth season, he was promoted to become Babylon 5's Security Chief and he retains that position through to the end of the series' fifth and final season."

[Graham Kennedy]

One thing I liked about B5 was the way the characters actually moved on in their careers. I can't think of a single main character who held the same job at the end of the series that they did at the beginning, and Zack was a good example of that. A marked contrast to ST, where Starfleet's "best and brightest" reach a certain posting and then simply give up any career advancement.

[RK_Striker_JK_5]

Is that sarcasm?

Actually, no. I recall Garibaldi having a substance problem, but not Zack Allan.