Now, here it was, 25 years later and Troy Donahue was right at the tip of my felt-tip pen...
There was Troy Donahue, along with Jamie Leigh Curtis, Patrick Swayze and C. Thomas Howell.
My attention focused on the blond movie star that had captured my heart when he was treated so badly by his mother's husband in "Parrish." It was hard for me to believe I was actually there, looking eye to eye and talking with Troy Donahue.
Earlier that day, Carol Schott Martino, my friend and co-editor/publisher of our literary magazine, called to tell me the stars had come to the cornbelt. A production company had chosen her hometown to film a movie. She had met the man in charge of the "honeywagons," (mobile dressing rooms) and he would let us by the police guarded ropes.
Troy was playing the part of a shady character called Donny Vinton. The first time I talked with him, he was sitting on a director's stool on the set wearing an all-weather jacket, white jeans, and house slippers. He signed autographs for a few kids who had slipped their way past the barricades. I think they had invaded to see the teen idol, Tommy Howell. Troy's grin gave me the idea he had the same thought.
"Actually, I think their mothers are saying to them, 'get over there and get his autograph for me,'" Troy said, grinning.
He said he truly felt a special affection for his fans and enjoyed signing. "It doesn't bother me at all if I'm asked for my autograph. Sometimes I'm busy and have to refuse someone, but I hate to. And sometimes I'm just in a bad mood. Not too often, though. I would start to worry if I wasn't asked. I appreciate my fans. They have been good to me. Even when the bottom kind-of fell out for me, and I was no longer in demand, I remained popular with my fans."
In 1983, prior to making "Grandview U.S.A.," Troy had starring roles in three movies. "I don't call this a comeback. I call it a continuance of my career," he said.
From the beginning of his movie-making days, things seemed to fall in place for Troy. "It was persistence and luck that got me where I am today. It was being in the right place at the right time," he said.
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