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Gardner McKay

Gardner McKay

George Cadogan Gardner McKay (June 10, 1932 – November 21, 2001) was an American actor, artist, and author. He is best known for the lead role in the TV series Adventures in Paradise, based loosely on the writings of James Michener. His character, Adam Troy, is a Korean War veteran who purchased the two-masted 82-foot (25 m) schooner Tiki III, and sailed the South Pacific. The show ran for three seasons on ABC from 1959-1962, for a total of 91 episodes.

Born in New York City, McKay was the son of ad executive Hugh Deane McKay (born 1894) and socialite Catherine "Kitty" Gardner McKay (born 1904). He was the great-grandson of shipbuilder Donald McKay. The father's business took the family to Paris, France, where McKay attended private schools. The family returned to the United States shortly before the outbreak of World War II; McKay and his older brother, Hugh, lived with grandparents in Lexington, Kentucky. McKay later said that he fell in love with Kentucky and considered it paradise.  

He attended Cornell University in Ithaca, New York for two years, where he majored in art. He also wrote for the Cornell Daily-Sun and the campus magazine. He dropped out of school at the age of 19 following the death of his father and moved to Greenwich Village where he worked as a sculptor and writer. McKay also took up photography and saw some of his work published in The New York Times and Life Magazine.

McKay's sculpting appeared in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and at an exhibit of his work McKay attracted the attention of photographer Richard Avedon. Avedon invited McKay to Paris to shoot a series of photographs with model Suzy Parker, which led to a modeling career. Town and Country magazine did a piece on McKay and his sculptures in its Man About Town section, which led to an offer from an agent.

McKay impressed Dore Schary, who signed him to a contract with MGM. For that studio he appeared in episodes of The Thin Man and appeared in the film Raintree County, with Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift. The movie was partly filmed in Kentucky.

McKay left MGM and had television guest roles on Death Valley Days, The Silent Service, and Jefferson Drum.  In 1957–1958, McKay played United States Army Lieutenant Dan Kelly in the 38-episode syndicated western series Boots and Saddles, with co-stars Jack Pickard and Patrick McVey.

McKay screen-tested at 20th Century Fox for a TV series based on The Gunslinger, but failed to get the role. The test did, however, net him a long-term contract at the studio.

Dominick Dunne was searching for an actor to star in his planned Adventures in Paradise when he spotted McKay at the studio coffee shop. Dunne later said, "I didn't know who he was. He was an extraordinarily handsome guy. I said, 'Are you an actor?' I gave him my card and said, 'If you're interested, call me.' " McKay called, and ten actors were tested for the role. Dunne said of McKay: "His (test) was the worst, but everybody reacted to him, I mean everybody - especially the women.

McKay could also sail, having made eight Atlantic crossings by the age of seventeen. Although previously unknown to the public, McKay appeared on the July 6, 1959, cover of Life Magazine just two months before the series premiered.  During the series' run, McKay had small roles in several Fox films, including Holiday for Lovers (1959) and The Right Approach (1961). McKay returned to Hollywood in 1963 and had a support role in Fox's The Pleasure Seekers (1964).  McKay's final film was the 1968 I Sailed to Tahiti with an All Girl Crew, written and directed by Richard L. Bare.

McKay left Hollywood to pursue his interest in photography, sculpture, and writing. He exhibited his sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, besides holding individual exhibitions. His lifeboat rescue photographs of the Andrea Doria were published internationally.

McKay wrote many plays and novels, and was a literary critic for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner between 1977 and 1982. He taught writing classes at the University of California at Los Angeles, University of Southern California, University of Alaska, and the University of Hawaii.

"I'm through with acting," he said in 1976. "I'll never do a series again. I can't. It's a mental mess-up for me. I got all sorts of attention I didn't deserve and I was too sensitive to hear things about myself. People loved me and hated me for absolutely no good reasons." His play Toyer was produced by the Arena Players Repertory Theater in New York opening November 28, 1993. Toyer was produced in London at the Arts Theatre in 2009. McKay settled in Hawaii, where he died from prostate cancer in 2001 at the age of 69.

 

 

 

 

 

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