Donald Adam May (February 22, 1929 – January 28, 2022) was an American actor who was known for his roles in '' Colt .45'' (1957–1960) and ''

The Edge of Night ''The Edge of Night'' is an American mystery crime drama soap opera, created by Irving Vendig and produced by Procter & Gamble Productions. It debuted on CBS on April 2, 1956, and ran as a live broadcast on that network for most of its ...

''.

Early years

May was born in Chicago, Illinois, the son of Leontine Frances (Torczynski) and Harry Stuart May. He attended elementary school in Houston, Texas, and graduated from Shaker Heights High School in Cleveland, Ohio. In 1949, he graduated from the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma, United States. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two territories became the ...

with a bachelor of arts degree. May joined the U.S. Navy in 1951 and was discharged in 1955, serving as an officer.

Career

Before he finished college, May acted in summer stock theater in Surrey, Maine, in 1948. After graduation, he acted on stage in Albany, New York, and Brattleboro, Vermont. He also acted in Signal Corps films. May's first credited role was in 1956–1957 as Cadet Charles C. Thompson, the host of the ABC military drama series '' The West Point Story''. Donald May Colt 45 1960

In 1959–1960, May temporarily replaced Wayde Preston as the lead in four episodes of the ABC/

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

television series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...

, '' Colt .45''. May portrayed "Sam Colt, Jr.," cousin to Preston's character, Christopher Colt. He subsequently appeared in several other ABC/WB series, '' Sugarfoot'', ''

Cheyenne The Cheyenne ( ) are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes, the Só'taeo'o or Só'taétaneo'o (more commonly spelled as Suhtai or Sutaio) and the (also spelled Tsitsistas, The term for th ...

'' (as a young man plotting revenge in the episode "The Long Rope"), ''

77 Sunset Strip ''77 Sunset Strip'' is an American private detective crime drama television series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Roger Smith, Richard Long (from 1960 to 1961) and Edd Byrnes (billed as Edward Byrnes). Each epis ...

'', ''

Hawaiian Eye ''Hawaiian Eye'' is an American detective television series that ran from October 1959 to April 1963 on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network. Premise Private investigator Tracy Steele (Anthony Eisley) and his half-Hawaiian ...

'', '' Surfside 6'', and '' The Roaring 20s'', in which he was cast from 1960 to 1962 in forty-two episodes in the recurring role of fictitious newspaper reporter Pat Garrison. One of his principal co-stars on ''The Roaring 20s'' was Dorothy Provine. In 1962, May made a

television pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie) in United Kingdom and United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television netwo ...

in which he played a physician, Paul Larson, in the episode "County General" that was screened as an episode of ABC's drama series, ''

Bus Stop A bus stop is a place where Public transport bus service, buses stop for passengers to get on and off the bus. The construction of bus stops tends to reflect the level of usage, where stops at busy locations may have shelter (building), shelters ...

'', starring Marilyn Maxwell. That same year, he was cast as Major Thompson in "Any Second Now" of the ABC war drama, '' Combat!''. In 1964, he portrayed Thatcher in the three-part episode, " The Tenderfoot" of

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

's ''

Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color The Walt Disney Company has produced an anthology series, anthology television series since 1954 under several titles and formats. The program's current title, ''The Wonderful World of Disney'', was used from 1969 to 1979 and again from 1991 onwa ...

''. He was cast in 1964 in two other films, as Captain Anderson in '' A Tiger Walks'', and as Secret Service agent John O'Connor in '' Kisses for My President'', with

Polly Bergen Polly Bergen (born Nellie Paulina Burgin; July 14, 1930 – September 20, 2014) was an American actress, singer, television host, writer, and entrepreneur. She won an Emmy Award in 1958 for her performance as Helen Morgan (singer), Helen ...

as the first woman

President of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

, with

Fred MacMurray Frederick Martin MacMurray (August 30, 1908 – November 5, 1991) was an American actor. He appeared in more than one hundred films and a successful television series in a career that spanned nearly a half-century. His career as a major film le ...

as "First Husband." Two years later, May was cast as Edward White, Jr., with, again, Fred MacMurray in the lead, in the film about the

Boy Scouts of America Scouting America is the largest scouting organization and one of the largest List of youth organizations, youth organizations in the United States, with over 1 million youth, including nearly 200,000 female participants. Founded as the Boy Sco ...

, '' Follow Me, Boys!''. In 1965 May made another unsuccessful TV pilot ''Dream Wife'' as the husband of psychic

Shirley Jones Shirley Mae Jones (born March 31, 1934) is an American actress and singer. In her six decades in show business, she has starred as wholesome characters in a number of musical films, such as ''Oklahoma! (film), Oklahoma!'' (1955), ''Carousel (fi ...

. May subsequently guest starred on CBS's '' Men into Space'', ''

Barnaby Jones ''Barnaby Jones'' is an American detective fiction, detective television series starring Buddy Ebsen as a formerly retired investigator and Lee Meriwether as his widowed daughter-in-law. They run a private detective firm in Los Angeles, Califor ...

'', ''

The Dukes of Hazzard ''The Dukes of Hazzard'' is an American action comedy television series created by Gy Waldron that aired on CBS from January 26, 1979, to February 8, 1985, with a total of seven seasons consisting of List of The Dukes of Hazzard episodes, 147 ...

'', ''

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

'', and ''

Falcon Crest ''Falcon Crest'' is an American prime time television soap opera created by Earl Hamner Jr. that aired for nine seasons on CBS from December 4, 1981, to May 17, 1990. The series revolves around the feuding factions of the wealthy Gioberti/Cha ...

''. He appeared on ABC's '' Fantasy Island''. May was featured in several

soap opera A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...

s, including his role from 1967 to 1977 of crime busting lawyer, Adam Drake in ''

''. He played Grant Wheeler in 1981–1982 on the '' Another World'' spinoff ''

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

''. He also had recurring roles in ''

One Life to Live ''One Life to Live'' (often abbreviated as ''OLTL'') is an American soap opera broadcast on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network for more than 43 years, from July 15, 1968, to January 13, 2012, and then on the internet as ...

'' and ''

All My Children ''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 2 ...

''. May's last screen role was in 1993 as Andrew Laraby in the episode "Come Rain or Come Schein" on the NBC legal drama, ''

L.A. Law ''L.A. Law'' is an American legal drama television series created by Steven Bochco and Terry Louise Fisher for NBC. It ran for eight seasons and List of L.A. Law episodes, 172 episodes from September 15, 1986, to May 19, 1994. The series cente ...

''.

Personal life and death

His first marriage was to Ellen Cameron from 1951 until 1984, when they divorced. They had two sons. Cameron appeared on screen only once—in an episode of ABC's ''

Arrest and Trial ''Arrest and Trial'' is a 90-minute American crime/legal drama series that ran during the 1963–1964 season on ABC, airing Sundays from 8:30-10 pm Eastern. Overview The majority of episodes consists of two segments. Set in Los Angeles, the ...

''. After his divorce from Cameron, May was married to

Carla Borelli Carla Borelli (born October 12, 1942 in San Francisco, California) is an American actress. Borelli is one of five children born to parents who had been in the grocery business since the early 1930s. She was modeling as a baby and studied ballet ...

, an actress who also appeared in the television series ''Texas'' and ''Falcon Crest''. He died from laryngeal cancer at his home in Kent, New York, on January 28, 2022, at the age of 92.

References

External sources

*
Donald May
at ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''
Clips from ''Texas'' episodes
{{DEFAULTSORT:May, Donald 1929 births 2022 deaths American male film actors American male soap opera actors American male stage actors American male television actors Deaths from cancer in New York (state) Deaths from laryngeal cancer in the United States Male actors from Chicago Male actors from Los Angeles Military personnel from Chicago Military personnel from Illinois United States Navy officers United States Navy personnel of the Korean War University of Oklahoma alumni Warner Bros. contract players