Trax Colton, who starred opposite Jayne Mansfield in It Happened in Athens after being discovered (and renamed) by the same talent agent who did the same for Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter and others, has died. He was 96.
Colton died Aug. 30 of natural causes in Monte Nido, California, his son Ryan Morelli told The Hollywood Reporter. “I couldn’t have scripted a better parent,” he said. “He was the most generous, greatest father ever.”
New Jersey-born Louis Morelli was driving in a convertible on Olympic Boulevard going to meet a friend for lunch in Beverly Hills when another car driven by talent agent Henry Willson pulled up next to him.
Willson asked him if he would be open to a screen test, and Morelli said he would be, even though he had never done any acting.
With a new name and a contract at 20th Century Fox, Trax Colton showed up as a party guest in the comedy The Marriage-Go-Round (1961), starring Susan Hayward, James Mason and Julie Newmar.
He was then given second billing as a Greek shepherd named Spiridon Loues who aims to compete as a marathon runner in the first modern Olympics — the 1896 Summer Games — in It Happened in Athens (1962).
On the comeback trail, Mansfield played a glamorous Greek actress, Eleni Costa, who in a publicity stunt says she will marry the winner of the race.
20th Century-Fox Film Corp./Courtesy Everett Collection
While the movie was being made, THR’s Mike Connolly wrote that Colton “looms as the studio’s new “combination of Rudolph Valentino-Ty Power” as the star of a potential Blood and Sand remake at Fox. Fellow columnist Dorothy Kilgallen, meanwhile, suggested the actor “may be our next matinee idol.”
However, when the expensive Happened in Athens failed at the box office, Colton and Mansfield were released from their contracts, and he never made another film again. “Trax Colton was handsome and ingratiating, but acting was not his métier,” Eve Golden wrote in her 2021 book, Jayne Mansfield: The Girl Couldn’t Help It.
The second of four kids of Italian immigrants Angelo and Caterina, Morelli was born on May 26, 1929, in Highland Park, New Jersey. When he was 12, he played the violin in an orchestra, and he could handle the guitar and piano as well.
Morelli had worked as a car salesman and studied dentistry before he came west and had his encounter with Willson, who famously helped launch the acting careers of Roy Fitzgerald (Hudson), Arthur Gelien (Hunter), Marilyn Louis (Rhonda Fleming), Merle Johnson (Troy Donahue), Francis McGowan (Rory Calhoun), Krekor Ohanian (Touch/Mike Connors) and Robert Moseley (Guy Madison).
After It Happened in Athens, Colton screen-tested but failed to get the part of the sleazy manager of Joanne Woodward’s showgirl character in The Stripper (1963). Robert Webber went on to play the role. His son Ryan said he would appear on an episode of ABC’s Combat! in the ’60s.
Colton, who spoke several languages, earned his law degree in 1969 and practiced until the early 2000s. Despite his slim acting résumé, he was still getting fan mail until his death.
Survivors include another son, Todd; his grandchildren, Ronan and Quinn; and his brother, Frank. His wife of 48 years, Maureen, died in 2017 of a brain aneurysm at age 70.
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