Donald May

Stalwart American actor Donald Adam May is best known to television viewers as dapper crime fighting District Attorney Adam Drake in the long-running mystery soap opera The Edge of Night (1956). Donald was born in Chicago, one of four siblings, to Texan oil businessman Harry S. May and his wife Leontine. He attended school in Houston, and, in 1949, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Oklahoma. His first professional acting gig was in a play with a stock company in Albany, New York. Donald subsequently appeared in a few promotional films for the Signal Corps and then enlisted in the U.S. Navy, eventually serving as a gunnery officer (ensign) on a destroyer during the Korean War. Following his demobilisation in 1955, he returned to New York to resume work on the repertory stage. The following year, he starred as a cadet in the CBS anthology TV series West Point (1956) (a show supposedly based on factual events). With a Warner Brothers contract in hand, Donald and his then wife (Yale graduate and former stage actress Ellen Cameron) relocated to Hollywood at the end of the decade. Henceforth, his rugged good looks were gainfully employed in essaying men of integrity, the 'white hat' wearers in westerns and crime dramas.

After appearing in an episode of Sugarfoot (1957), Donald played the lead in four segments of the western series Colt .45 (1957) (temporarily replacing Wayde Preston) and had further guest spots in 77 Sunset Strip (1958) and Cheyenne (1955). The next acting assignment -- his most prominent leading role to date -- was as New York reporter Pat Garrison, chronicling gangland crime in The Roaring 20's (1960). This prohibition era action series ran for two seasons and co-starred Dorothy Provine, Rex Reason and John Dehner. If it failed to do better in the ratings, it should be remembered that it was going up against and being compared to The Untouchables (1959) (which was being presented in a semi-documentary style and appeared to the viewing public as 'more authentic').

From the mid-60s, Donald May was probably one of the busiest actors in showbiz, dividing his time between the New York off-Broadway stage and acting on The Edge of Night, which was a New York-based live broadcast. By the time the series had run its course, Donald had managed to rack up an impressive 2840 episodes as Adam Drake over a period of ten years. Not finished with soaps yet, he later had further recurring roles in Falcon Crest (1981), and, as a romantic lead, in Texas (1980) (which starred his second wife, the actress Carla Borelli).

Donald retired from screen acting in 1993 and died at the age of 94 on January 28 2022.