Conaway was hospitalised at Encino Hospital Medical Center on 11 May (11) after he was found unconscious at his California home.
The actor’s spokesman Phil Brock recently revealed he was found with a cocktail of “painkillers and cold medicine in his system”, and doctors went on to diagnose him with pneumonia and sepsis, a potentially fatal blood poisoning caused by a bacterial infection.
He remained in a coma and his family decided to switch off his life support machine on Thursday (26May11) after medics admitted he was unlikely to ever regain consciousness.
Conaway passed away on Friday (27May11).
The tragic star had been taking the prescription pain medication since badly injuring himself following a fall at his home last year (10), when he broke his hip and arm, fractured his neck and suffered a brain haemorrhage.
Conaway is best known for playing bad boy Kenickie in the hit 1978 movie musical Grease, but he began his career on TV with roles in popular series including Happy Days, Mary Tyler Moore, Matlock, Murder, She Wrote and Taxi, in which he played struggling actor Bobby Wheeler.
The troubled actor’s death comes after years of his well-publicised battle with cocaine, prescription drug and alcohol abuse, which saw him try to kick his habits during two stints on Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew from 2008. He became one of celebrity counsellor Dr. Drew Pinsky’s most agitated patients on the popular reality TV show.
