Trax Colton, 1929 – 2025

1960s pin-up boy Trax Colton, 96, died on Aug. 30. Born Louis Morelli in New Jersey, he was working as a used-car salesman when he was discovered and renamed by colorful agent Henry Willson (who also named Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Dack Rambo, etc.). Colton was signed by Fox and cast with Susan Hayward in The Marriage-Go-Round, and Jayne Mansfield in the abysmal It Happened in Athens. But Fox was going broke by the early 1960s and molding the handsome, not untalented actor into a star was not in the books. A friend posted online that “After he left Hollywood, he started a successful law practice, raising his family in Point Dume, Malibu. He enjoyed fine cigars and had a great sense of humor.”