Roger Donoghue
Encyclopedia
Roger Donoghue was a prizefighter who taught Marlon Brando
how to box
for his role in the 1954 movie
On the Waterfront
.
Donoghue was born in Yonkers, New York
. His father, an Irish
immigrant, was a taxicab driver.
Donoghue began boxing in a ring set up in the back of a pool hall
. He won 29 or 31 amateur bouts, and turned professional at age 18. Of his first 27 professional fights, he won 25. His purses covered college tuition for his brother and sister.
Donoghue's first fight in Madison Square Garden
was on August 29, 1951. Donoghue's opponent was another 20-year-old, George Flores, whom he had knocked out in a match two weeks prior. Donoghue knocked out Flores in the eighth round. The blow resulted in Flores' death on September 3, 1951. Donoghue gave his winnings from that match to Flores' family, and New York
instituted the requirement that boxers take a 30-day break from the ring after being knocked out.
A friend of Donoghue's, writer Budd Schulberg, once asked him how far he might have gone as a fighter if not for the Flores incident. "He said, 'Well, I was pretty good, but I have that Irish skin and I cut pretty easily. I guess I could have been a contender,'" Schulberg told the New York Daily News. "He didn't make a big deal of it, but it really stuck in my mind." And Schulberg used the line in his next screenplay, "On the Waterfront."
Director Elia Kazan
agreed to pay Donoghue $75 a day to coach Brando in boxing. After Brando's first lesson, Donoghue said he had the actor "shooting straight jabs, and he's already learning to hook off the jab. I can make a hell of a middleweight out of his kid."
Donoghue also taught James Dean
boxing moves in preparation for a role patterned after Donoghue in a film project that died when Dean was killed in an automobile wreck.
Donoghue died in of complications from Alzheimer's disease
.
Marlon Brando
Marlon Brando, Jr. was an American movie star and political activist. "Unchallenged as the most important actor in modern American Cinema" according to the St...
how to box
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
for his role in the 1954 movie
1954 in film
The year 1954 in film involved some significant events and memorable ones.-Events:*May 12 - The Marx Brothers' Zeppo Marx divorces wife Marion Benda...
On the Waterfront
On the Waterfront
On the Waterfront is a 1954 American drama film about union violence and corruption among longshoremen. The film was directed by Elia Kazan and written by Budd Schulberg. It stars Marlon Brando, Rod Steiger, Eva Marie Saint, Lee J. Cobb and Karl Malden. The soundtrack score was composed by Leonard...
.
Donoghue was born in Yonkers, New York
Yonkers, New York
Yonkers is the fourth most populous city in the state of New York , and the most populous city in Westchester County, with a population of 195,976...
. His father, an Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
immigrant, was a taxicab driver.
Donoghue began boxing in a ring set up in the back of a pool hall
Pool hall
A billiard/billiards, pool or snooker hall is a place where people get together for playing cue sports such as pool, snooker or carom billiards...
. He won 29 or 31 amateur bouts, and turned professional at age 18. Of his first 27 professional fights, he won 25. His purses covered college tuition for his brother and sister.
Donoghue's first fight in Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
was on August 29, 1951. Donoghue's opponent was another 20-year-old, George Flores, whom he had knocked out in a match two weeks prior. Donoghue knocked out Flores in the eighth round. The blow resulted in Flores' death on September 3, 1951. Donoghue gave his winnings from that match to Flores' family, and New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
instituted the requirement that boxers take a 30-day break from the ring after being knocked out.
A friend of Donoghue's, writer Budd Schulberg, once asked him how far he might have gone as a fighter if not for the Flores incident. "He said, 'Well, I was pretty good, but I have that Irish skin and I cut pretty easily. I guess I could have been a contender,'" Schulberg told the New York Daily News. "He didn't make a big deal of it, but it really stuck in my mind." And Schulberg used the line in his next screenplay, "On the Waterfront."
Director Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan
Elia Kazan was an American director and actor, described by the New York Times as "one of the most honored and influential directors in Broadway and Hollywood history". Born in Istanbul, the capital of the Ottoman Empire, to Greek parents originally from Kayseri in Anatolia, the family emigrated...
agreed to pay Donoghue $75 a day to coach Brando in boxing. After Brando's first lesson, Donoghue said he had the actor "shooting straight jabs, and he's already learning to hook off the jab. I can make a hell of a middleweight out of his kid."
Donoghue also taught James Dean
James Dean
James Byron Dean was an American film actor. He is a cultural icon, best embodied in the title of his most celebrated film, Rebel Without a Cause , in which he starred as troubled Los Angeles teenager Jim Stark...
boxing moves in preparation for a role patterned after Donoghue in a film project that died when Dean was killed in an automobile wreck.
Donoghue died in of complications from Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease also known in medical literature as Alzheimer disease is the most common form of dementia. There is no cure for the disease, which worsens as it progresses, and eventually leads to death...
.