Donald Adam May, a stalwart American actor, is best known for his iconic role as dapper crime-fighting District Attorney Adam Drake in the long-running mystery soap opera The Edge of Night (1956). Born in Chicago, Illinois, to Texan oil businessman Harry S. May and his wife Leontine, Donald was one of four siblings. He attended school in Houston, Texas, and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Oklahoma in 1949.
Donald's early career began with a play in a stock company in Albany, New York, followed by promotional films for the Signal Corps. He then enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving as a gunnery officer (ensign) on a destroyer during the Korean War. Following his demobilization in 1955, he returned to New York to resume work on the repertory stage.
In 1956, Donald starred as a cadet in the CBS anthology TV series West Point, a show supposedly based on factual events. With a Warner Brothers contract in hand, he and his then-wife, Yale graduate and former stage actress Ellen Cameron, relocated to Hollywood at the end of the decade. Donald's rugged good looks were soon gainfully employed in essaying men of integrity, the 'white hat' wearers in westerns and crime dramas.
Donald's early television appearances included guest spots in Sugarfoot (1957),Colt.45 (1957),77 Sunset Strip (1958),and Cheyenne (1955). He then landed his most prominent leading role to date as New York reporter Pat Garrison in The Roaring 20's (1960),a prohibition-era action series that co-starred Dorothy Provine, Rex Reason, and John Dehner.
Throughout the 1960s, Donald May was one of the busiest actors in showbiz, dividing his time between the New York off-Broadway stage and acting on The Edge of Night, 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, Donald 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 passed away on January 28, 2022, at the age of 94.
