Post #432225 by bigbrotiki on Tue, Feb 3, 2009 10:32 AM

On 2009-02-03 07:34, Rev. Griz wrote:
Anyone else find it suspicious that Adventures in Paradise ran from '59 to '62 and the Travis McGee books started coming out in '63-'64? The main character is a 6' 4" lanky, tough Korean war vet boat bum who adventures across the globe, often on his trust floating fortress. He lives in Florida instead of Tahiti, but still, the similarities are enough for me to wonder whether MacDonald got the inspiration for McGee from Adam Troy.

I am not, and I don't believe many others here are familiar with said book series, do you have any cover art to post?

Maybe BOTH characters were inspired by this gentleman?:

On 2008-03-07 13:09, bigbrotiki wrote:

The film seems to have had a lot in common with Sterling Hayden's life:

"Born March 26, 1916, in Montclair, NJ, he quit school at the age of 16 to become a mate on a schooner, beginning a lifelong love affair with the sea; indeed, it was often suggested that he was never particularly enamored of the acting life, instead preferring to sail. By age 22, Hayden was a ship's captain, but a desire to buy his own boat prompted him to begin modeling, and in 1940 he landed a movie contract at Paramount. With no previous acting experience, he starred in 1941's Virginia, followed a year later by Bahama Passage. The pictures' successes made him a star, and he also grabbed headlines by marrying actress Madeleine Carroll."

Also:
"Sterling Hayden was a dory fisherman in the Grand Banks as a teenager; captained a two masted brig from Boston to Tahiti at age 22; he then became one of the youngest Master Mariners at age 24; sailed around the world twice; sailed to Tahiti several times..."

Sounds like HE was the original "Captain Adam Troy" from "Adventures in Paradise"!