Wendell Troy was attracted to the theater late, when he was in his mid-70s. But once he jumped in, it was total immersion.
In the short space of a decade, he acted, directed and wrote -- not just plays, but musicals, two of which were staged in metro Atlanta.
Wendell Newton Troy Sr., 84, of Kennesaw died Tuesday at WellStar Kennestone Hospital of a heart attack. A memorial service will be at 4 p.m. Sunday at Peachtree Road Lutheran Church. Cremation Society of Georgia is in charge of arrangements.
"Wendell was very creative, very strong on old-school ways of the theater," said John Christian, founder of the Apple Mountain Arts Center in Ellijay and a collaborator with Mr. Troy in staging the latter's two musicals at Cobb County theaters.
"Wendell was good at research, thrived on it really," Mr. Christian said. "For instance, he did a lot of research -- at the library, not online -- in writing his musical about Hank Williams and Hank's influence on singers like Elvis who came after him."
The show was titled "Hank Williams: Now That's a Sad Song," and Mr. Troy did the directing as well as the writing. It was first performed at the Class Act Theater in Marietta for a month's run in January 2005. It did well enough that the cast took it on the road, reprising it at the Hank Williams Museum in Montgomery. The show received glowing online reviews from theatergoers.
Bob Mattox of Emerson and his daughter, Rebecca Mattox of Acworth, both had roles in the production and agreed it was a delight to work with Mr. Troy.
"The theater was more than a hobby with Wendell -- it was his passion," Mr. Mattox said. "Besides his writing and directing, he acted -- for example, playing Atticus Finch's courtroom adversary in ‘To Kill a Mockingbird' and as a fill-in in ‘Hank' if a cast member got sick."
Ms. Mattox said Mr. Troy had a kindly, gentlemanly way as a director. "He was punctual, prepared and careful about details. Even at his advanced age, he was never tired or stressed," she said.
Mr. Troy adapted his other musical, "Coal Camp Baseball," from a short story. It was produced at the Little General Theater in Marietta in 2002 and told how Sunday baseball games captivated the mining communities of West Virginia. Mr. Troy directed that show, too.
"As a director, Wendell came in ready. He knew what he wanted," said Glen Varnado of Marietta, who had a role in "Coal Camp Baseball." "That's not to say he treated the actors like robots. He wanted them to be creative. I always thought the results he got were very good."
Mr. Troy was born in Birmingham but moved with his family to Newnan as a child, moving once again to Atlanta in his teen years. Enlisting in the Navy at age 16, he returned to Atlanta after military service and graduated from Georgia State University.
During the 1950s, Mr. Troy traveled around Georgia, Tennessee and Alabama, setting up new movie houses for a motion-picture chain. At that time, he also co-managed a downtown movie theater on what was then Ivy Street, later renamed Peachtree Center Avenue.
In the 1960s he turned to the insurance business, a two-decade career during which he made frequent visits to Europe escorting his company's leading agents on bonus trips they earned.
Upon retiring in the late 1980s, he moved to California for nearly a decade, taking courses at California Polytechnic State University, but he moved back to Atlanta in 1998. He became involved in a program at Horizon Theatre that staged events for senior centers and nursing homes. In a short time, he was stepping up into neighborhood theater productions and doing television and print ads.
In commercials, his portrayals included a farmer, a diner in a restaurant, a hospital patient and a worshipper in church. In one print ad, only his hands were shown. Somehow, he later told his family, the advertising client thought his hands conveyed the impression of wisdom.
Survivors include two daughters, Penelope Morgan of Roswell and Mary Sierra of Acworth; two sons, Wendell Troy Jr. of Atlanta and Christopher Troy of Lawrenceville; 10 grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
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