Roger Donoghue, 75; Taught Brando to Fight for ‘Waterfront’

Roger Donoghue, 75, a former boxer who taught Marlon Brando to box for the movie “On the Waterfront,” died August 20 of Alzheimer’s disease in Greenport, N.Y., the New York Times reported.

Born in Yonkers, N.Y., Donoghue began boxing in the back of a pool hall, winning 29 of 31 amateur bouts. He turned professional at 18.

He was 20 when he had his first bout at Madison Square Garden on Aug. 29, 1951. Fighting as a middleweight, he was matched against George Flores, who had been knocked out in a bout two weeks earlier.

The bout was in the eighth round when Donoghue knocked out Flores, who died days later. Donoghue gave his winnings to the Flores family and quit the ring shortly thereafter, the Times reported.

Director Elia Kazan hired Donoghue at $75 a day to coach Brando. The training included road work through Central Park and sessions in the ring at Stillman’s Gym.

Director Nicholas Ray, who became a friend of Donoghue’s, planned a film on the boxer’s life that was to star James Dean. But Dean’s death in a car crash ended the project.

According to the Times account, Donoghue was also a friend of Norman Mailer, who credited the former fighter with giving him the line “Tough Guys Don’t Dance,” which he used as the title of one of his novels.