Guy Madison was one of his closest friends. The two men often went on fishing and hunting trips. Guy and his (second) wife Sheila Connolly named him godfather to their first born Bridget.
Henry Willson, an agent known for a stable of young, attractive, marginally talented actors with unusual names (Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter) signed Rory to a contract and initially christened him "Troy Donahue", then changed it to "Rory Calhoun". He used the Troy Donahue name later on another up-and-coming actor, with excellent results.
After his release from San Quentin, Calhoun worked several odd jobs, including cowpuncher and lumberjack.
As a teenager Calhoun dropped out of high school and drifted into petty crime, becoming a car thief. He was caught and spent three years in a federal reformatory. In the mid-'50s blackmailers threatened to make his prison record public; instead, Calhoun himself revealed it. He died after a ten-day hospitalization for advanced stages of emphysema and diabetes.
Calhoun's second cousin is popular Canadian sportscaster and talk show host Bob McCown (host of Prime Time Sports on the Fan 590 Radio and nation wide on Rogers Sportsnet).
His and Vitina Marcus had a daughter, Athena Marcus Calhoun, who became "The World's Most Beautiful Showgirl" and was awarded "The Key to the City of Las Vegas" in 1987.
His daughters with Lita Baron are Cindy (b. 1957), Tami (b. 1958) and Lorri (b. 1961). His daughter with Sue Rhodes is Rory Patricia (b. 1971).
His young criminal career was rather extensive. A high school dropout, he stole a revolver at age 13 which landed him in the California Youth Authority, Preston School of Industry reformatory at Ione, California. He escaped while in the adjustment center (jail within the jail). After robbing several jewelry stores, he stole a car and drove it across state lines. This offense sent him to the federal penitentiary in Springfield, Missouri for three years. When he finished his sentence, he was incarcerated in San Quentin on other charges and remained there until he was paroled just before his twenty-first birthday.
In 1943, while horseback riding in the Hollywood Hills, he accidentally met actor Alan Ladd, whose wife, Sue Carol was an agent. She landed him a one-line role in the Laurel and Hardy comedy short The Bullfighters (1945) under his name of "Frank McCown".
In 1955, his agent, Henry Willson, disclosed information about Calhoun's years in prison to Confidential magazine in exchange for the tabloid not printing an exposé about the secret homosexual life of Rock Hudson, another Willson client. The disclosure had no negative effect on Calhoun's career and only served to solidify his bad boy image.
Mentioned numerous times in the episode of "The Simpsons" (1989) where Mr. Burns steals the puppies from the Simpsons.
Second wife Sue Rhodes was a journalist.
When Lita Baron sued for divorce, she named 79 women with whom he had allegedly committed adultery. Calhoun responded, "Heck, she didn't even include half of them".
When he was nine months old, his father died. After his mother remarried, he occasionally used the last name of his stepfather, Durgin.