US actor James Darren, best known for Gidget, The Time Tunnel and TJ Hooker, has died aged 88.
He died in his sleep at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his son Jim Moret, a correspondent for Inside Edition, confirmed. He had entered the hospital for an aortic valve replacement but was deemed too weak to have the surgery; he went home but had to return.
“I always thought he would pull through,” Moret said, “because he was so cool. He was always cool.”
“He was a good man. He was very talented. He was forever young.”
Born in Philadelphia, he studied acting with Stella Adler in New York and was signed to Columbia Pictures, where his first role was in Rumble on the Docks. He went on to appear in films including Operation Madball and Gunmen’s Walk.
Even though he could not surf, he got the role of Moondoggie (real name: Jerry Matthews) opposite three actresses as the precocious Malibu teen: Sandra Dee in Gidget (1959), Deborah Walley in Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) and Cindy Carol in Gidget Goes to Rome (1963).
“The defining moment was when I was at a studio in San Francisco and word got out that I was there,” he recalled in a 2015 interview with Los Angeles magazine. “Thousands of girls were screaming out front. When I had to leave the building, they tackled me to the ground and pulled pieces of my hair out. The police had to rescue me and took me to the roof until things settled down.”
He was cast as the headstrong Dr. Tony Newman, an electronics genius, on the 1966-67 sci-fi series The Time Tunnel, also starring Robert Colbert. He once said he wasn’t interested in doing television or science fiction before but creator Irwin Allen told him, “This is something you have to do. I know you don’t want to do it, but I think you are perfect for this role, and he convinced me. Irwin was one of the great salespersons of our time. I accepted the role because of my meeting with him.”
Fifteen years later, he joined the William Shatner police drama T.J. Hooker in its second season, portraying Officer Jim Corrigan opposite Heather Locklear as his inexperienced partner, Stacy Sheridan. He went on to direct during the final season and later helmed episodes of Hunter, Silk Stalkings, Melrose Place, Werewolf, The A-Team and Beverly Hills 90210.
He also played the wealthy Tony Marlin on Melrose Place, on which he reunited with Locklear.
He appeared on several episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as the holographic lounge singer Vic Fontaine, a role he called “one of the most enjoyable” he ever played.
As a singer / actor he also sang “Almost in Your Arms” at the 1959 Academy Awards and “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” on the 1964 Oscar telecast; performed as Yogi Bear in a 1964 animated film; and did a number on a 1965 episode of The Flintstones.
Source: Variety, Hollywood Reporter
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