James Darren, the former teen star and pop singer who played dreamy surfer Moondoggie in three Gidget films before appearing on television The time tunnel And TJ Hookerdied on Monday. He was 88 years old.
Darren died in his sleep at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his son Jim Moret, a correspondent for Inside Editiontold The Hollywood Reporter. He had been admitted to hospital for an aortic valve replacement but was deemed too weak for the operation; he went home but had to return once more.
“I always believed he would make it,” said Moret, “because he was so cool. He was always Cool.”
At the beginning of his career, dark-haired Darren received excellent reviews for the lead role in Don’t let anyone write my epitaph (1960) – in which he plays the son of a gangster who is influenced by Humphrey Bogart’s character in “The Knock on every door — and for his portrayal of the Greek soldier Spyros Pappadimos in The Guns of Navarone (1961).
Although he couldn’t surf, the Philadelphia native landed the role of Moondoggie (real name: Jerry Matthews) alongside three actresses as a precocious teenager from Malibu: Sandra Dee in Gidget (1959), Deborah Walley in Gidget goes to Hawaii (1961) and Cindy Carol in Gidget goes to Rome (1963).
Darren then went on to star as the headstrong Dr. Tony Newman, an electronics genius, in the 1966-67 ABC adventure series The time tunnelalso starring Robert Colbert. (Tom Hanks once said it was his favorite show as a child.)
In an interview with Tom Weaver for the 2008 book I spoke to a zombieDarren said he was not interested in doing television or science fiction before agreeing to a meeting with the creator of The time tunnelIrwin Allen.
Allen told him, “This is something you have to do. I know you don’t want to do it, but I think you’re perfect for this role and he convinced me,” Darren recalled. “Irwin was one of the greatest salesmen of our time. I accepted the role based on my meeting with him.”
Fifteen years later, Darren joined the William Shatner ABC action drama TJ Hooker In the second season he plays Officer Jim Corrigan alongside Heather Locklear as his inexperienced partner Stacy Sheridan.
Darren first directed in 1986, as a stand-in in the final season of TJ Hookerand he directed episodes of hunter, Silk stalking, Melrose Square, werewolf, The A-Team And Beverly Hills, 90210.
He also played the rich Tony Marlin in the Fox series Melrose Squarewhere he reunited with Locklear.
Darren’s greatest success as a singer came with the Gloria Shayne-written “Goodbye Cruel World,” which reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1961. (Darren sang a version of the song, about a man whose heart is broken by a “mean, fickle woman,” on an episode of The Donna Reed Show this year.)
In 1962 he made it into the top 10 again with “Her Royal Majesty”, written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin. And in the early 1970s he sang and played the serious man in a lounge act with comedian Buddy Hackett.
Darren revived his singing career in the late 1990s when he appeared in several episodes of the syndicated series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as holographic lounge singer Vic Fontaine, a role he described as “one of the most entertaining” he has ever played.
Several of his Frank Sinatra-style performances were recorded for the 1999 album This comes from the heart.
After many years away from the spotlight, Darren impressed as the husband of a bar owner in Harry Dean Stanton’s last film. Happy (2017).
James William Ercolani was born on June 8, 1936. He grew up on South 10th Street in South Philadelphia. Eddie Fisher, another Philly native, inspired him to become a singer and actor, and he commuted to New York to take acting lessons with Stella Adler.
While he was in town, the owner of a photography shop put him in touch with Columbia Pictures talent scout Joyce Selznick (the niece of David O. Selznick), and he subsequently signed a contract with the studio.
Darren made his film debut as a high school student and gang member alongside Robert Blake in the crime drama Rumble on the Docks (1956), followed by roles in Operation Mad Ball, The Rico brothers And The Tijuana Story in 1957 and Gunman’s Walk in ’58.
The Gidget films made him extremely popular with young ladies.
“The decisive moment was when I was in a studio in San Francisco and word got around that I was there,” he recalled in a 2015 interview with Los Angeles Magazine. “Thousands of girls were screaming outside the door. When I had to leave the building, they threw me to the ground and ripped out strands of my hair. The police had to rescue me and took me to the roof until the situation calmed down.”
To get the Gidget gig, Darren had to convince producers he could sing. “They wanted to use someone else’s voice, but I told them I could sing,” he said. “We went to one of the sound stages with a piano player and I sang the song and they said, ‘He can do it.’ Then they signed me to their label, Colpix.”
Darren also appeared in All young men (1960), Diamond head (1962), Under the Yum Yum Tree (1963) and For those who think young (1964).
He sang “Almost in Your Arms” at the 1959 Academy Awards and “It’s All Crazy” at the 1964 Academy Awards; appeared as Yogi Bear in a 1964 cartoon; and sang a number in an episode of The Flintstones.
He also played the best friend alongside Sal Mineo in The Gene Krupa Story (1959), played a car mechanic in The lively set (1964) and ventured to Italy to Venus in Fur (1969) with Barbara McNair.
Darren was married to his childhood sweetheart Gloria Terlitsky from 1955 until their divorce in 1958, and to Evy Norlund, a former Miss Denmark, from 1960 until his death. He lived for decades in a house on Kimridge Road in Beverly Ridge Estates that had belonged to Audrey Hepburn.
In addition to his wife and Moret, he leaves behind his other sons Christian and Anthony, his grandchildren Amanda, Carly, Matthew, Natalie and Nicholas, and his goddaughter AJ Lambert, the daughter of Nancy Sinatra.
Over the years, Darren has met many fans of his music, some unexpectedly.
“I was at a pizzeria with a friend one day. I heard a motorcycle arrive and Bruce Springsteen came in, wearing his little motorcycle cap like Brando wore. The Wild – I guess he left his helmet outside,” he recalled in conversation with Weaver. “I said, ‘Oh, I have to say hello to him.’
“I went up to him and said, ‘Hi, I don’t want to interrupt you, but my name is James Darren. I just want to tell you that I’m a huge fan. I love all your stuff.’ And he said, ‘James Darren? I bought ‘Goodbye Cruel World’ in Freehold, New Jersey.’ Isn’t that sweet?”
Duane Byrge contributed to this report.
