James Darren, the former teen idol and pop singer who played dreamy surfer Moondoggie in three Gidget films before starring on television in The Time Tunnel AND Prostitute TJdied on Monday. He was 88 years old.
Darren died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his son Jim Moret, a correspondent for Internal editionsaid The Hollywood Reporter.
Early in his career, the dark-haired Darren received rave reviews for his roles in Let no one write my epitaph (1960) — plays the son of a hoodlum defended by Humphrey Bogart's character in the 1949 film Knock on any door — and for playing the Greek soldier Spyros Pappadimos in The Guns of Navarone (1961).
Despite not knowing how to surf, the Philadelphia native landed the role of Moondoggie (real name: Jerry Matthews) alongside three actresses as the precocious Malibu teenager: Sandra Dee in Gidget (1959), Deborah Walley in Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) and Cindy Carol in Gidget Goes to Rome (1963).
Darren then went on to make history 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 kid.)
In an interview with Tom Weaver for the 2008 book I talked to a zombieDarren said he had no interest in doing television or science fiction before agreeing to a meeting with the creator of The Time TunnelIrwin Allen.
Allen said to 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 sold me on it,” Darren recalled. “Irwin was one of the great salesmen of our time. I took the role because of my meeting with him.”
Fifteen years later, Darren joined the cast of William Shatner's ABC action drama Prostitute TJ in its second season, playing Agent Jim Corrigan alongside Heather Locklear as his inexperienced partner, Stacy Sheridan.
Darren first directed in 1986 as an emergency replacement during the final season of Prostitute TJand went on to direct episodes of Soccer player, Silk Stalking, Melrose Place, Werewolf, The A team AND Beverly Hills, 90210.
He also played wealthy Tony Marlin in the Fox series Melrose Placeduring which he reunited with Locklear.
Darren's biggest hit as a singer came with the song “Goodbye Cruel World” written by Gloria Shayne, which reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1961. (Darren performed a version of the tune, about a man whose heart is broken by a “bad, fickle woman,” on an episode of The Donna Reed Show that year.)
He returned to the top 10 in 1962 with “Her Royal Majesty,” written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin. And in the early '70s, he sang and played the serious man in a lounge act with comedian Buddy Hackett.
Darren resumed his singing career in the late 90's when he appeared in several episodes of the syndicated series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as holographic lounge singer Vic Fontaine, a role he called “one of the funniest” he's ever played.
Many 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 made a splash playing the husband of a bar owner in Harry Dean Stanton's latest film, Lucky (2017).
James William Ercolani was born on June 8, 1936. Raised on South 10th Street in South Philadelphia, he was inspired by another Philly native, Eddie Fisher, to become a singer and actor, and moved to New York to study acting with Stella Adler.
While in town, a photography shop owner put him in touch with Joyce Selznick (granddaughter of David O. Selznick), a talent scout for Columbia Pictures, with whom he signed a contract.
Darren made his film debut as a high school senior and gang member opposite Robert Blake in the crime drama Brawl on the docks (1956), followed by roles in Operation Mad Ball, The Rico Brothers AND The History of Tijuana in 1957 and The Gunslinger's Walk in '58.
Gidget's films made him extremely popular among young women.
“The turning point was when I was in 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 outside. When I had to leave the building, they threw me to the ground and pulled out chunks of my hair. The police had to save me and took me to the roof until things calmed down.”
To get the job as Gidget, Darren had to convince the producers that he could sing. “They were going to use someone else's voice, but I told them I could sing,” he said. “We went to one of the soundstages with a piano player and I sang the song and they said, 'He can do it.' Then they put me on their label, Colpix.”
Darren has also been heard performing in All the young people (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 a Mad Mad Mad Mad World” on the 1964 Oscar telecast; played Yogi Bear in a 1964 animated film; and did a routine in a 1965 episode of The Flintstones.
He also played the best friend opposite Sal Mineo in The Story of Gene Krupa (1959), played the role of a mechanic in The lively set (1964) and ventured to Italy to direct Venus in Fur (1969) with Barbara McNair.
Darren was married to childhood sweetheart Gloria Terlitsky from 1955 until their 1958 divorce 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 been owned by Audrey Hepburn.
In addition to Moret, survivors include his other sons, Christian and Anthony, and his goddaughter AJ Lambert, daughter of Nancy Sinatra.
Over the years, Darren has met many fans of his music, some of them unexpected.
“One day I was at a pizza place with a friend of mine. I heard a motorcycle pull up, and Bruce Springsteen came in with his biker hat, like the one Brando wore in The wild one — I guess he left his helmet outside,” she recalled in her chat with Weaver. “I said, 'Oh, I have to go say hello to him.'
“I walked up to him and said, 'Hi, I don't mean to interrupt, but my name is James Darren. I just wanted to tell you that I'm a huge fan of yours. 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.