Darren McGavin

Darren McGavin (May 7, 1922 – February 25, 2006) was an American actor best known for playing the title role in the television horror series Kolchak: The Night Stalker, and also his portrayal in the movie A Christmas Story of the grumpy father given to bursts of profanity that he never realizes his son overhears. He also appeared as the tough-talking, funny detective in the TV series Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer.

Early life

McGavin was born William Lyle Richardson in Spokane, Washington, the son of Grace (née Bogart) and Reid Delano Richardson.^[1] However, some sources list his birthplace as San Joaquin, California. He graduated from Puyallup High School^[2]

In magazine interviews during the 1960s, he stated that his parents divorced when he was very young and that his father, not knowing what else to do, put him in an orphanage at the age of 11. McGavin began to run away, often sleeping on the docks and in warehouses. He ended up in three orphanages. The last one was a boy's home,the Dyslin Boys Ranch in Pierce County, Washington; which turned out to be a safe haven for McGavin. He lived there for a few years where there were farm chores assigned, along with several other boys who were abandoned like himself. McGavin said that the owners of the home helped him to establish a sense of pride and responsibility, and that this helped to turn his life around.

Career

Still untrained as an actor, McGavin worked as a painter in the paint crew at the Columbia Pictures movie studios in 1945. When an opening became available for a bit part in A Song to Remember, the movie set on which he was working, McGavin applied for the role. He was hired for it, and that was his first foray into movie acting. (He had spent a year at University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.) Shortly afterwards, he moved to New York City and spent a decade of learning the acting craft in TV and the plays there. McGavin studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse and the Actors Studio under the famous teacher Sanford Meisner and began working in live TV drama and on Broadway. A few of the plays in which he starred included The Rainmaker (where he created the title role on Broadway), The King and I and Death of a Salesman.

Darren McGavin-Mike Hammer Diamond Studio City Walk of Fame

McGavin returned to Hollywood and became a busy actor in a wide variety of TV and movie roles; in 1955 he broke through with roles in the films Summertime and The Man with the Golden Arm. Over the course of his career, McGavin starred in seven different TV series and guest-starred in many more; these roles on television increased in the late 1950s and early 1960s with leading parts in series such as Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer and Riverboat.

When the comedy team Martin and Lewis broke up as a result of Dean Martin's refusal to play a cop in a movie, McGavin played the role originally earmarked for Martin in The Delicate Delinquent, Jerry Lewis's first solo film. McGavin was also the top contender to replace Larry Hagman as the male lead of the television series I Dream of Jeannie.

McGavin was also known for his role as Sam Parkhill in the miniseries adaptation of The Martian Chronicles. He appeared as a fill-in regular in The Name of the Game in 1971 after Tony Franciosa was dismissed; he, Peter Falk, Robert Culp, and Robert Wagner stepped in to rotate in the lead role with Gene Barry and Robert Stack.

The first of his two best-known roles came in 1972, in the supernatural-themed TV movie The Night Stalker (1972). With McGavin playing a reporter who discovers the activities of a modern-day vampire on the loose in Las Vegas, the film became the highest-rated made-for-TV movie in history at that time; and when the sequel The Night Strangler (1973) also was a strong success, a subsequent television series Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) was made. In the series, McGavin played Carl Kolchak, an investigative reporter for a Chicago-based news service who regularly stumbles upon the supernatural or occult basis for a seemingly mundane crime; although his involvement routinely assisted in the dispelment of the otherworldly adversary, his evidence in the case was always destroyed or seized, usually by a public official or major social figure who sought to cover up the incident. He would write his ensuing stories in a sensational, tabloid style which advised readers that the true story was being withheld from them. Whereas Darren McGavin and the cast were enthusiastic towards their involvement within the series, controversy arose. Whereas McGavin reportedly entered into a verbal agreement with Sid Sheinberg (President of MCA and Universal TV) to produce "The Night Stalker" as a TV series through a coproduction between Universal and McGavin's Taurean Productions, early promises were never fulfilled, with McGavin expressing concern over the calibre of stories and lack of commitment of the network towards promoting the show.^[3]

Kolchak is acknowledged as being a main inspiration forThe X-Files, with McGavin being asked to play the role of Arthur Dales (the man who started the X-Files) in three episodes: Season 5's "Travelers" and two episodes from Season 6, "Agua Mala" and "The Unnatural". Unfortunately, failing health forced him to withdraw from the latter, and the script (written and directed by series star David Duchovny) was rewritten to feature M. Emmet Walsh as Dales's brother, also called Arthur.

In 1983, he starred as "Old Man Parker", the narrator's father, in the movie A Christmas Story. Opposite Melinda Dillon as the narrator's mother, he portrayed an ornery, irascible working-class father, in 1940 Hohman, Indiana^[4] who was endearing in spite of his being comically oblivious to his own use of profanity and completely unable to recognize his unfortunate taste for kitsch. Blissfully unaware of his family's embarrassment by his behavior, he took pride in his self-assessed ability to fix anything in record time, and carried on a tireless campaign against his neighbor's rampaging bloodhounds. McGavin allegedly received a fee of $2 million to play the role (according to the IMDB) making him one of the highest paid actors of the time.

McGavin made an uncredited appearance in 1984's The Natural as a shady gambler and appeared on a Christmas episode ("Midnight of the Century") of Millennium, playing the long-estranged father of Frank Black (Lance Henriksen); he also appeared as Adam Sandler's hotel-magnate father in the 1995 movie Billy Madison.

During the filming of The Natural, Robert Redford was so pleased with McGavin's portrayal of his character that they began to expand the role. However, after a certain point, union rules dictated that the actor's contract needed to be renegotiated for salary and billing. After haggling on salary, and holding up production of the movie because of it, the billing had to be decided. McGavin became somewhat fed up with the proceedings and instructed his agent to waive his billing entirely so they could get back to filming.

He won a CableACE Award (for the 1991 TV movie Clara) and received a 1990 Emmy Award as an Outstanding Guest Star in a Comedy Series on Murphy Brown, in which he played Murphy's father.

There was a brief and unsuccessful remake of the "Night Stalker" TV series in 2005 starring Stuart Townsend. In the initial episode aired on 9/29/05 McGavin appeared momentarily in the background, digitally cut-and-pasted from his role in the original series.

Personal life

McGavin was married twice in long-term marriages. The first, to Melanie York was on March 20, 1944 and ended in 1969. The marriage produced four children (Bogart, York, Megan, and Bridget McGavin). The second was to Kathie Browne on December 31, 1969, ending at her death on April 8, 2003.

On February 25, 2006, McGavin died of natural causes in a Los Angeles-area hospital.^[5]

He was buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Filmography

Television work

References

External links

• Official website
• Darren McGavin at the Internet Movie Database
• Darren McGavin at the Internet Broadway Database
• Darren McGavin at the TCM Movie Database
• BBC News - Tough-talking actor McGavin dies
• "Darren McGavin, Versatile Veteran Actor, Dies at 83". The New York Times. February 27, 2006. http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/27/arts/television/27mcgavin.html?ex=1298696400&en=44bc2169ac9c1346&ei=5090. 
• Darren McGavin at Find a Grave