Tuesday, September 3, 2024

SO LONG, JAMES DARREN

You became a legend by becoming a singer, an actor ... a teen idol.

And your string of success solidifies that durable status: The Guns of Navarone; Diamond Head; Gunman's Walk; Venus in Furs; Gidget; Gidget Goes Hawaiian; Gidget Goes to Rome (in all three instances as the affectionate Moondoogie); Because They're Young; For Those Who Think Young; All the Young Men; The Boss' SonThe Lively Set; The Brothers Rico; The Tijuana Story; Rumble on the Docks; Operation Mad Ball; The Gene Krupa Story; Let No Man Write My Epitaph; That's Life; Random Acts; Turnover Smith; The Lives of Jenny Logan; Lucky; and City Beneath the Sea (as part of your lengthy link with producer Irwin Allen); as well as Hey There! It's Yogi Bear and Under the Yum Yum Tree (for the former, doing Yogi's singing and for the latter, supplying the title track). 

Television also proved rewarding to you, with a popular, animated stint on The Flintstones and guest spots on Charlie's Angels; Fantasy Island; The Love Boat; Vegas; Hawaii Five-O; S.W.A.T.; Police Woman; Police Story; Diagnosis: Murder; Black Sheep Squadron (Baa Baa Black Sheep); The Feather and Father Gang; Raven; RenegadeThe Web; The Lineup; The Donna Reed Show; Love, American Style; Scruples; and One Day at a Time. You were also a regular on T.J. Hooker, as Officer James Corrigan, and reappeared as crooner Vic Fontaine on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. You also hosted Portrait of a Legend and directed episodes of Nowhere Man; The A-TeamSilk Stalkings; Beverly Hills 90210;  Melrose Place; and the aforementioned Renegade

In addition, there's Allen's Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea and the pilot, The Man from the 25th Century, but when it came to specific, Allen lore, your big claim to fame has always been The Time Tunnel, where your character, Tony Newman embarked with Robert Colbert's Doug Phillips on exciting, historical jaunts, including even ones into the far future. 

When all is said and done, you did it all, Mr. Darren, achieving more than what most dream of, by perpetually hitting the mark through your unfailing heart and soul. 

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