James Darren, a 1950s teen idol and singer who starred in a series of “Gidget” movies in the early 1960s and later on TV series “T.J. Hooker,” “’Star Trek: Deep Space Nine” and “Melrose Place,” has died.. He was 88.
According to Hollywoodreporter.com Darren died in his sleep at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where, according to his family, he was seeking treatment for a heart ailment.
Darren, born James William Ercolani on June 8, 1936, in South Philadelphia, found fame in the late 1950s as an aspiring singer and actor along with a slew of fellow South Philly pals including Frankie Avalon, Eddie Fisher, Al Martino, Fabian Forte and Bobby Rydell. Early song hits included “Goodbye Cruel World” in 1958, and “Her Royal Majesty” in 1963.
Jimmy Darren; I worked with him for several years and then we’d see each other on occasion. What a wonderful man – so talented; so loving.
I had the best time with him. The world is less because of his loss.
— William Shatner (@WilliamShatner) September 3, 2024
In 1959, Darren, who studied acting in New York under the auspices of the legendary Stella Adler, was soon cast as Jeff “Moondoggie” Matthews in the movie “Gidget,” playing a California surfer opposite Sandra Dee’s title ingenue. The role, which he would reprise for two more films in the franchise — “Gidget Goes Hawaiian” In 1961 and “Gidget Goes to Rome” in 1963 — made him a bona fide teen idol.
Darren had roles in films such as “The Guns of Navarone” (1961) and “The Gene Krupa Story” (1960). But his film career waned and he found new success on the small screen in 1966 with the Irwin Allen series “The Time Tunnel.” In the mid-1980s, he starred as a rookie Los Angeles police officer Jim Corrigan, earning his stripes opposite William Shatner’s veteran sergeant and title character in “T.J. Hooker.”
Throughout his acting career, Darren also pursued his other passion, singing, headlining across the country and in many of Chicago’s biggest nightclubs of the time. He peformed pop favorites as well as the Great American Songbook, inspired by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and others of the era.
In an interview with the Sun-Times in 1999, Darren talked about his earliest singing gigs.
“I started singing long before I became an actor. My father would take me to dives and strip joints in South Philly — anywhere that would allow a 14-year-old kid to sing in those days. And I truly loved it. I mean, I’d be singing and they’d be sitting out there in the dark, talking, smoking and drinking, and not hearing a word I was singing. And that was OK, because I learned to just sing for myself. Sometimes I was lucky to have a trio of musicians behind me, sometimes just a saxplayer. It was great.”
In 1999, Darren released “This One’s From the Heart,” a collection of classic crooner anthems. It came on the heels of his role as the Sinatra-style hologram, lounge singer Vic Fontaine, on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.”
Darren is survived by his wife of 64 years Evy Norlund, three sons (including “Inside Edition” correspondent Jim Moret) and numerous grandchildren.