David McCallum, who rose to fame as an adolescent idol in the 1960s blockbuster series The Man From U.N.C.L.E. and subsequently played the quirky medical examiner in the famous NCIS, has died. He was 90.
McCallum died Monday of natural causes at New York Presbyterian Hospital, surrounded by family, CBS stated in a statement.
“David was a gifted actor and author who was well-liked by people all over the world.” He had a wonderful life, and his legacy will carry on through his family and the many hours on film and television that will never be forgotten,” CBS stated in a statement.
McCallum, who was born in Scotland, has previously been in films such as A Night to Remember (about the Titanic), The Great Escape, and The Greatest Story Ever Told (as Judas). But it was The Man From U.N.C.L.E. that made the blond actor with the Beatles-style hairstyle famous in the mid-1960s.
The popularity of the James Bond novels and films kicked off a chain reaction, with secret agents appearing on both big and small screens. According to Jon Heitland’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Book, Bond creator Ian Fleming provided several ideas when The Man From U.N.C.L.E. was being created.
The programme, which premiered in 1964, featured Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo, an agent in a covert, high-tech unit of crime fighters known as the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. Despite the Cold War, the CIA featured a multinational personnel, including McCallum as Solo’s Russian sidekick, Illya Kuryakin.
McCallum noted that the job was initially minor, noting in a 1998 interview that “I’d never heard of the word’sidekick’ before.”
The sitcom received negative reviews but soon gained popularity, especially among adolescent females drawn to McCallum’s beautiful features and enigmatic, intelligent persona. Illya had become a complete companion to Vaughn’s character by 1965, and both performers were swarmed during personal appearances.
The show ran until 1968. Vaughn and McCallum returned in 1983 for a sentimental TV movie, “The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E.,” in which the agents were enticed to come out of retirement to rescue the world once again.
McCallum returned to television in 2003 in another series with the initials NCIS on CBS. He portrayed Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard, a bookish pathologist for the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, which investigates crimes involving the Navy or the Marine Corps. Mark Harmon portrayed the NCIS director.
Ducky, who wore spectacles and a bow tie and had a thing for gorgeous ladies, “looked a little silly,” McCallum recalled, “but it was great fun to do.” He, too, took the task seriously, spending time at the Los Angeles coroner’s office learning about autopsies.
“You were the kindest man,” co-star Lauren Holly said on X, previously Twitter. Thank you for being who you are.” In honour of McCallum, the already scheduled 20th anniversary NCIS marathon on Monday night will now feature a “in memoriam” card.
The series progressively grew in popularity, finally making the top ten list. When NCIS was in production, McCallum, who resided in New York, stayed in a one-bedroom flat in Santa Monica.
“He was a scholar and a gentleman, always gracious, a consummate professional, and never missed an opportunity to crack a joke.” It was an honour to work with him from the start, and he never let us down. He was just a legend, said NCIS executive producers Steven D. Binder and David North in a statement.
McCallum’s performance on U.N.C.L.E. earned him two Emmy nominations, and he received a third as an instructor suffering with alcoholism in Teacher, Teacher, a 1969 Hallmark Hall of Fame drama.
He portrayed The Invisible Man, a short-lived science fiction series, in 1975, and Steel in Sapphire and Steel, a British science fiction series, from 1979 to 1982. He has featured in a number of TV series throughout the years, including Murder, She Wrote and Sex and the City.
McCallum, who was mostly based in the United States since the 1960s, was a longstanding American citizen, telling The Associated Press in 2003, “I have always loved the freedom of this country and everything it stands for.” And I live here, and I like voting here.”
In 1933, David Keith McCallum was born in Glasgow. His parents were also musicians; his father, also called David, was a violinist, while his mother was a cellist. When David was three years old, his family relocated to London, where David Sr. performed with the London Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic.
David was a student at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied the oboe. He felt he wasn’t talented enough and switched to theatre, temporarily studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. “I was a small, emaciated blond with a caved chest, so there weren’t an awful lot of parts for me,” he said in a 2009 interview with the Los Angeles Times.
After serving in the military, he returned to London and started working on live television and in films. In 1957, he co-starred in Robbery Under Arms, an adventure set in early Australia, with rising actress Jill Ireland. That following year, the pair married.
Ireland finally fell in love with Bronson and she and McCallum separated in 1967. In 1968, she married Bronson.
McCallum’s first marriage produced three boys, Paul, Jason, and Valentine, as well as a son and daughter, Peter and Sophie, from his second marriage. Jason died as a result of an overdose.
“He was a true Renaissance man, fascinated by science and culture and turning his passions into knowledge.” “For example, based on his decades-long studies for his role on NCIS, he was capable of conducting a symphony orchestra and (if necessary) could actually perform an autopsy,” Peter McCallum said in a statement.
McCallum told a reporter in 2007 while working on NCIS, “I’ve always felt the harder I work, the luckier I get.” I believe in fortuitous events, but I also feel that committing yourself to what you do is the greatest way to move forward in life.”
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