Another icon of the Baby Boom era has passed away. Whether you knew him as Moondoggie from the Gidget movies, Anthony Newman from The Time Tunnel, James Corrigan on T.J. Hooker, or Vic Fontaine on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, James Darren had an acting and singing career few of his generation equaled. He died on Labor Day Monday of heart failure.
Born in 1936 and raised in Philadelphia, James Ercolani moved to New York and changed his name to James Darren in an attempt to launch an acting career. He was discovered by talent agent, Joyce Selznick, who brought him to Hollywood and got him signed to Columbia Pictures.
After starring in a few B-movies for the studio, Darren got his big break when he was cast as Jeff “Moondoggie” Matthews in the proto-surfer film, Gidget, opposite Sandra Dee. While Dee did not appear in either of the Gidget sequels, Darren played Moondoggie in all three, never once remarking that his girlfriend seemed to look different in every picture.
He was launched into a singing career he never really planned on when he volunteered to sing the title tune for the first Gidget film. The studio was pleased with his vocals and began marketing him as a teen idol in the early 1960s. His “Goodbye Cruel World” hit #3 in 1961 on the Billboard Hot 100. His follow-up, “Her Royal Majesty,” peaked at #6.
Despite that success, Darren mostly focused on his acting career. Choosing not to renew his contract with Columbia, he moved over to Universal Studios in 1963 where Irwin Allen cast him as one of the leads in his science-fiction series The Time Tunnel. While that show only lasted a single season, it was a hit with the Baby Boomers.
For the next several years, Darren found steady work as both a singer and a frequent guest star on TV series like Love, American Style, Hawaii Five-O, and Fantasy Island.
His next big break came in 1983 when he was cast in a recurring role on the TV cop series T.J. Hooker. That show also allowed Darren to develop a third career as a director. His directing credits include episodes of action series like Hunter, The A-Team, Silk Stalkings, Renegade, and Nowhere Man, as well as dramas such as Beverly Hills, 90210, and Melrose Place.
In 1998, Darren became a holographic lounge singer on the series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In turn, the series led to a revival of his singing career as he released two albums in the style of classic crooners like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett.
Darren was married to a former Miss Denmark, Eve Norlund, from 1960 until the time of his death. He also was father to three children.
