Darren McGavin

A remarkably seasoned actor of stage, screen and television, Darren
McGavin has notched in excess of 200 performances; however, he is most
fondly remembered by cult TV fans as heroic newspaper reporter Carl
Kolchak in the classic but short-lived horror TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974). In a
long and varied career, McGavin has often turned up as authority
figures including policemen, military officers, stern-faced business
executives or father figures; however, he is equally adept at
light-hearted comedic performances.Darren McGavin was born William Lyle Richardson on May 7, 1922, in Spokane, Washington, to Grace Mitton (Bogart) and Reed D. Richardson. His mother was from Ontario, Canada. He received his dramatic arts training at New York's Neighborhood
Playhouse and the Actors Studio, and debuted on screen in an uncredited
role in A Song to Remember (1945). Several standard roles followed over the next decade
before he landed the key role of Louie the drug pusher in The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) and
Capt. Russ Peters in The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955), both directed by Otto Preminger. Each of these
performances showcased McGavin's versatility, and his virile looks
scored him the role of Mickey Spillane's hard-boiled private eye in Mike Hammer (1958).McGavin stayed continually employed throughout the 1960s, appearing in
such films as The Great Sioux Massacre (1965), The Outsider (1967), The Challengers (1970) and The Tribe (1970). In addition, he
was regularly guest-starring in dozens of TV shows, including Gunsmoke (1955),
Dr. Kildare (1961), Mission: Impossible (1966) and The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964). In 1971 he landed the role of cynical
reporter Carl Kolchak in the low-budget horror thriller The Night Stalker (1972), about
a vampire running amok in Las Vegas. The film was a monster ratings
winner (pun intended!) and the highest-rated telemovie of 1972, and
original scriptwriters were soon hard at work on a punchier sequel.
The Night Strangler (1973) saw Kolchak in Seattle (after being booted out of Las Vegas by
the police), and this time on the trail of a serial killer seeking the
elixir of eternal youth. The second movie was equally successful, and
spawned the short-lived TV series Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) with Simon Oakland as McGavin's
long-suffering editor and a host of weekly guest stars including
Jim Backus, Phil Silvers, Richard Kiel, Tom Skerritt, Scatman Crothers and Larry Storch."Kolchak" only lasted one season, but it became a bona-fide cult
classic, and many years later its premise of "the unknown amongst us"
inspired writer Chris Carter to create the phenomenally successful
long-running TV series The X-Files (1993), which saw McGavin guest-star in several
episodes.McGavin remained busy throughout the rest of the 1970s and into the
1980s, appearing in Airport '77 (1977), as Gen. George S. Patton in the TV miniseries
Ike: The War Years (1979), alongside Rock Hudson in the uneven sci-fi miniseries The Martian Chronicles (1980) and
a few years later endeared himself to to a whole new generation of fans
with his superb performance as the vitriolic, yet buffoonish, father in
the delightful Christmas classic A Christmas Story (1983). The always versatile McGavin
also popped up as a detective in Turk 182 (1985), assisted Arnold Schwarzenegger in cleaning
up the mob in Raw Deal (1986) and was a doctor in the bizarre zombie/cop/zombie
cop film Dead Heat (1988).At this point it's worth mentioning that, along with his film and TV
work, McGavin has also enjoyed an illustrious career on the stage, with
appearances in dozens of critically acclaimed productions across the
length and breadth of the US. He has appeared in stage presentations of
"Death of a Salesman", "The Rainmaker", "The King and I" and "Blood
Sweat & Stanley Poole", to name a few.In 1990 the opportunity arose for McGavin to play another somewhat
stern, yet comedic, father figure, this time as "Bill Brown" to Candice Bergen
in the much loved sitcom Murphy Brown (1988). McGavin was again wonderful, and his
entertaining performances resulted in an Emmy Award nomination in 1990. Several
other film roles followed in the 1990s, in such films as Adam Sandler's hit
Billy Madison (1995). He died on 25th February 2006 at the age of 83.