James Darren
| James Darren | |
|---|---|
Darren in 2015
|
|
| Born |
James William Ercolani June 8, 1936 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Years active | 1956–2001 |
| Known for | Actor, singer, teen idol |
| Notable work | Moondoggie in Gidget Tony Newman in The Time Tunnel Vic Fontaine in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine |
| Spouse(s) | Evy Norlund (1960–present) (2 children) Gloria Terlitsky (1955–1958) (divorced) (1 son) |
| Children |
Jim Moret Christian Darren Anthony Darren (b. 1963) |
James William Ercolani (born June 8, 1936), known by his stage name James Darren, is an Italian-American television and film actor, television director, and singer.
Born in Philadelphia, on June 8, 1936, Darren began his career as a teen idol, having been discovered by talent agent and casting director Joyce Selznick. Darren later described it:
I was studying acting in New York City with Stella Adler. I'd been studying with her for a couple of years. I went to see some agents in New York and they said in order to get work, you need to have photographs taken. As I was walking down Broadway after class one day, I saw this photographer's studio, Maurice Seymour. I went in and had pictures taken. I went back to look at the proofs and his secretary, a woman by the name of Yvonne Bouvier, asked me if I was interested in getting into film. I said yeah, I was. She said I know someone you should meet. She set up a meeting between me and Joyce Selznick, who worked for Screen Gems. I went down to 1650 Broadway, the Brill Building. On my way to a meeting with Joyce, we just happened to get on the elevator at the same time. She kept staring at me. I never met her. She never met me. We got off at the same floor and walked to the same office. That was our meeting. Joyce brought me over to Columbia Pictures about a week later and got me a contract there.
A few weeks later Darren was cast in the lead of Rumble on the Docks (1956). This got him a lot of fan mail and the studio cast him in The Brothers Rico and Gunman's Walk.
He notably played Moondoggie in Gidget in 1959, and recorded a string of pop hits for Colpix Records, the biggest of which was "Goodbye Cruel World" (#3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961). It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Another sizeable hit was "Her Royal Majesty" (#6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1962). He is also featured in one of the Scopitone series of pop music video jukebox films ("Because You're Mine").
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Wikipedia