‘Gidget’ and ‘T.J. Hooker’ Star Was 88

James Darren has died on the age of 88. The actor was greatest recognized for his function within the 1959 movie Gidget, in addition to his TV function a long time afterward T.J. Hooker. In the beginning of his profession, Darren was thought of to be a teen idol.

In line with an announcement on his web site, the actor died in his sleep at Cedars-Sinai Medical Heart in Los Angeles on Monday, Sept. 2.

His son, Inside Version correspondent Jim Moret, advised The Hollywood Reporter that his father went to the hospital for an aortic valve substitute however was deemed too weak to have the surgical procedure.

“I all the time thought he would pull by way of as a result of he was so cool. He was all the time cool,” Moret advised the outlet. PEOPLE reached out to Moret’s consultant for remark.

Darren, born James Ercolani, was born in Philadelphia in 1936. His mother and father had been Italian immigrants, and he spent extra time entering into bother exterior faculty then hitting the books. “I used to be a Dennis the Menace type, not a nasty child,” he advised PEOPLE in 1983. After dropping out of college at 16, he started pursuing appearing and was found by a expertise scout.

The Philadelphia native studied below legendary appearing coach Stella Adler in New York earlier than signing with Columbia Photos and making his movement image debut within the 1956 drama Rumble on the Docks, per his web site. Although the film was low-budget, Darren started receiving a number of fan mail. In 1957, he appeared in Operation Mad Ball, The Brothers Rico and The Tijuana Story, and in 1958, he appeared in Gunman’s Stroll.

His greatest function got here in 1959’s Gidget. Sandra Dee starred because the titular hero within the surfer flick, with Darren as her love curiosity, a surfer nicknamed “Moondoggie.” The movie grew to become an enormous success and pushed California surf tradition and the movie’s stars into the mainstream. 

Fame wasn’t all the time enjoyable for Darren. “One time in San Francisco, I used to be on a dance-party TV present and a whole bunch of women mobbed the studio, took the glass door proper off, dragged me exterior, down on the bottom, pulling hairs out of my head for souvenirs,” he advised PEOPLE. “I used to be terrified. Tears had been streaming down my face from the ache of getting my hair pulled out.” 

The film additionally led to his singing profession. Darren sang the title monitor for the movie, and its success led him to file and launch extra songs, together with his greatest hit, 1961’s “Goodbye Merciless World,” which peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Scorching 100.

Darren reprised the function in 1961’s Gidget Goes Hawaiian and 1963’s Gidget Goes to Rome — despite the fact that the actress who performed Gidget modified every time, with Deborah Walley and Cindy Carol, respectively, enjoying the character within the sequels. “They’d me below contract,” he defined to Leisure Weekly in 2004. “I used to be a prisoner. However with these pretty younger women, it was the very best jail I believe I’ll ever be in.”

Darren performed teen idols on The Donna Reed Present and The Flintstones, and appeared in motion pictures together with The Gene Krupa Story, The Weapons of Navarone, Diamond Head, The Vigorous Set and Venus in Furs. In 1966, he landed the starring function on the science-fiction TV collection The Time Tunnel, which ran for one season. 

Within the Nineteen Seventies, Darren made a collection of TV appearances, together with on Charlie’s Angels, Police Story, Hawaii 5-O, Vegas, The Love Boat and Fantasy Island. He additionally continued to carry out music, and was the host of PBS’s interview present Portrait of a Legend. 

From 1983 to 1986, Darren starred on the police drama T. J. Hooker alongside William Shatner and Heather Locklear. He bought the half due to a pal who was a producer on the collection, who had them write the function of Officer Jim Corrigan for him.

“I get panicky after I do not work,” he advised PEOPLE. “I wish to really feel like a standard individual with a standard job.” He additionally hoped the present would enhance his title and face recognition past Gidget. “I get dissatisfied when somebody does not know me from different issues I’ve carried out.”

Darren additionally directed an episode of T.J. Hooker and went on to direct episodes of Melrose Place, Beverly Hills, 90210, Walker Texas Ranger and Werewolf.

In 1998, he started showing on Star Trek: Deep House 9 as Vic Fontaine, a holographic singer who additionally gave out romantic recommendation. The Rat Pack-style character was initially written for Frank Sinatra, Jr., after which was supplied to Steve Lawrence earlier than Darren landed the function.

However Darren initially didn’t wish to play one other singer. His agent urged him to truly learn the script. “In fact, I did learn the script and, in fact, I did like it,” he advised StarTrek.com in 2019. “It was only a nice function. Vic Fontaine was like — what can I say? — it was a dream come true for me. It was one of the pleasant roles for me to have performed.”

“If he’d been only a singer, I wouldn’t have loved it one-tenth as a lot as I did,” he defined, including that he grew to become very shut with the remainder of the forged whereas filming the episodes during which he appeared.

Darren married Gloria Terlitsky, his childhood sweetheart, in 1955. They welcomed a son, Jim, in 1956. They divorced in 1958. Jim, a journalist, was adopted by Gloria’s third husband and took the final title Moret.

In 1960, he married Evy Norlund, a former Miss Denmark. They welcomed two sons: Christian in 1960 and Anthony in 1964.

Darren was additionally the godfather to Nancy Sinatra‘s daughter.

“Certainly one of my dearest, closest buddies in all of the world, of all my life has handed away,” Sinatra wrote in a tribute on X,

“Godfather to my daughter, AJ. Wishing him a quick & stunning journey by way of the Universe & past. Godspeed, candy Jimmy. My coronary heart is torn however full of affection for Evy, Christian, Anthony & Jimmy Jr,” her assertion continued.

Though Darren typically needed to outrun his Gidget days, he admitted to the Los Angeles Occasions in 2019 that when he carried out his one-man reveals, it was all the time his Gidget tales that bought the largest response.

“Gidget was, you understand, I used to be so lucky to get that function as a result of whenever you do a film or a TV collection, no matter, the character you play is what folks fall in love with or hate,” he mentioned in an interview. “Both one. And fortuitously for me, fortuitously they fell in love with Moondoggie.”

Darren is survived by his spouse and youngsters.