He appeared as the tough-talking, funny detective in the 1950s television series Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer.
BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
Full Name: William Lyle Richardson
Description: Actor, USA
Known For: Actor known for his TV series – MICKEY SPILLAINS MIKE HAMMER
Location: United States of America
Date Born: 7th May 1922
Location Born: Spokane, Washington, United States of America
Date Died: 25th February 2006
Location Died: Los Angeles, California, United States of America
Memorial: His remains are interred in Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
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BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE
Darren McGavin
An American actor best known for playing the title role in the television horror series Kolchak: The Night Stalker and his portrayal in the film A Christmas Story of the grumpy father given to bursts of profanity that he never realizes his son overhears.
He appeared as the tough-talking, funny detective in the 1950s television series Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer.
From 1959-1961, McGavin starred in the NBC western series Riverboat, first with Burt Reynolds and then with Noah Beery, Jr.
McGavin worked as a painter in the paint crew at the Columbia Pictures movie studios in 1945. When an opening became available for a bit part in A Song to Remember, the movie set on which he was working, McGavin applied for the role. He was hired for it, and that was his first foray into movie acting. He had spent a year at University of the Pacific in Stockton, California.
Shortly afterwards, he moved to New York City and spent a decade learning the acting craft in TV and the plays there. McGavin studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse and the Actors Studio under the famous teacher Sanford Meisner and began working in live TV drama and on Broadway.
A few of the plays in which he starred included The Rainmaker (where he created the title role on Broadway), The King and I and Death of a Salesman.
McGavin returned to Hollywood and became a busy actor in a wide variety of TV and movie roles; in 1955 he broke through with roles in the films Summertime and The Man with the Golden Arm.
Over the course of his career, McGavin starred in seven different TV series and guest-starred in many more; these roles on television increased in the late 1950s and early 1960s with leading parts in series such as Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer and Riverboat.
McGavin held a black belt in traditional Japanese karate and the series is notable for Mcgavin doing many of his own stunts and for the “enthusiasm” he put into some of the fight scenes, sometimes forgetting to pull his punches and “ad-libbing” moves, much as did Robert Conrad years later in The Wild, Wild West.
McGavin made an uncredited appearance in 1984’s The Natural as a shady gambler and appeared on a Christmas episode (“Midnight of the Century”) of Millennium, playing the long-estranged father of Frank Black (Lance Henriksen); he also appeared as Adam Sandler’s hotel-magnate father in the 1995 movie Billy Madison.
During the filming of The Natural, Robert Redford was so pleased with McGavin’s portrayal of his character that they began to expand the role.
After haggling on salary, and holding up production of the movie because of it, the billing had to be decided. McGavin became somewhat fed up with the proceedings and instructed his agent to waive his billing entirely so they could get back to filming.
Darren McGavin died in 2006 at the age of 83 in a Los Angeles hospital.
Films include:
A Song to Remember (1945)
Counter-Attack (1945)
Kiss and Tell (1945)
She Wouldn’t Say Yes (1946)
Fear (1946)
Queen for a Day (1951)
Summertime (1955)
The Man with the Golden Arm (1955)
The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955)
A Word to the Wives (1955)
The Delicate Delinquent (1957)
Beau James (1957)
The Case Against Brooklyn (1958)
Bullet for a Badman (1964)
The Great Sioux Massacre (1965)
African Gold (1966)
Mission Mars (1968)
Anatomy of a Crime (1969)
The Challenge (1970)
Tribes (1970)
Mooch Goes to Hollywood (1971)
Mrs. Pollifax – Spy (1971)
Happy Mother’s Day, Love George (1973) (also director and producer)
43: The Richard Petty Story (1974)
B Must Die (1975)
The Demon and the Mummy (1976)
No Deposit, No Return (1976)
Airport ’77 (1977)
Hot Lead and Cold Feet (1978)
Zero to Sixty (1978)
Hangar 18 (1980)
Firebird 2015 AD (1981)
A Christmas Story (1983)
The Natural (1984)
Turk 182 (1985)
Flag (1986)
Raw Deal (1986)
From the Hip (1987)
Dead Heat (1988)
Inherit the Wind (1988)
In the Name of Blood (1990)
Captain America (1991)
Blood and Concrete (1991)
Perfect Harmony (1991)
Happy Hell Night (1992)
Billy Madison (1995)
Still Waters Burn (1996)
Small Time (1996)
Pros and Cons (1999)
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