Darren McGavin

At 83 years old, Darren McGavin has this physical status:

William Lyle Richardson (May 7, 1922 – February 25, 2006), better known as Darren McGavin, was an American actor.

He was well-known for his portrayals of worldly, often gruff characters. McGavin, a boy from Spokane, Washington, appeared to have been a child runaway who spent his later life in Tacoma squatting.

He began his film career by working as a set painter for Columbia Pictures, appearing in uncredited roles, and in a 1960 Chicago production of Death of a Salesman.

He appeared in My 3 Angels and The Rainmaker's Broadway debuts in 1954 and then went on to appear in another four Broadway productions before the end of the decade. McGavin began working in film, starring in David Lean's Summertime and The Man with the Golden Arm (both 1955).

He appeared in numerous television shows from 1958 to 1989, including Mike Hammer of the 1950s, then with Noah Beery Jr. McGavin, who went on to have a long career in television, first with Burt Reynolds and then as a protagonist in the television drama series Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974-1955).

Airport 77 (1977), Hot Lead and Cold Feet (1978), and Cold Feet (1978). McGavin appeared in Bob Clark's seasonal comedy A Christmas Story in 1983, portraying Mr. Parker, Ralphie Parker's father.

He appeared on various television shows from 1989 to 1992, as the title character's father, for which he was recognized for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.

He appeared in the horror film Happy Hell Night (1992) and Billy Madison (1995), opposite Adam Sandler, who played the father of the title character.

McGavin died in Los Angeles on February 25, 2006, at the age of 83.

Early life

William Lyle Richardson was born in Spokane, Washington, and was the only child of Grace (née Bogart) Watson and Reed D. Richardson. His parents divorced at the age of 11, and his father, who worked as a traveling salesman for a chemical company, was given custody. As William was a youth, his father boarded him with a family on Puget Sound near Tacoma while he was away from work. McGavin eventually moved away from the farm and joined a Native American family along the Nisqually River. His father was soon informed that he had fled, and McGavin briefly ignored police and welfare until his father enrolled him in a Catholic boarding school.

McGavin, a 16-year-old boy, left the boarding school and briefly lived as a runaway under San Francisco's wharf, before settling in with his mother and grandfather at their ranch in Southern California. McGavin, a high school student in California, aspired to be an architect, and after graduating at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, to study architecture, he was engaged. He later studied theatre at the HB Studio in New York City. During World War II, McGavin was refused military service because of his knees.

Personal life

McGavin was married three times. In 1942, he married Anita Marie Williams for the first time. He married Melanie York in March 1944; their union ended in divorce in 1969 and gave birth to four children. In December 1969, he married actress Kathie Browne, and she died in 2003.

McGavin was a stal liberal and a vocal Democrat.

McGavin bought an Alexander home in Palm Springs, California, in the Racquet Club Estates neighborhood.

Source

Career

McGavin, a student at the University of the Pacific, worked on a side project, designing scenery for a local theater company. He dropped out of college and started working as a painter at Columbia Pictures movie studios in 1945. McGavin applied and received his first film role as an opening for a bit in A Song to Remember. He migrated to New York City and studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse and the Actors Studio under teacher Sanford Meisner. He appeared in Death of a Salesman, a touring production starring Happy Lohman in 1949. In productions of My Three Angels and The Rainmaker (where he created the title role) opposite Geraldine Page, he appeared on Broadway in 1954. McGavin was also on several live theater shows that aired on television, such as Kraft Television Theatre and The United States Steel Hour while in New York.

McGavin was born in the early 1950s and appeared in the short film A Word to the Wives with Marsha Hunt, and he appeared in the feature films Summertime, opposite Katharine Hepburn and The Man with the Golden Arm (both 1955). McGavin appeared in two episodes in Alfred Hitchcock Presents, first in an episode titled "Triggers in Leash" and later in an episode titled "The Cheney Vase" as a scheming caretaker and aspiring art thief, opposite Carolyn Jones, Patricia Collinge, and Ruta Lee. He appeared in a scene of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour titled "A Matter of Murder" in 1964.

McGavin appeared in seven television series and appeared in many more over his career; television roles in television series such as Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer, in which he portrayed the title character from 1957 to 1959 were largely based on his career; these television appearances increased in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was later cast as Captain Grey Holden opposite Burt Reynolds in the Western series Riverboat, which aired from 1959 to 1961; Reynolds was later replaced by Noah Beery Jr. midway in the series due to differences between Reynolds and McGavin. Reynolds told TV Guide, "Darren McGavin is going to be a very sad man on the first Easter after his death." McGavin, who was considered one of the best actors on television at the time, told the Vancouver Sun that he disliked most television, likening it to a working actor's purgatory.

McGavin appeared in The Delicate Delinquent, Jerry Lewis' first solo film, when Martin and Lewis broke up. McGavin was also known for his appearance in The Martian Chronicles' miniseries version as Sam Parkhill. In an episode titled "Goodbye Harry" he appeared as a reporter in one of Gene Barry's Gene Barry segments, he was featured as a reporter. McGavin returned to theater in 1964, appearing in A Thousand Clowns' regional production in which his teen son, York, appeared. In 1964, McGavin appeared on The Virginian as Mark Troxel. On the short-lived detective series The Outsider, David Ross appeared as David Ross in 1968.

McGavin was lead in the 1972 supernatural-themed television film The Night Stalker. McGavin's debut as a reporter who reveals the existence of a modern-day vampire in Las Vegas made the film the highest-rated made-for-TV film in history at the time; when the sequel The Night Strangler (1973) was also a hit, Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974) was produced, it became the first-rated made-for-TV movie in history at that time. McGavin, a Chicago-based news service, who regularly stumbles upon the occult basis for a seemingly mundane felony, although he played a role in the dispelment of the otherworldly rivalry, his evidence in the lawsuit was always destroyed or confiscated, usually by a public official or a major social figure who was trying to cover up the crime. He would write his ensuing stories in a chic, tabloid style that told readers that the true tale was being hidden from them. McGavin is reported to have entered into a verbal deal with Sid Sheinberg (President of MCA and Universal TV) to produce The Night Stalker as a television series co-production between Universal and McGavin's Taunt. Early promises were never fulfilled, and McGavin expressed worry over script quality and a lack of network support for the show. His reservations were justified as the series devolved into camp jokes and production values faded in later episodes.

McGavin made his directorial debut in 1973 with the film Happy Mother's Day, Love George, a mystery film starring Cloris Leachman, Ron Howard, and Bobby Darin, before Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

McGavin appeared in Oliver Spencer in the original pilot film The Six Million Dollar Man in 1973. McGavin appeared in Zero to Sixty (1978), produced by his wife, Kathie Browne, in which he played a divorced man trying to figure out his life. In Bob Clark's comedy "A Christmas Story," he starred as "Old Man Parker," the narrator's father. In 1940s fictional Hohman, Indiana, he played a middle class father who was endearing despite being oblivious to his own profanity and completely unaware of his disgust for kitsch. He took pride in his own achievement and continued his struggle against his neighbor's rampaging bloodhounds, despite being ignorant of his family's shame by his conduct. The film was a moderate box-office hit and went on to become a classic holiday film in the years after its release.

McGavin appeared on The Natural in 1984 as a shady gambler and appeared on a Millennium episode ("Midnight of the Century") of Millennium, as the long-lost father of Frank Black (Lance Henriksen). McGavin, a long-serving officer who works for a Chicago mob family, was involved in John Irvin's Raw Deal in 1986, alongside rising actor Arnold Schwarzenegger; McGavin plays a long-serving FBI officer. He received a CableACE Award for his 1991 TV film Clara, as well as a 1990 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Star in a Comedy Series on Murphy Brown, in which he played Murphy's father, Bill. He appeared in numerous well-known productions in regional and community theaters around the country from 1993 to 1994.

McGavin co-starred with Adam Sandler in Billy Madison (1995), portraying the titular character's hotel magnate father. McGavin was asked to appear in Arthur Dales in The X-Files in 1998, and he appeared in two episodes between then and 1999. McGavin also narrated a number of audiobooks, including the Robert Ludlum Trilogy and John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series.

Source