James Darren, a teen idol who helped ignite the 1960s surfing craze as a charismatic beach boy paired off with Sandra Dee in the hit film Gidget, died Monday at 88. Darren died in his sleep at a Los Angeles hospital, said son Jim Moret, per the AP. Moret told the Hollywood Reporter that Darren was supposed to have had an aortic valve replacement but was too weak for the surgery. "I always thought he would pull through," his son said, "because he was so cool. He was always cool." In his long career, Darren acted, sang, and built up a successful career as a TV director, helming episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place. In the 1980s, he was officer Jim Corrigan on the cop show TJ Hooker.
But to young movie fans of the late 1950s, he would be remembered best as Moondoggie, the dark-haired surfer boy in the smash 1959 release Gidget. Dee starred as the title character, a spunky Southern Californian who hits the beach and eventually falls in love with Moondoggie. "I was in love with Sandra," Darren later recalled. "She was absolutely perfect as Gidget. She had tremendous charm." For Darren, his success with teen fans led to a recording contract, as it did with many young actors at the time. Two of Darren's singles, "Goodbye Cruel World" and "Her Royal Majesty," reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Other singles included "Gidget" and "Angel Face."
Darren appeared in grown-up films, too, including The Brothers Rico and The Guns of Navarone. By the mid-'60s, his big-screen acting career was almost over, but he remained active on TV, appearing as a lead on the sci-fi show The Time Tunnel in the late 1960s and doing guest spots and small recurring roles in The Love Boat, Hawaii Five-O, and Fantasy Island. Darren was a series regular for four seasons of the William Shatner vehicle TJ Hooker in the 1980s. He was also the godfather of Nancy Sinatra's daughter. Sinatra, who was Darren's co-star in For Those Who Think Young, posted his obituary on her X page, with a broken heart emoji. More here.
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