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Beloved Actor Passes Away At 88

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4 months ago

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James Darren, best known for his starring roles in 1965’s “Gidget” and three seasons of the 1980’s cop drama “T.J. Hooker,” has died at 88, according to the New York Post.

Darren passed away without pain Monday night while receiving care at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. A website devoted to Darren and his career reported the news based on a social media post by singer Nancy Sinatra, daughter of Frank Sinatra, and later confirmation from Darren’s son Jim Moret, a reporter with Inside Edition. According to a statement, Darren was admitted for an aortic valve replacement but was deemed too weak to receive the surgery. After returning home he was admitted a second and final time. “Our thoughts and prayers are with Evy and the family in this time of grief,” it goes on.

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Speaking with the Hollywood Reporter, Moret said he thought his father would be able to pull off one last physical feat despite a grim prognosis from doctors. “I always thought he would pull through,” Moret said, “because he was so cool. He was always cool.”

Born James William Ercolani in Philadelphia in 1936, Darren took the stage name after being discovered by a talent scout searching for the next 1950s teen idol. A small role in the 1956 film “Rumble on the Docks” brought heavy fan mail for Darren, and the following year was offered a major role in a premier film, “Operation Mad Ball” starring acting icons Jack Lemmon and Ernie Kovacs. His reliability as a dramatic actor became central to his appeal thanks to roles like Nick Romano in 1960’s “Let No Man Write My Epitaph.” Despite not knowing how to surf, Darren grabbed the role of beach bum Moondoggie in “Gidget” from 1965 to 1966 and parlayed the experience into two seasons of the ABC series “The Time Tunnel.”

In the middle of his career, Darren was opposite William Shatner in the 1985 series “T.J. Hooker” where he played the recurring and perennially grizzled Officer Jim Corrigan. He briefly directed a few episodes and went on to direct episodes of “Hunter,” “Silk Stalkings,” “Melrose Place,” “Werewolf,” “The A-Team” and “Beverly Hills, 90210.” He also dabbled in singing, a talent picked up from following his father into the bars of his hometown city and performing a few songs during karaoke nights. As a teen idol, Darren’s best-selling croon was a 1961 cover of Gloria Shayne’s “Goodbye Cruel World” which topped out at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Darren married his first wife, Gloria Terlitsky, in 1953, and the couple fathered Moret, a former CNN anchor. Following their divorce, Darren married second wife Evy Norlund, a former Miss USA model and mother to two other sons, Christian and Anthony. Darren was also the godfather to Nancy Sinatra’s daughter A.J. Lambert. “One of my dearest, closest friends in all the world, of all my life has passed away. Godfather to my daughter, AJ,” the singer wrote on X.

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