James Darren, the teen idol who played dreamy surfer Moondoggie in the “Gidget” movies of the 1950s and 1960s and then moved on to roles behind the camera, has died. He was 88.
Darren died in his sleep on Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, according to a statement posted on the actor's official website.
His son Jim Moret, chief correspondent for Inside Edition, said his father was admitted to the hospital for an aortic valve replacement but was deemed too weak for surgery. He went home but had to return, according to the statement.
Darren rose to fame playing Jeffrey “Moondoggie” Matthews in the 1959 surf classic “Gidget” with Sandra Dee and the 1961 sequel “Gidget Goes Hawaiian.” Dee was replaced by Deborah Walley in the second film and Cindy Carol in the third, 1963’s “Gidget Goes to Rome.” The original film, which was shot in Malibu amid Southern California’s nascent surf scene, was adapted into a television series in 1965 that launched Sally Field’s career as the title character.
“Sandra Dee, I loved it. I wish I could have [dated her]but she was 17 years old [Darren was 20]I had a very protective mother. When she and I appeared together on Sally Jessy Raphael's talk show [in 1991]“I told her I was in love with her and she said, ‘Why didn’t you tell me then?’” he told The Times in 2019.
Darren, who did not star in the TV series, was the only cast member to appear in both film sequels. His character, a playful college student turned surfer vagabond who caught the eye of Gidget, got his nickname “because he made love by the moon and he was a dog,” Darren told The Times in 2004. Incidentally, Darren had “never surfed” in his life before starring in the films, but he did learn to stand on a board and ride a small wave.
Darren signed with Columbia Pictures in 1958 and, under contract there, began singing professionally in the “Gidget” films and topped the pop charts with the songs “Goodbye Cruel World” and “Her Royal Majesty.”
He also starred in “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” played Officer Jim Corrigan on “T.J. Hooker” and modern-day scientist Dr. Tony Newman on the 1966-67 ABC series “The Time Tunnel.” He appeared in the 1961 Oscar-winning adventure “The Guns of Navarone” and the 1960 drama “Let No Man Write My Epitaph.” Darren went on to have a successful career directing television series, including “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “Melrose Place” and “Walker, Texas Ranger.”
Before “Gidget,” the Philadelphia-born actor studied acting with Stella Adler in New York and appeared in the films “Operation Mad Ball” and “Gunman's Walk.” He also starred in 1964’s “For Those Who Think Young” with Frank Sinatra’s daughter Nancy Sinatra and later became godfather to her daughter AJ Lambert.
Sinatra paid tribute to Darren on X on Monday, writing that “one of my dearest and closest friends in the whole world, of my entire life, has passed away.” He also wished Darren “a fast and beautiful journey through the Universe and beyond.”
“May God be with you dear Jimmy. My heart is broken but full of love for Evy, Christian, Anthony and Jimmy Jr.,” she tweeted.
Born James Ercolani on June 8, 1936, Darren was a second-generation American of Italian descent. At age 14, he knew he wanted to go into show business and began singing in nightclubs with his father in Philadelphia and New Jersey. A chance meeting in New York with film producer Joyce Selznick, niece of legendary “Gone With the Wind” producer David O. Selznick, led to his being cast in “Gidget” and being managed by the young Selznick.
“I think having a contract was exciting. I liked it. It’s job security, but we were taken care of and prepared. Joyce Selznick was really great. She loved me. She really took good care of me, like a sister would,” she told The Times.
Darren is survived by three sons, Jim, Christian and Anthony, and his second wife, Evy Norlund.
