David McCallum in The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964-1966)

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            Spanish postcard by Ediciones Este, no. 164-T, 1966. David McCallum as U.N.C.L.E. agent Illya Kuryakin in the TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964–1968).

British actor David McCallum (1933) is best known for two American TV series. He played U.N.C.L.E. agent Illya Kuryakin in the legendary hit series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964). Nearly 40 years later, he made a come-back as Dr. Donald "Duckie" Mallard on  NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service (2003). While making The Man from U.N.C.L.E., McCallum received more fan mail than any other actor in MGM's history, including Clark Gable and Elvis Presley.

David Keith McCallum was born in 1933 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. his father, David McCallum Sr., was the first violinist for the London Philharmonic and his mother, Dorothy Dorman, was a cellist, it's not surprising that David was originally headed for a career in music, playing the oboe. He studied briefly at the Royal Academy of Music. He left that, however, for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, which he attended between 1949 and 1951. His first acting role was in 'Whom the Gods Love, Die Young' playing a doomed royal. A James Dean-themed photograph of McCallum caught the attention of the Rank Organisation, who signed him in 1956. McCallum married actress Jill Ireland, while filming Hell Drivers (Cy Endfield, 1957) together. He made nearly a dozen films in the United Kingdom before he had his breakthrough as Lt. Wyatt in Billy Budd (Peter Ustinov, 1962), starring Terence Stamp. His first American film was Freud: The Secret Passion (1962), directed by John Huston. In 1963 he introduced Ireland to Charles Bronson when both were filming The Great Escape (John Sturges, 1963). She subsequently left McCallum and married Bronson in 1968. McCallum and Ireland had three sons: Paul, Jason (an adopted son who died from an accidental drug overdose in 1989), and Val (short for Valentine), who is a respected guitarist and session musician, recording and performing with such artists as Sheryl Crow.

In 1964, David McCallum became a star as the mysterious Russian agent Illya Kuryakin in the hit TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964). The series was based on the popularity of the James Bond films. McCallum and Robert Vaughn play two top Agents of the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement (U.N.C.L.E.) who fight the enemies of peace, particularly the forces of T.H.R.U.S.H. and use charm, wit, and a never-ending assortment of gadgets. McCallum's Beatle-style blond haircut provided a trendy contrast to Vaughn's clean-cut appearance. He became a sex symbol and his Russian alter ego became a pop culture phenomenon, despite the Cold War. McCallum received two Emmy Award nominations in the course of the show's four-year run (1964–1968) for playing the intellectual and introvert secret agent. McCallum also played the role of Judas Iscariot in The Greatest Story Ever Told (George Stevens, 1965). This epic is a retelling of the Biblical account about Jesus of Nazareth (Max von Sydow), from the Nativity through to the Ascension. In the 1960s, McCallum recorded four albums for Capitol Records with music producer David Axlerod. 

For decades, David McCallum never quite repeated the popular success he had gained as Kuryakin, though he did become a familiar face on British television in such shows as Colditz (1972–1974), Kidnapped (1978), and ITV's Science-Fiction series Sapphire & Steel (1979–1982) opposite Joanna Lumley. In 1975 he played the title character in a short-lived U.S. version of The Invisible Man. He and Robert Vaughn reprised their roles of Kuryakin and Solo in the TV film, Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1983). In 1986 they reunited again in an episode of The A-Team entitled 'The Say U.N.C.L.E. Affair'. Finally, McCallum made a come-back with his superlative portrayal of chief medical examiner Dr. Donald "Duckie" Mallard on the hit CBS series, NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service (2003) with Mark Harmon. He has played the same character in three different series: JAG (1995), NCIS: Naval Criminal Investigative Service (2003), and NCIS: New Orleans (2014). In 2016 he published the novel 'Once a Crooked Man' (2016). McCallum has been married to model Katherine Carpenter since 1967. They have a son, Peter, and a daughter, Sophie. McCallum and his wife are active with charitable organizations that support the United States Marine Corps: Katherine's father was a Marine who served in the Battle of Iwo Jima, and her brother lost his life in the Vietnam War. David McCallum lives on Long Island, New York, and has six grandchildren.

Sources: Ed Stephan (IMDb), Wikipedia, and IMDb.

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Taken on: July 16, 2020

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