David McCallum

For other people named David McCallum, see David McCallum (disambiguation).

David McCallum
McCallum in 1982
Born	David Keith McCallum (1933-09-19)19 September 1933 Glasgow, Scotland
Died	25 September 2023(2023-09-25) (aged 90) New York City, U.S.
Alma mater	Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Occupations	Actor musician
Years active	1946–2023
Spouses	Jill Ireland ​ ​ (m. 1957; div. 1967)​ Katherine Carpenter ​ ​ (m. 1967)​
Parents	David Fotheringham McCallum (father) Dorothy McCallum (mother)

David Keith McCallum (19 September 1933 – 25 September 2023) was a Scottish actor and musician, based in the United States. He gained wide recognition in the 1960s for playing secret agent Illya Kuryakin in the television series The Man from U.N.C.L.E (1964–1968). His other notable television roles include Simon Carter in Colditz (1972–1974) and Steel in Sapphire & Steel (1979–1982). Beginning in 2003, McCallum gained renewed international popularity for his role as NCIS chief medical examiner Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard in the American CBS television series NCIS, which he played for 20 seasons until his death in 2023. In film roles, McCallum notably appeared in The Great Escape (1963), and as Judas Iscariot in The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965).

Early life

David Keith McCallum was born on 19 September 1933 in Glasgow the second of two sons of orchestral violinist David Fotheringham and Dorothy McCallum (née Dorman), a cellist. When he was three, his family moved to London for his father to play as the leader of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Early in the Second World War, he was evacuated back to Scotland, where he lived with his mother at Gartocharn by Loch Lomond.

McCallum won a scholarship to University College School, a boys' independent school in Hampstead, London, where, encouraged by his parents to prepare for a career in music, he played the oboe. In 1946, at the age of 13, he began doing boy voices for the BBC radio repertory company. Also involved in local amateur drama, at age 17, he appeared as Oberon in an open-air production of A Midsummer Night's Dream with the Play and Pageant Union. He left school at age 18 and was conscripted for National Service. He joined the British Army's 3rd Battalion the Middlesex Regiment, which was seconded to the Royal West African Frontier Force. In March 1954, he was promoted to lieutenant. After leaving the army he attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (also in London), where Joan Collins was a classmate.

Career

In 1951, McCallum became assistant stage manager of the Glyndebourne Opera Company. He began his acting career doing boy voices for BBC Radio in 1947 and taking bit parts in British films from the late 1950s. 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. However, in an interview with Alan Titchmarsh broadcast on 3 November 2010, McCallum stated that he had actually held his Equity card since 1946.

His early roles included an outlaw in Robbery Under Arms, (1957) junior RMS Titanic radio operator Harold Bride in A Night to Remember (1958), and a juvenile delinquent in Violent Playground (1958). His first American film was Freud: The Secret Passion (1962), directed by John Huston, which was shortly followed by a role in Peter Ustinov's Billy Budd. McCallum played Lt. Cmdr. Eric Ashley-Pitt (a.k.a., "Dispersal") in The Great Escape, which was released in 1963. He took the role of Judas Iscariot in 1965's The Greatest Story Ever Told. His other television roles included two appearances on The Outer Limits in the episodes "The Sixth Finger" (1963) and "The Forms of Things Unknown" (1964), and a guest appearance on Perry Mason in 1964 as defendant Phillipe Bertain in "The Case of the Fifty Millionth Frenchman".

He also played the role of "The Invisible Man", the second television series with this title, debuted in the US in 1975 on NBC and starred David McCallum as the scientist Daniel Westin and Melinda Fee as his wife, Dr. Kate Westin. The series was created by Harve Bennett.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

McCallum as Illya Kuryakin

The Man from U.N.C.L.E., intended as a vehicle for Robert Vaughn, made McCallum into a sex symbol, his Beatle-style blond haircut providing a trendy contrast to Vaughn's clean-cut appearance. McCallum's role as the mysterious Russian agent Illya Kuryakin was originally conceived as a peripheral one. In fact, McCallum recalled in a 1998 interview that "I'd never heard of the word 'sidekick' before", when presented by his character's description for the first time. McCallum, however, took the opportunity to construct a complex character whose appeal rested largely in what was shadowy and enigmatic about him. Kuryakin's popularity with the audience as well as Vaughn and McCallum's on-screen chemistry were quickly recognized by the producers, and McCallum was elevated to co-star status.

Although the show aired at the height of the Cold War, McCallum's Russian alter ego became a pop culture phenomenon. The actor was inundated with fan letters, and a Beatles-like frenzy followed him everywhere he went. While playing Kuryakin, McCallum received more fan mail than any other actor in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's history, including such popular MGM stars as Clark Gable, Robert Taylor, and Elvis Presley. Hero worship even led to a record, "Love Ya, Illya", performed by Alma Cogan under the name Angela and the Fans, which was a pirate radio hit in Britain in 1966. A 1990s rock-rap group from Argentina named itself Illya Kuryaki and the Valderramas in honour of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. character.

McCallum received two Emmy Award nominations in the course of the show's four-year run (1964–1968) for playing the intellectual and introverted secret agent. Describing his popularity during the show's run, McCallum said, "There is a practicality about it. You have to deal with it by not going to certain places. I was rescued from Central Park by mounted police once. When I went to Macy's department store the fans did $25,000 worth of damage and they had to close Herald Square to get me out. That's pretty classic, but you just have to deal with it. And then whoever was next came along, and you get dropped overnight, which is a relief."

McCallum and Vaughn reprised their roles of Kuryakin and Napoleon Solo in the 1983 television film, Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E.. In 1986, McCallum reunited with Vaughn again in an episode of The A-Team entitled "The Say U.N.C.L.E. Affair", complete with "chapter titles", the word "affair" in the title, the phrase "Open Channel D", and similar scene transitions.

In an interview for a retrospective television special, McCallum recounted a visit to the White House during which, while he was being escorted to meet the U.S. president, a Secret Service agent told him, "You're the reason I got this job."

After The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

McCallum in 1969

McCallum never quite repeated the popular success he had gained as Kuryakin until NCIS, 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.

McCallum appeared on stage in Australia in Run for Your Wife (1987–1988), and the production toured the country. Other members of the cast were Jack Smethurst, Eric Sykes and Katy Manning.

McCallum played supporting parts in a number of feature films, and he played the title role in the 1968 thriller, Sol Madrid.

McCallum starred with Diana Rigg in the 1989 TV miniseries Mother Love. In 1991 and 1992 McCallum played gambler John Grey, one of the principal characters in the television series Trainer. He appeared as an English literature teacher in a 1989 episode of Murder, She Wrote. In the 1990s, McCallum guest-starred in two U.S. television series. In season 1 of seaQuest DSV, he appeared as the law-enforcement officer Frank Cobb of the fictional Broken Ridge of the Ausland Confederation, an underwater mining camp off the coast of Australia by the Great Barrier Reef; he also had a guest-star role in one episode of Babylon 5 as Dr. Vance Hendricks in the Season 1 episode "Infection".

In 1994, McCallum narrated the acclaimed documentaries Titanic: The Complete Story for A&E Networks. This was the second project about the Titanic on which he had worked: the first was the 1958 film A Night to Remember, in which he had had a small role.

In the same year, McCallum hosted and narrated the TV special Ancient Prophecies. This special, which was followed soon after by three others, told of people and places historically associated with foretelling the end of the world and the beginnings of new eras for mankind.

In 1997 McCallum had a guest role in Season 7, Episode 22 of "Law & Order", playing the neighbor of the murder victim.

NCIS

McCallum in October 2012

Beginning in 2003, starting with the original backdoor pilot on the series JAG, McCallum starred in the CBS television series NCIS as Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard, the team's chief medical examiner and one of the show's most popular characters. In Season 2 Episode 13 "The Meat Puzzle", NCIS Special Agent Caitlin Todd (Sasha Alexander) asks Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon), "What did Ducky look like when he was younger?" and Gibbs replies, "Illya Kuryakin".

According to the behind-the-scenes feature on the 2006 DVD of NCIS season 1, McCallum became an expert in forensics to play Mallard, including attending medical examiner conventions. In the feature, Donald P. Bellisario says that McCallum's knowledge became so vast that at the time of the interview, he was considering making him a technical adviser to the show.

McCallum appeared at the 21st Annual James Earl Ash Lecture, held 19 May 2005 at the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, an evening for honouring America's service members. His lecture, "Reel to Real Forensics", with Cmdr. Craig T. Mallak, U.S. Armed Forces medical examiner, featured a presentation comparing the real-life work of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner staff with that of the fictional naval investigators appearing on NCIS.

In late April 2012, it was announced that McCallum had reached an agreement on a two-year contract extension with CBS-TV. The move meant that he would remain an NCIS regular past his eightieth birthday. In May 2014 he signed another two-year contract. He signed an extension in 2016, beginning a limited schedule in 2017 and from then renewed his contract for each season separately.

With series lead Mark Harmon's departure from the show in the fall of 2021 (Season 19), McCallum became the last remaining member of the original NCIS cast until his death in 2023.

The Season 21 episode, "The Stories We Leave Behind", is a posthumous tribute to both McCallum and to Dr. Mallard. It begins with Medical Examiner Jimmy Palmer finding Ducky had died at his home, the morning before he is set to help a young woman clear her USMC father's name of desertion. The episode segues between the rest of the team trying to close this final case and them remembering Ducky's insights and wisdom via flashbacks to previous episodes. At Ducky's house, Jimmy first encounters Ducky's dog Solo, a reference to Napoleon Solo, the partner of McCallum's character Illya Kuryakin in The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

Music

In the 1960s, McCallum recorded four albums for Capitol Records with music producer David Axelrod: Music...A Part of Me (Capitol ST 2432, 1966), Music...A Bit More of Me (Capitol ST 2498, 1966), Music...It's Happening Now! (Capitol ST 2651, 1967), and McCallum (Capitol ST 2748, 1968). The best known of his pieces today is "The Edge", which was sampled by Dr. Dre as the intro and riff to the track "The Next Episode". McCallum's version of "The Edge" appears on the soundtracks to the 2008 video game Grand Theft Auto IV and the 2017 film Baby Driver.

McCallum did not sing on these records, as many television stars of the 1960s did when offered recording contracts. As a classically trained musician, he conceived a blend of oboe, cor anglais, and strings with guitar and drums, and presented instrumental interpretations of hits of the day. The official arranger on the albums was H. B. Barnum. However, McCallum conducted, and contributed several original compositions of his own, over the course of four LPs. The first two, Music...A Part of Me and Music...A Bit More of Me, have been issued together on CD on the Zonophone label. On Open Channel D, McCallum did sing on the first four tracks, "Communication", "House on Breckenridge Lane", "In the Garden, Under the Tree" (the theme song from the film Three Bites of the Apple), and "My Carousel". The music tracks are the same as the Zonophone CD. This CD was released on the Rev-Ola label. The single release of "Communication" reached No. 32 in the UK Singles Chart in April 1966.

In The Man from U.N.C.L.E. episode "The Discotheque Affair", McCallum plays the double bass as part of a band in a night club. He also played guitar and sang his own composition, "Trouble", with Nancy Sinatra on "The Take Me to Your Leader Affair", and played several instruments in "The Off-Broadway Affair".

In the 1970s, McCallum also recorded three H. P. Lovecraft tales for Caedmon Records, an imprint of August Derleth's Arkham House publishing venture: "The Rats in the Walls" (TC 1347, 1973); "The Dunwich Horror" ("slightly abridged"; TC 1467, 1976); and "The Haunter of the Dark" (TC 1617, 1979).

Writing

In 2016, McCallum published a crime novel entitled Once a Crooked Man. The narrative is set in New York and London and centres on a young actor who tries to foil a murder. McCallum stated at the time that a second novel was in progress.

Personal life

McCallum in 2015

On 11 May 1957, McCallum married actress Jill Ireland in London. They met during the production of the film Hell Drivers. The marriage legally ended in February 1967, after a separation of approximately two years. McCallum and Ireland had three sons: Paul, Jason, and Valentine (Val). Jason, who was adopted, died from an accidental drug overdose in 1989. Val McCallum is a guitarist, playing on and off with Jackson Browne since 2002, Lucinda Williams from 2011 to 2016, and many others. McCallum was also a member of the comic-country band, Jackshit.

On 16 September 1967, McCallum married fashion model-turned-interior designer Katherine Carpenter in Valley Stream, New York. The couple met at a photo shoot for Glamour magazine in 1965, and were together for 58 years. They had a son, Peter, and a daughter, Sophie. McCallum and his wife were active in charitable organisations that support the United States Marine Corps: Katherine's father was a Marine who served in the Battle of Iwo Jima and her brother was killed in the Vietnam War. On 27 August 1999, McCallum was naturalized as a United States citizen. McCallum had six grandchildren. He was friends with Tibor Rubin.

Death

McCallum died at the NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City on 25 September 2023, at the age of 90.

NCIS aired a tribute episode dedicated to McCallum on 19 February 2024.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1957	Ill Met by Moonlight	Sailor	Film debut Uncredited Also known as Night Ambush
	These Dangerous Years		Also known as Dangerous Youth
	Robbery Under Arms	Jim Marston	British Crime film
	Hell Drivers	Jimmy Yately	Directed by Cy Endfield
	The Secret Place	Mike Wilson	Directorial debut of Clive Donner
1958	A Night to Remember	Harold Bride	British drama about the sinking of RMS Titanic
	Violent Playground	Johnnie Murphy	Directed by Basil Dearden
1961	The Long and the Short and the Tall	Private Samuel "Sammy" Whitaker	Released as Jungle Fighters in the US and Canada
	Jungle Street	Terry Collins	Later retitled Jungle Street Girls
1962	Freud: The Secret Passion	Carl von Schlossen	Also known as Freud
	Billy Budd	Steven Wyatt	CinemaScope film produced, directed, and co-written by Peter Ustinov
1963	The Great Escape	Lt. Cmdr. Eric Ashley-Pitt, "Dispersal"	Based on an escape by British and Commonwealth prisoners of war from a German POW camp during the Second World War
1964	To Trap a Spy	Illya Kuryakin	A Man from U.N.C.L.E. film
1965	The Spy with My Face
	The Greatest Story Ever Told	Judas Iscariot	Retelling of the story of Jesus, from the Nativity through the Resurrection
1966	One Spy Too Many	Illya Kuryakin	A Man from U.N.C.L.E. film
	The Spy in the Green Hat
	Around the World Under the Sea	Dr. Philip Volker
	The Big T.N.T. Show	Master of Ceremonies, conducting the orchestra	"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (instrumental)
	One of Our Spies Is Missing	Illya Kuryakin	A Man from U.N.C.L.E. film
1967	The Karate Killers
	Three Bites of the Apple	Stanley Thrumm
1968	Sol Madrid	Sol Madrid	Released in the UK as The Heroin Gang
	The Helicopter Spies	Illya Kuryakin	A Man from U.N.C.L.E. film
	How to Steal the World
1969	Mosquito Squadron	Squadron Leader Quint Monroe, RCAF	British war film
	The Ravine	Sergeant Stephen Holmann	Italian-Yugoslav-American war film
	Rascal	Ice Cream Man	Comedy drama film adaption made by Walt Disney Productions Based on a book Rascal by Sterling North
1972	She Waits	Mark Wilson	Horror film
	Night of the Lepus	Police Officer
1975	The Kingfisher Caper	Benedict Van Der Byl	Released as Diamond Hunters in South Africa and as Diamond Lust on video
1976	Dogs	Harlan Thompson
1977	King Solomon's Treasure	Sir Henry Curtis	British-Canadian low-budget film based on the novel King Solomon's Mines
1980	The Watcher in the Woods	Paul Curtis	American family fantasy thriller film Based on the 1976 novel by Florence Engel Randall
1985	Terminal Choice	Dr. Giles Dodson
1986	The Wind	John	Released in 1987 in the USA
1990	The Haunting of Morella	Gideon	Set in colonial America
1991	Hear My Song	Jim Abbott
1993	Fatal Inheritance	Brandon Murphy
	Dirty Weekend	Reggie	Based on the novel of the same name by Helen Zahavi
1994	Healer	The Jackal
1999	Cherry	Mammy
2008	Batman: Gotham Knight	Alfred Pennyworth	Voice, direct-to-video
2009	Wonder Woman	Zeus
2014	Son of Batman	Alfred Pennyworth
2015	Batman vs. Robin

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1959	Anouilh's Antigone	Haemon
1961	Sir Francis Drake	Lord Oakshott	Episode: "The English Dragon"
1963	The Outer Limits	Gwyllm Griffiths	Episode: "The Sixth Finger"
1964	The Travels of Jaimie McPheeters	Prophet	Episode: "The Day Of The Search"
	Perry Mason	Phillipe Bertain	Episode: "The Case of the Fifty-Millionth Frenchman"
	The Great Adventure	Captain Hanning	2 episodes: "Kentucky's Bloody Ground" "The Siege of Boonesborough"
	The Outer Limits	Tone Hobart	Episode: "The Forms of Things Unknown"
	Profiles in Courage	John Adams	Episode: "John Adams"
1964–1968	The Man from U.N.C.L.E.	Illya Kuryakin	Main cast
1965	Hullabaloo	Host	Credited as Dave McCallum Episode: "Show 21"
1966	Please Don't Eat the Daisies	Illya Kuryakin	Episode: "Say U.N.C.L.E."
1969	Hallmark Hall of Fame	Hamilton Cade, Kenneth Canfield	2 episodes: "Teacher, Teacher" "The File On Devlin"
1970	Hauser's Memory	Hillel Mondoro	Science fiction television film Screenplay by Adrian Spies was based on a 1968 novel of the same name which was a sequel to the novel Donovan's Brain.
1971	Night Gallery	Dr. Joel Winter	Episode: "The Phantom Farmhouse"
	The Man and the City	Guest	Episode: "Pipe Me A Loving Tune"
1972–1974	Colditz	Simon Carter	Main cast
1973	Frankenstein: The True Story	Dr. Henry Clerval	Television film
	The Six Million Dollar Man	Alexi Kaslov	Episode: "Wine, Women and War"
1975–1976	The Invisible Man	Daniel Westin	12 episodes; Main cast
1978	Kidnapped	Alan Breck Stewart	Miniseries
1979–1982	Sapphire & Steel	Steel	Main cast
1982	Strike Force	Roderick Howard Hadley III	Episode: "Ice"
	Hart to Hart	Geoffrey Atterton	Episode: "Hunted Harts"
1983	As the World Turns	Maurice Vermeil	Contract role
	Return of the Man from U.N.C.L.E.	Illya Kuryakin	Television film
1984	The Master	Castile	Episode: "Hostages"
1986	Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense	Frank Lane	Episode: "The Corvini Inheritance"
	The A-Team	Ivan	Episode: "The Say U.N.C.L.E. Affair"
1987	Matlock	Phil Dudley	Episode: "The Billionaire"
1988	Alfred Hitchcock Presents	Lieutenant Cavanaugh	"Murder Party"
	Monsters	The Feverman	Episode: "The Feverman"
	The Man Who Lived at the Ritz	Charlie Ritz	Television film
1989	Murder, She Wrote	Cyril Grantham	Episode: "From Russia...With Blood"
	Mother Love	Sir Alexander "Alex" Vesey	Main cast
	McCloud	Inspector Craig	Television film titled The Return of Sam McCloud
1990	Murder, She Wrote	Drew Garrison	Episode: "Deadly Misunderstanding"
	Boon	Simon Bradleigh	Episode: "The Belles of St. Godwalds"
	Lucky Chances	Bernard Dimes	Miniseries
	Father Dowling Mysteries	Sir Robert	Episode: "The Royal Mystery"
1991–1992	Trainer	John Grey	Main cast
1991	Cluedo	Professor Plum	Game show
1993	seaQuest DSV	Frank Cobb	Episode: "seaWest"
1994	Babylon 5	Dr. Vance Hendricks	Episode: "Infection"
	Titanic: The Complete Story		Narrator
	Heartbeat	Cooper	Episode: "Arms and the Man"
1994–1995	Scavengers	Narrator	Voiceover
1995	VR-5	Dr. Joseph Bloom	Main cast
1996	Mr. & Mrs. Smith	Ian Felton	Episode: "The Impossible Mission"
1997	Law & Order	Craig Holland	Episode: "Past Imperfect"
	The Outer Limits	Joshua Hayward	Episode: "Feasibility Study"
1997–1998	Team Knight Rider	Mobius	Main cast
1998	Coming Home	Billy Fawcett	TV serial
	March in Windy City	Daniel Paterson, Dimitri Petrovsky	Television film
1999	Sex and the City	Duncan	Episode: "Shortcomings"
2000	Deadline	Harry Hobbs	Episode: "Lovers and Madmen"
2001–2002	The Education of Max Bickford	Walter Thornhill	Main cast
2002	Jeremiah	Clarence	Episode: "Things Left Unsaid"
2002–2003	Taboo	Narrator	4 episodes: "Evil Spirits" "Bloodsports" "Delicacies" "Body Perfect"
2003	JAG	Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard	Episodes: "Ice Queen (1)", "Meltdown (2)"
2003–2024	NCIS		Main cast Season 1–20. Posthumous credit only in the first two episodes of Season 21.
2006–2009	The Replacements	C.A.R.	Voice, main cast
2008–2010	Ben 10: Alien Force	Professor Paradox	Voice, recurring role (4 episodes)
2009	Batman: The Brave and the Bold	Merlin	Voice, episode: "Day of the Dark Knight!"
2010–2012	Ben 10: Ultimate Alien	Professor Paradox	Voice, recurring role (3 episodes)
2013–2014	Ben 10: Omniverse		Voice, recurring role (6 episodes)
2014, 2016	NCIS: New Orleans	Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard	2 episodes
2019	D-Day at Pointe-du-Hoc	Narrator (PBS documentary)

Video games

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Privateer 2: The Darkening	Canera Captain	Appears in the opening full-motion video cinematic
2009	Ben 10: Alien Force - Vilgax Attacks	Professor Paradox
	FusionFall
2011	NCIS	Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard, Narrator
2014	Diablo III: Reaper of Souls	Grand Maester, King Rakkis

Discography

• Music: A Part of Me (Capitol Records, 1966)
• Music: A Bit More of Me (Capitol Records, 1967)
• Music: It's Happening Now! (Capitol Records, 1967)
• McCallum (Capitol Records, 1967)

Spoken word works

Authors of works appear after the titles:

• Lassie Come-Home - Eric Knight (Caedmon Records, 1973)
• The Rats in the Walls - H. P. Lovecraft (Caedmon Records, 1973)
• An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge and the Damned Thing - Ambrose Bierce (Caedmon Records, 1973)
• The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame (Caedmon Records, 1973)
• The Dunwich Horror - H. P. Lovecraft (Caedmon Records, 1976)
• The Haunter of the Dark - H. P. Lovecraft (Caedmon Records, 1979)
• Five Tales from the Decameron - Giovanni Boccaccio (with Carole Shelley) (Caedmon Records, 1981)

External links

• David McCallum at IMDb 
• David McCallum at the Internet Broadway Database
• David McCallum at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
• David McCallum discography at Discogs
• David McCallum at The Interviews: An Oral History of Television