One of Hollywood's consummate character actors passed away today. Darren McGavin has passed away at the age of 83. McGavin starred in several television series, including Riverboat and The Outsider, but of his series, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, which followed the two television movies The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler, was probably the most well known.

Millions of people see him once a year when TBS continually repeats A Christmas Story, in which he plays "The Old Man."

I also particularly liked him in a series of movies he did for Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color, including Boomerang: Dog of Many Talents and High-Flying Spy, the latter based on the real-life adventures of pioneering balloonist Thaddeus Lowe. He was always a treat to watch.

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 11:37:00 PM

Comments:

Don Knotts also passed away on Friday. He appeared in two Disney movies with Darren McGavin.

# posted by  Brent McKee : 6:18:00 AM

 

I saw the news about Knotts at the same time as I learned about Darren McGavin. I'm sorry he's gone and I did like Barney on The Andy Griffith Show, but I've never been much of a Knotts fan. Didn't like his movies at all and hated him on Three's Company. As actors go, Darren McGavin meant much more to me than Don Knotts.

# posted by  Linda : 8:28:00 PM

 

You're kidding?! I heard about Knotts, but not McGavin. I'm sorry to see them both go. Ralphie's gonna miss his "old man"...and so am I. :(

# posted by  Emma : 12:11:00 AM

 

And as it turns out Dennis Weaver died before both Darren McGavin and Don Knotts. Talk about a rotten weekend!

# posted by  Brent McKee : 5:06:00 PM

 

I heard about Dennis Weaver on the way home. It was a bit ghoulish because there had been a long, stupid thread in rec.arts.tv today guessing "who is next" and they joked that it might be someone else whose first name began with "D."

# posted by  Linda : 6:25:00 PM

 

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