Just learned that Man From U.N.C.L.E. actor David McCallum has died at the age of 90. Another part of my childhood gone, alas. Condolences to his family, friends, and fans.
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I should mention that David was a fellow agent of mine. Don't believe me? See my badge and I.D. cards (not signed them yet) for proof.
And below is David's badge...
20 comments:
Sad news, I genuinely went "aww" when I read this, a local Glasgow boy, but he will always be Illya Kuryakin to me.
And me, McS. 90's a good age of course, but it would've been nice if he'd been given a little bit (or even a lot) longer.
The coolest Man from UNCLE! And the scariest Six-Fingered Man I ever encountered! Later generations will know him as "Ducky", bit he'll be Illya Kuryakin for our kind in perpetuity.
Did he actually have 6 fingers on one hand, RJ, or was that a role he played? I seem to recall having a cheap Illya 'action figure' back in the '60s. It was like the Gilbert one, but came in a plastic bag with header card. Got it in Safeway's.
I hink that was a role Mc Callum played in a US SF series Kid , though not 100% on that and at work so vcant check . I certainly don't recall reading he personally had 6 fingers but he had a disease where 2 of his fingers curled towards the palm of his hand, that he got fixed.
Ah, right - ta for that, McS. I should've Google Searched it, but as we all know, I'm a lazy buggah.
My 'Invisible Man' memories are dreamlike. Maybe slightly older colleagues remember McCallum's Invisible Man more clearly.
Phillip
Well, he was invisible, P, which may account for your less than clear memories (he said, jokingly).
He once said that he'd left Britain in the '50s because it was becoming "too socialist" so I hope he was happy living in America where there's none of that lefty nonsense like the NHS, workers' rights or gun control.
There isn't? Cancel my passport application right away then, CJ.
The Invisible Man, Sapphire and Steel. Great TV in great times. I loved the effects on TIM and of course Joanna Lumley was a bonus in S&S. Although I'm aware of UNCLE, sad to say I've never really watched it. That's going straight on my watch list. RIP David. Another true star. Wasn't he in The Great Escape as well?
He was indeed, M, not too long before he got the Man From U.N.C.L.E. gig. He was married to Jill Ireland, before Charles Bronson stole her from him. He even told David he was going to do it, too.
I enjoyed UNCLE when I was a youngster and it was in syndication. I preferred his character to Robert Vaughn's. He was the epitome of cool. I have really enjoyed his work on NCIS for the past couple of decades. He was still the coolest character on that show. I will miss him on that show, though his appearances have been less frequent in recent years. R.I.P.
I could never understand why the show was called 'The Man From...' instead of 'The MEN From U.N.C.L.E., G - then I found out that Illya was only supposed to be a minor - perhaps even a one-off role - until his almost immediate popularity with viewers led to him getting greater prominence than originally intended. I also read somewhere that one of the big-shots wanted rid off him after the pilot episode, but as he couldn't remember the name of the character, the services of another actor were dispensed with by mistake. Never really watched NCIS, though caught bits from time to time.
What would be some of your favorite "Illya moments" on TMFU?
I got a kick out of the one where he has to perform a role onstage as part of his cover in The Off Broadway Affair.
To be honest, GP, the only thing I really remember about the show is the theme tune. Loved it then, love it now. I know there was sometimes a bit of banter between Illya and Napoleon, but right at this moment I can remember none of it. Dang it, I'm getting old.
I remember more specific scenes from TMFU because I've rewatched episodes or parts thereof over the years. But with other shows haven't seen for a while, like I SPY, I also don't recall specific stories or performances.
I don't think I've watched a full episode of the show since the '60s, GP, though I've seen bits of episodes while channel-hopping when they were repeated a few years ago. I've got a DVD boxed set of the 'movies', which I've previously seen over the years in repeats on TV, but apart from the occasional 'image' in my memory, I don't really recall any specific interaction between Solo and Kuryakin - though I probably would remember if prompted by seeing them again. The mind's a funny thing, and in my own case, my ability to recall can be different from one day to another. Unfortunately, a 'brain fog' often besets me nowadays.
Although I always associate David McCallum mostly with The Man From UNCLE, I don't recall watching the series much on TV in the mid-sixties, when I was more interested in Batman. I think my awareness was mostly informed via the Corgi Toy of the UNCLE car (you clicked the light on the roof to make Solo and Kuryakin alternately lean out of the window) and later a paperback "The Finger in the Sky Affair" written by Peter Leslie.
I do remember being taken to see the UNCLE film "The Karate Killers" in the summer of 1967, which was made from a TV 2-parter.
I do have stronger memories of McCallum in the short-lived "The Invisible Man" and "Sapphire & Steel" series from the early seventies.
I've got the Corgi car in my collection, B, but I'm hoping that the Corgi Model Club will make it one of their reissues before too long. I also recall The Invisible Man and Sapphire & Steel (got the paperback of the latter), but he'll always be Illya Kuryakin to me. I saw all these 'movies' (they shot some extra scenes for a few of them for their cinematic release) on TV, and now have a DVD box set of around 5 of them. Only one or two actually hold up well after all this time. Gemini Man was another attempt to do The Invisible Man, this time with Ben Murphy. Remember that one?
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