James Darren, television director who played Moondoggie in the “Gidget” films, dies at the age of 88

James Darren, the teen star who played the dreamy surfer Moondoggie in the “Gidget” films of the 1950s and 1960s and was later seen behind the camera, has died. He was 88 years old.

According to a statement on the actor’s official website, Darren died in his sleep on Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

His son, Jim Moret, chief correspondent for Inside Edition, said his father was hospitalized for aortic valve replacement surgery but was deemed too weak for the operation. He went home but will have to return, the statement said.

Darren rose to fame playing Jeffrey “Moondoggie” Matthews in the 1959 surfing classic Gidget, starring 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, Gidget Goes to Rome in 1963. The original film, shot in Malibu amid Southern California’s burgeoning surfing scene, was adapted into a 1965 television series that launched Sally Field’s career in the title character.

Read more:The surf classic “Gidget” celebrates its 60th birthday this year and remains the “absolute non plus ultra”

“I loved Sandra Dee. I would have gone out with her, but she was 17 (Darren was 20). She 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 appear in the TV series, was the only actor to appear in both film sequels. His character, a playful college student turned surfing fanatic who caught Gidget’s eye, got his nickname “because he made love to the moon and was a dog!” Darren told The Times in 2004. Incidentally, Darren had “never surfed in his life” before starring in the films, but he learned to stand on a board and ride a small wave.

Darren was signed by Columbia Pictures in 1958 and began his career as a professional singer in the Gidget films, topping the pop charts with the songs “Goodbye Cruel World” and “Her Royal Majesty.”

Read more:Memories of Moondoggie

He also starred in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, played Officer Jim Corrigan in TJ Hooker, and hip scientist Dr. Tony Newman in 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 later had 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, “One of my dearest and closest friends in the whole world, in my whole life, has passed away.” She also wished Darren “a quick and beautiful journey through the universe and beyond.”

“Good luck sweet Jimmy. My heart is torn but full of love for Evy, Christian, Anthony and Jimmy Jr,” she tweeted.

Read more:LA Affairs: I wanted my own Moondoggie. Instead I ended up with a bunch of Kens

Born James Ercolani on June 8, 1936, Darren was a second-generation American of Italian descent. By age 14, he knew he wanted to get into show business and began singing with his father in nightclubs in Philadelphia and New Jersey. A chance encounter in New York with film producer Joyce Selznick, niece of legendary Gone with the Wind producer David O. Selznick, led to his role in Gidget and the younger Selznick managing him.

“I think it was exciting to be under contract. I liked that. It’s a secure place to work, but we were encouraged and cared for. Joyce Selznick was really great. She loved me. She really took very good care of me, like a sister would,” he told the Times.

Darren leaves behind three sons, Jim, Christian and Anthony, and his second wife, Evy Norlund.

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This story originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times.