James Darren, best known as the heartthrob Moondoggie in the Gidget movies, has died peacefully at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles on Monday at the age of 88.
According to the actor’s son, Jim Moret, his father suffered of a heart related illness.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, Moret said that his father was to undergo an aortic valve replacement, but doctors said he was too week for the surgery. Despite that, the family believed he would pull through, but sadly, that didn’t happen.
He was discharged from the hospital, but was then taken in back after his health deteriorated further.
“I always thought he would pull through,” Moret told reporters. “Because he was so cool. He was always cool.”
Darren’s acting and singing career was a rich one. Among the rest, he starred in 66 episodes of T.J. Hooker in the role of police officer Jim Corrigan. Before that, he starred in The Guns of Navarone and the ABC sci-fi series The Time Tunnel. He was also a regular guest star in shows such as The Love Boat and Fantasy Island.
However, he is probably best remembered from his role in Moondoggie, the dark-haired surfer boy in Gidget.
In the 1990s, he had a recurring gig on Deep Space Nine as the holographic lounge singer Vic Fontaine.
Darren was the voice behind the Gidget theme song and one his songs, Goodbye Cruel World, climbed the charts in 1961.
We are deeply saddened by James Darren’s passing. May he rest in peace.
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