Moondoggie in ‘Gidget,’ Singer, Director Was 88

James Darren, who went from teen idol standing appearing in youth-oriented films like “Gidget” to changing into an actor in TV exhibits reminiscent of “Star Trek: Deep House 9” and “T.J. Hooker” and a singer and director, died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. He was 88.

His son Jim Moret stated that he had been in a position to specific his love for his household whereas being handled within the cardiac unit. “He was man. He was very gifted,” Moret stated. “He was ceaselessly younger.”

Moret stated he was grateful that his father had been in a position to embrace his signature function because the surfer Moondoggie within the “Gidget” film and that he continued to work together along with his followers.

Born in Philadelphia, he studied appearing with Stella Adler in New York and was signed to Columbia Footage, the place his first function was in “Rumble on the Docks.” He went on to seem in movies together with “Operation Madball” and “Gunmen’s Stroll” earlier than being solid within the 1959 teen film “Gidget,” starring Sandra Dee and Cliff Robertson. Darren additionally sang the title observe for the hit film, which was based mostly on the experiences of a teenaged surfer lady in Malibu and later turned a well-liked TV collection.

The “Gidget” theme music launched a profitable singer profession for Darren, who had a gold document with “Goodbye Merciless World” in 1961 and launched a minimum of 14 albums. He continued to seem in characteristic movies together with “The Weapons of Navarone,” “The Gene Krupa Story,” “All of the Younger Males” and “As a result of They’re Younger.”

He reprised his function as Moondoggie in “Gidget Goes Hawaiian” and once more in “Gidget Goes to Rome,” although he was uninterested in the typecasting by then.

Shifting into tv, he starred within the collection “The Time Tunnel” and after a short sojourn in Italy showing in Jess Franco’s “Venus in Furs,” he went on to guest-star on quite a few collection together with “Love, American Type,” “Fantasy Island” and “The Love Boat.”

Darren was an everyday on “T.J. Hooker” from 1983 to 1986 and likewise moved into TV directing, engaged on collection together with “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Melrose Place.”

He discovered a brand new era of followers in 1998 as Vic Fontaine, the holographic lounge singer on “Star Trek: Deep House 9.”

He’s survived by his spouse Evy; sons Jim Moret, Christian Darren and Tony Darren; and 5 grandchildren.