David McCallum

 

David McCallum

Biography

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Jump to: Overview (3)  | Mini Bio (1)  | Family (2)  | Trade Mark (1)  | Trivia (36)  | Personal Quotes (4)

Overview (3)

Born	September 19, 1933 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Birth Name	David Keith McCallum
Height	5' 7" (1.7 m)

Mini Bio (1)

Since David McCallum's father, David McCallum Sr., was first violinist for the London Philharmonic and his mother, Dorothy Dorman, was a cellist, it's not surprising that David was originally headed for a career in music, playing oboe. He studied briefly at the Royal Academy of Music. He left that, however, for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He made nearly a dozen movies in the United Kingdom before his critically acclaimed work as Lt. Wyatt in Billy Budd (1962).

To the older generation, he is perhaps best known for his portrayal of U.N.C.L.E. agent Illya Kuryakin in the hit TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964). To younger audience, he is best known for his superlative portrayal of Dr. Donald "Duckie" Mallard on the hit CBS series, NCIS (2003). McCallum was first married to actress Jill Ireland, whom he met on March 28 1957 while filming Hell Drivers (1957). In 1963 he introduced Ireland to Charles Bronson when both were filming The Great Escape (1963). She subsequently left McCallum and married Bronson in 1968. McCallum and Ireland had three sons: Paul, Jason (an adopted son who died from an accidental drug overdose in 1989), and Val (short for Valentine).

He has been married to Katherine Carpenter since 1967. They have a son, Peter, and a daughter, Sophie. McCallum and his wife are active with charitable organizations that support the United States Marine Corps: Katherine's father was a Marine who served in the Battle of Iwo Jima, and her brother lost his life in the Vietnam War. McCallum has six grandchildren.

- IMDb Mini Biography By: Ed Stephan <stephan@cc.wwu.edu>;corrected by: Susan Rice<ricesu@aol.com> (qv's & corrections by A. Nonymous)

Family (2)

Spouse	Katherine Eaton Carpenter (16 September 1967 - present)  (2 children) Jill Ireland (11 May 1957 - 8 February 1967)  (divorced)  (3 children)
Parents	Dorman, Dorothy McCallum Sr., David

Trade Mark (1)

Deep authoritative voice

Trivia (36)

He has a daughter, Sophie, and son, Peter, from his marriage to Katherine Carpenter. Jill Ireland and he had three children, Paul McCallum, Valentine McCallum, and an adopted son, Jason, who died on 7th November 1989 from an accidental drug overdose.

Father was concertmaster and violinist David McCallum Sr.; a black & white photograph from the mid-1960's of David, Sr. and David, Jr. was used during one episode of NCIS (2003). The photo can be seen in Victoria's (Ducky's mother's) bedroom in NCIS: The Meat Puzzle (2005).

One of the first Brit actors to study the Method style of acting.

His hobbies include golf and computing.

Lives on Long Island, New York.

Of the three original stars of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964), he is the only one who never appeared on the spin-off series The Girl from U.N.C.L.E. (1966).

His first wife, Jill Ireland, met her second husband, Charles Bronson, during the filming of The Great Escape (1963).

Has appeared in episodes of three different series with Robert Vaughn: The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964), Please Don't Eat the Daisies (1965) and The A-Team (1983).

Was stricken with rheumatic fever as a child.

Son, Valentine McCallum, is a respected guitarist and session musician, recording and performing with artists Jonatha Brooke, Vonda Shepard and Sheryl Crow.

In an interview for a retrospective television special, he told of a visit to the White House during which, while he was being escorted to meet the U.S. president, a Secret Service agent told him, "You're the reason I got this job.".

Along with Leonard Nimoy, Cliff Robertson, Barbara Rush and Peter Breck, he is one of only five actors to appear in both The Outer Limits (1963) and The Outer Limits (1995). He played Gwyllim Griffiths in The Outer Limits: The Sixth Finger (1963) and Tone Hobart in The Outer Limits: The Forms of Things Unknown (1964) and Joshua Hayward in The Outer Limits: Feasibility Study (1997).

He was diagnosed with Dupuytren's contracture (a common benign condition which involves the thickening and contracture of the fibrous connective tissue beneath the skin of the palm). He underwent surgery in mid-2009 to alleviate the condition. Other sufferers of the condition are Bill Nighy and Ronald Reagan.

Became close friends with Donald Pleasence and James Garner, while filming The Great Escape (1963).

Best known by the public for his starring roles as secret agent Illya Kuryakin on The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964) and as chief medical examiner Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard on NCIS (2003).

At 14 he was a theatre electrician's assistant.

Attended RADA 1949 - 1951.

He was considered for Joe Dawson in Highlander (1992).

He has played the same character (Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard) in three different series: JAG (1995), NCIS (2003) and NCIS: New Orleans (2014).

With the deaths of James Garner on July 19, 2014 and Richard Attenborough on August 24, 2014, he is one of the two last surviving stars of The Great Escape (1963), along with John Leyton.

Insisted that people often mispronounce his last name: it's pronounced "MC-Kal-Lumb", not "MC-col-lumb".

David attended the 1982 COMDEX (Computer Dealer Expo) computer convention.

David met his first wife, Jill Ireland, on March 28 1957, while the duo were working on the film Hell Drivers (1957).

David met Katherine Carpenter (his second wife) quite by accident. On a Sunday in New York in 1965, he and Robert Vaughn were posing for a fashion magazine and were accompanied by several high fashion models to various landmarks in the city. One of the models was Katherine, who he would marry two years later.

He wrote the book "Once a Crooked Man" (2016), which mixes an espionage novel and a mystery thriller with some light comedy thrown in. The book was published by Minotaur, and the hardcover is 337 pages long.

As a child, he was an evacuee during WWII to Stewarton, Ayrshire.

Was among those briefly considered by the BBC as a potential Doctor in Doctor Who (1963) before Tom Baker was chosen instead for budgetary reasons. He was again briefly considered in the 1980s but not approached as by then he was living full time in the USA. He was also considered for the guest role of Dr. Judson in the 1989 serial Doctor Who: The Curse of Fenric: Part One (1989).

In Hear My Song (1991) he played Chief Constable Jim Abbott, a senior policeman attempting to track down and arrest the famous Irish singer (and tax fugitive) Josef Locke when a nightclub entrepreneur smuggles Locke back into the UK on a fishing boat for one last payday performance in Liverpool. Whilst the film was part fact and part fiction, in real life McCallum's father was a famous violinist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and actually played for the real Josef Locke in his career. McCallum recalled this story during publicity interviews for the film.

In the 1960s, McCallum recorded four albums for Capitol Records with music producer David Axlerod. The best known of his pieces today is "The Edge", which was sampled by Dr. Dre as the intro and riff to the track "The Next Episode", "M.I.A" by Missin' Linx, and "No Regrets" by Masta Ace.

He is a Republican.

He was friends with Tibor Rubin.

He has six grandchildren.

While making The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964), McCallum received more fan mail than any other actor in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's history, including such popular MGM stars as Clark Gable and Elvis Presley.

In Season 2, episode 13, of N.C.I.S. (2005), Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) is asked what Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard (McCallum) looked like as a young man. Gibbs replies: "Illya Kuryakin." Ilya Kuryakin was the name of McCallum's character from "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." (1964-1968) a role for which he was nominated for two Emmys and a Golden Globe.

Of Clan Malcolm.

Has an intense fear of heights.

Personal Quotes (4)

I feel it's a person's duty to participate in the governing of the country in which he lives.

But so far as countries are concerned, I don't go to a place to see what's there, but who is there.

I didn't want to be famous. I just wanted to earn enough money to have a nice life and enjoy acting.

Sidney James was a great actor and a funny man.