To people of a certain age – say, 80 – James Darren, who died yesterday at age 88, will always be Moondoggie, the handsome male lead in “Gidget.” That now-ignored 1959 film made Sandra Dee a star, introduced the country to the surfing scene that would sweep teen culture, and made Darren a dual-threat teen idol.
The film’s producers were going to have Darren lip-sync the vocals, but he convinced them he could sing well enough. He was right. His performance kicked off a singing career that included a couple of Top 10 hits and a dozen LPs before he turned to acting and directing in the late ’70s.
As a singer Darren was no Elvis, but he was a better actor. If you’re younger you might remember him as the co-star of the mid-’60s TV series “The Time Tunnel” or from the cast of “T.J. Hooker.” And if you’re a Star Trek fan of any age, you might know him best as Vic Fontaine, the holographic lounge singer who appeared in several episodes of “Deep Space Nine,” including a couple with meaty acting scenes. Here he performs a Sinatra classic with the late, great Rene Auberjonois as Odo on – or rather, at – the piano, from the 1998 episode “His Way.”
