I hadn’t read about this when NCIS Season 1 Episode 1 started airing on live TV just now. I thought it was a joke or something; George W Bush was the president on the episode, for goodness sake. Or perhaps they’re trying to fill out air time, like when they started airing old episodes of Yellowstone.
Farewell, Mr. Kuryakin. I was surprised he was 90! He always looked so young, even in his later years. I was in 7th grade when “U.N.C.L.E” premiered, and the show was insanely popular. Mr. McCallum was a major heartthrob for teenage girls at the time. I would have guessed he was only in his 20s when doing that show, but he was over 30. I recall he released a couple of LPs titled “Music: A Part of Me” or something like that, in which he arranged and conducted pop songs with an orchestra. I actually have one of them in my record collection. It belonged my wife. Yes, she was one of those teenage girls!
God, yes. I was 12 when Man From Uncle was new. Ilya was one of my wanna-be’s. Picture a very short, skinny boy wearing a black turtleneck sweater to church. I thought I looked cool but in hindsight I suspect otherwise.
Oh, man. I found The Man From U.N.C.L.E. in the late 70s - it was on late Sundays nights (I think). Illya was my favorite character.
I have a recollection of reading one of those “Teen Beat” type magazines at that time which described him being mobbed by a group of girls at a public appearance. I believe there was a mention of some of them practically tearing off his clothes.
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. resulted in my first chastising for swearing. I was playing with the car, pictured with the DVD set, when a missile from the toy car flew into a bush. At five years old I said, ‘Where the hell did it go?’ My dad heard me. I was called into the garage and admonished. I went back and said to my friend, ‘Where the heck did it go?’ (I did find the missile.)
imdb lists David in 4 episodes of Season 20. He’s given “credit only” in the other episodes.
It’ll be interesting to see if he had already filmed any scenes for the upcoming season 21.
Back in the '60s, David was the epitome of cool on a par with Sean Connery, Steve McQueen, and Mr Spock. I got an UNCLE gift set one Christmas—the sniper rifle, the Walther PPK with the stock, the yellow ID badge, the lot. If I were as svelte as I used to be, I’d still have a collection of black turtlenecks too.
RIP, David. You will be sorely missed. 
Trivia Challenge: What real-life person did David play in 1958’s A Night to Remember?
Without googling: Jack Thayer?
And Napoleon Solo, as I recall, was not.
Funny how sidekicks are almost always “cooler” than the main character: Ilya Kuryakin, Mr Spock, Artemus Gordon, Chester Goode, Pancho Miguel Fernando Gonzalez de Conejo, Tonto…
If you want to make it big on TV, always audition for the role of the sidekick!
Good guess, but no. He was on the Titanic, though.
Alexander « Scotty » Scott – best not to mention him …
Here’s a gift link to the NY Times obituary (no login required)
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/25/arts/television/david-mccallum-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=uVWQU6fdl5r_ykQIVesY8W2IglcRMOo1wD_-ofcBIbnWqnHJB4SRKFYZ9t_Suxa9dXym7FDRJTwNCDs-KS0ZuE7IIetJz5hsE1dMVetqGW8IdPReGFO4LdzF0N_q-mmdlCzDFmNYvV3J76FbNct_58mKHVmzlqN9he1f13GdfBPFLB0rWpVH1hQfRYwOP5eR5NdOFako5UPwAUYP7J3lQ7Hm8LTWqu4A7IAjqGqg6sN43Azmr241uz-Qg8zNMt4VhQJCQBuTIpWJFJ9Pde-yziOCxZqY50eKptG0tBW2E5b2PP0_oIrHedJ41Xxib5J4GiKQmhEAZEdJWqkMGZ8iqcEnw5s&smid=url-share
And @terentii I don’t know his name, but it’s the wireless operator. I didn’t know this piece of trivia but my husband did.
Thanks for that. I was beginning to think that I was the only person who remembered him in that film. I never watched the Man from UNCLE or NCIS, so that movie was how I knew him. And he did well in that film.
The boy in the photo is a lot better looking than I was, AND hair that long was still 6 years away for middle class American straight-arrow me.
That’s right: Junior Wireless Operator Harold Bride. He suggested to Jack Phillips, the Senior WO, that he send the SOS distress code instead of CQD.
Bride survived the sinking but had to be wheeled into the US Senate’s inquiry in New York. IIRC, he was only 20 at the time.
Looking at David’s filmography, I see he was in The Hell Drivers as well. So he did actually play opposite both Sean Connery and Steve McQueen.
Only in the TV show, in the film he was a doofus.
And ironically, The Great Escape is playing on TCM as I type this!