David McCallum: The Real Reason I Watch NCIS

Tis true, I am very proud to say that this lens was selected as Lens of the Day on Feb 5, 2010.

It is an indescribable feeling to receive that level of recognition. There are so many great lensmasters on Squidoo that I feel honored to be included among them. Many thanks to everyone who visits this lens and adds supportive comments. It is truly appreciated.

One day I was riding the bus home when I mentioned to one of my "bus buddies" (people you get to know simply because you ride the bus together) that I was writing an article about David McCallum. He said he didn't know who he was. I then asked if he watched NCIS. No? Well, I imagine there are a few people who don't watch it.

So I asked him if he had ever heard of the Man from U.N.C.L.E. Since he is a fairly young man, compared to GrannySage anyway, he also said no.

This conversation convinced me that it was even more important for me to write this lens.

David McCallum was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1933. (What? He isn't Russian? Now you tell me).

His parents were both musicians. His mother was a cellist and his father played the violin. When David was young, the family moved to London where his parents played in the London Philharmonic Orchestra. David also exhibited musical talent and plays the oboe. It was thought he would follow in his parent's footsteps.

But David he decided that music wasn't for him, although he has several music albums on his list of credits. He attended the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and the rest is history.

I don't mean to say that he immediately sky-rocketed to stardom. He started out in small roles, usually as troubled teenagers due to his James Dean-like appearance. He then graduated to larger roles and in 1965 he played Judas Iscariot in "The Greatest Story Ever Told." He also acted with Charles Bronson in 'The Great Escape," and they became good friends.

But it was when he came to America and landed the role of Illya Kuryakin in the series, "The Man from U.N.C.L.E" that David McCallum truly became a star.

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Recognizing that there are many people who have never heard of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E " is hard to accept, mainly because it shows my age. The show ran from 1964-1968, which means I was 12 years old at the time of the first show. Being a starry-eyed pre-teen, already in love with the Beatles, it was not surprising that I fell for the "blonde Beatle," aka David McCallum.

The Man from U.N.C.L.E was a spy show, a TV version of James Bond. The two main characters, played by David McCallum as Illya Kuryakin, and Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo, are secret agents for the agency known as the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement, shortened to U.N.C.L.E of course.

The main bad guys in the show usually worked for an organization called THRUSH whose only objective was to take over the world. Napoleon and Illya were involved in numerous capers to prevent them from reaching their objective. The most unusual aspect to Illya Kuryakin's character was that he was Russian. Because THRUSH was so diabolical, even countries with opposing ideologies worked together to stop them.

David McCallum has stated in several interviews that he was the one who created Illya's character, from the black turtleneck, the European accent, to the mystery surrounding his personal life.

"The character has not been explained very well in the series," David said, "so I've adopted him to my own character. He's very close to me."

David really did not enjoy being a teenage idol. Wherever he went he would be mobbed by hordes of screaming girls. One even pulled some hair out of his head. He stated he could never understand how people could endanger someone they professed to love.

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The Man from U.N.C.L.E. was cancelled in 1968. But that was not the end of David McCallum's acting career. His credits are too numerous to cite completely, but here is a sample.

David appeared in several British TV series, including "Colditz", a series about prisoners of war and a science-fiction series "Sapphire & Steel." I recently watched an episode of "Sapphire and Steel" on You-Tube and found it very intriguing.

In 1975-76 he played Daniel Weston in the Invisible Man.

Other shows include guest appearances on Outer Limits, Perry Mason, Hart to Hart, the A-Team, Matlock, Murder She Wrote, Babylon 5, Sex and the City, Jag (which led to NCIS), and many, many more.

In 1994, David was the narrator for the documentaries "Titanic: Death of a Dream" and "Titanic: The Legend Lives On." He also narrated the TV special "Ancient Prophecies."

Since 2003 he has starred in the CBS television series NCIS as Dr Donald "Ducky" Mallard.

From 2006 he has also concurrently done the voice of C.A.R. on the Disney cartoon "The Replacements."

His movie credits are just as numerous and include:

# Around the World Under the Sea (1966)
# Three Bites of the Apple (1967)
# King Solomon's Treasure (1977)
# The Watcher in the Woods (1980)
# Terminal Choice (1985)
# The Haunting of Morella (1990)
# Batman: Gotham Knight as the voice of Alfred (2008)

This list is just a small sample to give some idea of the broad range of acting David has done. I refer you to Wikipedia for a complete listing.

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David has always kept his personal life very private. And I shall respect that desire and not dig too deeply. There are a few things that are public knowledge which I shall mention just to provide some background.

David was married to actress Jill Ireland for 10 years, from 1957 until their divorce in 1967. Together they had three children. One son died in 1985 from an accidental drug overdose. Jill re-married Charles Bronson, a long time family friend whom David met while filming "The Great Escape."

David then married Katherine Carpenter and they had two children. They are still married at the time of this writing and live in New York. He commutes to Los Angeles for the filming of NCIS.

His hobbies include golfing and computing.

In many of the interviews I read, David McCallum has been described as:
*intelligent and cultured
*imaginative and talented
*possessing style and grace
*a deep thinker who enjoys solitude
*earnest, introspective, and cool.

Photo from TV Guide.com

Finally we get to NCIS. As I've shown, David was not idle during the years between U.N.C.L.E. and NCIS. In fact, he definitely has earned the right to retire. But he loves to act, and to keep busy.

Since 2003, he took the role of Donald "Ducky" Mallard, the medical examiner. He stated that he did not know anything about the real NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) or about forensic pathology. So, as is typical for him when he takes on a new role, he devoted himself to learning all he could about it so that he can portray his character as realistically as possible. He has even watched full autopsies and calls a consulting pathologist regularly for tips on how to stand or hold his scalpel.

I've grown to love the other characters in the show as well, and enjoy the humor and side stories that have developed. But it is the character of Ducky, with his lovable idiosyncrasies, such as talking to the bodies on the autopsy table and going into long-winded reminisces about the past, who still has my heart.

Promotional Photo from CBS.com.

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