James Darren, the former teen idol and
pop singer who played the dreamy surfer Moondoggie in three Gidget movies before
starring on television on The Time Tunnel and T.J. Hooker, died Monday. He was 88.
Darren died in his sleep at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his son Jim
Moret, a correspondent for Inside Edition, told The Hollywood Reporter. He had
entered the hospital for an aortic valve replacement but was deemed too weak to have
the surgery; he went home but had to return. His son Jim Moret said that he had been
able to express his love for his family while being treated in the cardiac unit.
“He was a good man. He was very talented,” Moret said. “He was forever young.”
James Darren Born in Philadelphia, he studied acting with Stella Adler in New
York and was signed to Columbia Pictures, where his first role was in “Rumble on the Docks.”
He went on to appear in films including “Operation Madball” and “Gunmen’s Walk” before being cast
in the 1959 teen movie “Gidget,” starring Sandra Dee and Cliff Robertson. Darren also sang the
title track for the hit movie, which was based on the experiences of a teenaged surfer girl
in Malibu and later became a popular TV series.