Tall, good-looking James Darren was a student of acting coach Stella Adler and made his name in the 1950s in a series of teenage-themed films. A better actor than most of his contemporary teenage heartthrobs, he nevertheless found it difficult to escape the teen-idol image he got in pictures like Gidget and Gidget Goes Hawaiian. He also gained fame in the early and mid-1960s as a singer, with several hits to his credit, including "Goodbye Cruel World" and "Her Royal Majesty". His film work tapered off in the 1960s, but he did much TV work and had two hit series, The Time Tunnel in the 1960s and T.J. Hooker in the 1980s.


Also known as a singer and his singing talents are revealed as the portrayal of the hologram Vic Fontaine on a couple of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" (1993) episodes. His wife, Evy Norlund, is the former Miss Denmark of 1958. Godfather of A.J. Lambert, who is the daughter of Nancy Sinatra and granddaughter of Frank Sinatra. Darren was a close friend of Sinatra and his family. At one time in the 1970s he toured the country with comedian Buddy Hackett as a singer. He was originally not given the Moondoggie character in Columbia Pictures' Gidget (1959) because the role required two songs to sing and Darren had not proven himself a capable enough singer. On his own, he cut a single with the studio's recording subsidiary, Colpix Records, which charted. Columbia changed its mind and gave him the role despite the fact that he couldn't surf and was a weak swimmer. He nevertheless became a huge teen idol and reprised the Moondoggie role in both Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) and Gidget Goes to Rome (1963), all with different Gidgets: Sandra Dee; Deborah Walley and Cindy Carol. As a teen he commuted from South Philly to New York to attend Stella Adler's drama classes. He is the only actor to appear in all three "Gidget" films: Gidget (1959), Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) and Gidget Goes to Rome (1963).