2023, Family, Media, TV

R.I.P. David McCallum

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When I was a kid, we had a tv but we weren’t a big tv-watching family.  Except for Sunday night.  From 6-7 was Disney’s Wonderful World of Color, then from 7-8 was Bonanza and then 8-9 was the special treat – The Man From U.N.C.L.E.  Normally that kind of show wasn’t something my folks encouraged, especially since it wasn’t over until 9 p.m.!  Looking back I’m sure this was more for my father than for us kids, but since I benefited from it, I never questioned it.

David McCallum played Illya Kuryakin, an agent for U.N.C.L.E. (United Network Command for Law and Enforcement).  The show was written primarily for Robert Vaughn who was a bigger star, but millions of starry-eyed pre-teens and teens made David into a popular star.  The producers promoted him to co-star pretty quickly.  I had a massive crush on him – I didn’t even realize until years later that he was Scottish, not Russian.  I’ve re-watched all of the episodes over the years and David did a pretty credible job with the Russian accent.

I always enjoyed seeing him in some role or other, especially when he played the bad guy.  I’m not a big NCIS fan so didn’t seem him in that role but I knew he was there.  Good looking to the end.

I think I’ll have to look up The Man from U.N.C.L.E. to see if I can watch it online… would be fun to see him again in what I think of as his signature role.  (Feel free to disagree with me if you want.)

Do you have any favorite spy movies/novels?

32 thoughts on “R.I.P. David McCallum”

  1. I liked the Jason Bourne series of novels by Robert Ludlum. Especially ‘The Bourne Identity,” first of the series. We happened to read that while in Europe for the first time, and actually visited some of the cities mentioned in the book–Paris, Zurich, Berlin, (Geneva?–not sure).

    Also loved “The Day of the Jackal” although I’m not sure that qualifies as a spy novel. More of a political thriller, perhaps.

    Chris in Nova Scotia

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    1. I remember reading Jackel…
      Just looked up spy novel writers on wiki, and I have read none of them! Partly because decades ago I decided I was curious to read about women’s lives, and so few of them are about women. I may have to try out some of the women spies.

      I have read several books about men and women in WWII French Resistance… would have to look up titles, back later.

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  3. Years ago I read LeCarre’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I found the atmosphere of paranoia and suspicion repellant. I haven’t been tempted to pick up a spy novel since.

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    1. I enjoyed The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, though it seriously made me wonder why anyone would ever be a professional spy.

      While I worked and lived at the US embassy in Moscow I often wondered who the spies were. I am far too trusting to ever be a spy myself.

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  4. RE: French Resistance women:
    Resistance by Agnes Humbert, and Kristin Hannah’s The Nightengale. I know there are others where that was part of the plot.

    Maybe I’m also remembering TV series and movies… The one I’m thinking of may have been Wish Me Luck, from 1987- 90.

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    1. Nothing free that I can find with just a quick search – the cynic in me assumes that David McCallum’s death just upped the ante on all his works. I’ll keep looking.

      In the meantime, YA got me all of the Girl from U.N.C.L.E. episodes on DVD a couple of years ago. Just awful from so many perspectives (really, “girl”?) but it is just so nostalgic for me. I also have all the Emma Peel episodes from The Avengers!

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  8. Rise and Peak Around the Corner, Baboons. What’s Happening Over There?

    Man from UNCLE was only on at my childhood house some of the time due to my Dad’s interest in all things agricultural, including TV shows. We managed to move him away from “The Real McCoys” to “Bonanza” sometime after Bonanza was piloted. There were cows on Bonanza, so he was somewhat willing. However, there were no cows on spy shows so those were lost to our family. David McCallum was very crush-worthy, though. VS, I am impressed that you remember the entire Sunday night line up.

    The novel I liked most as a spy/action novel was “Eye of the Needle” by Ken Follett. I read this a long, long time ago, so I only remember the character, Die Nadle?, and many tense, WWII situations. I read a few spy things now, but not many. The most recent was “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.” Years, and years ago I loved “The Wind Chill Factor” as well which was then made into a movie.

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    1. I only read the first of the “Girl” books – it broke that cardinal rule for me with mysteries – not only didn’t give the reader the last clue that was needed but rubbed our noses in the fact that we weren’t getting the last clue. Grrrrrrrrr.

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  9. There was a British comedy series called Allo Allo about a cafe in France where everybody hangs out resistance fighters, German soldiers, etc. much to the cafe owner’s stress. Funny. Very clever scripts.
    Clyde

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  11. I understand, if you found yourself thrust into the middle of a war, you might be willing to pass on information deleterious to the enemy if you had any but why, I wonder, would anyone choose “spy” as a career?

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  14. There were a number of spy series around the time the Man from U.N.C.L. E. aired, including the parody Get Smart. I liked that one a lot. Also I Spy, with Robert Culp and a young Bill Cosby.

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