I posted this originally on Facebook (back in the day before I posted all of these here) on 30 September, 2023. Given the topic of the Album of the Week I just posted for 17 May, 2025, I thought it seemed apropos to revisit this one. (By the way, I'm still looking for that second volume of the "Rockford" TV movies.) Enjoy...
One of my "guilty pleasures," for lack of a better term (although, to be honest with you, I don't feel too guilty about it), are police procedural/mystery television programs. I have no doubt that this is my mother's influence on me. When I was a kid we used to watch shows like "Remington Steele" and "Murder, She Wrote" together. As an adult, it was "Grantchester" and "Blue Bloods." After she died, I bought the boxed sets of the original "Magnum, P.I." and "The Rockford Files"--two of her favourites--and have spent a number of evenings binge watching multiple episodes. They're highly enjoyable--what I call "TV comfort food." And you know what? I'm even comfortable enough in my heterosexuality to admit that I have a bit of a man crush on James Garner.
(NOTE: Between 1994 and 1999, James Garner reprised the role of Jim Rockford in eight made-for-TV movies. If anyone knows where I can find a DVD of the second volume of those programs, please let me know. I have Volume 1, but I'm having no luck finding Volume 2. Every website I check seems to be out of stock. Or if anyone has a copy lying around that they don't want anymore, I'm happy to take it off your hands.)
One of our favourites was (and, in my case, still is) the long-running CBS drama "NCIS." I was kind of saddened to learn of the death this past week of actor David McCallum who played my favourite character on the show, Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard, NCIS's lovably eccentric medical examiner. Whenever the actors' strike is finally resolved and the show can commence its 21st season, there will be a noticeable absence that even Dr. Jimmy Palmer himself would admit that he can't fill. (In researching this week's rant, I was surprised to discover McCallum actually attended medical examiner's conventions and became an expert in forensics to the point where show producer Donald P. Bellisario considered making him a technical adviser.)
In all the tributes and media stories about him over the last week, everyone has talked about his acting career going back to British television in the 1950s. After some notable performances in a few big films, particularly 1963's "The Great Escape" (which, oddly enough, also starred James Garner) and 1964's "The Greatest Story Every Told," in which he played Judas Iscariot, he was cast as Russian agent Illya Kuryakin who was partnered with American agent Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughan) in the series "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." which ran from 1964 to 1968. The show made him something of a sex symbol and garnered him two of the three Emmy nominations he would achieve in his career. In the 35 years between "The Man From U.N.C.L.E." and "NCIS" (and what are the odds that his two biggest roles would have abbreviated government agencies in their titles?), he had a fairly solid acting career, but never achieved the level of fame that he got either in the 1960s or in the last two decades. Perhaps his biggest role during that time was a British sci-fi series called "Sapphire & Steel" in which he starred with Joanna Lumley from 1979 to 1982.
But none of the stories I've read about McCallum this week have touched on his other career as a musician. McCallum actually came from a musical family. His mother, Dorothy Dorman, was a concert cellist for the London Philharmonic Orchestra. His father, David McCallum Sr., was the principal first violinist for the Royal Philharmonic, the London Philharmonic, and the Scottish National Orchestras. David McCallum (the Younger) won a scholarship to University College School in Hampstead, London, where he studied music and played the oboe. It was there that he first became involved in acting. He left school when he was 18 and, after a National Service stint in the British Army, he began attending the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. The rest, as they say, is history.
But he never completely left his musical roots. While starring in "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," he released four albums with producer David Axelrod for Capitol Records in 1966 and 1967. Unlike a lot of actors who ventured into music at that time, McCallum did not sing on any of them. The songs on the albums were mostly instrumental versions of popular songs of the day that McCallum conducted. He even wrote a couple of original pieces that were featured on the albums. Perhaps the most well-known piece is one Axelrod composed called "The Edge" which was sampled by Dr. Dre on his song "The Next Episode" and was also featured in the video game "Grand Theft Auto IV." I first heard the song on the soundtrack to Edgar Wright's 2017 film "Baby Driver." This was where I discovered, much to my surprise, that McCallum had also had a musical career. In fact, I had to do some research to make sure it wasn't a different David McCallum. I really loved the piece and found that like so many of my favourite pieces of music, it's probably best appreciated behind the wheel of a car with a manual transmission.
So it's with that in mind, since no one else is doing it, that I'm choosing to focus on the musical side of David McCallum's career this week. Featuring the aforementioned track "The Edge," please enjoy his second album from 1967, "Music: A Bit More of Me."
Until next week, stay safe, be good to your neighbours, and please remember that if at first you don't succeed, then skydiving definitely isn't for you.
Yours in peace, love, and rock and roll!
The Reverend Will the Thrill
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