David McCallum

The multi-talented David McCallum racked up many accomplishments in his life and career, including acting in movies, theater, and TV, plus issuing his own music albums (McCallum was proficient at several instruments). Born David Keith McCallum on September 19, 1933, in Glasgow, Scotland, McCallum was surrounded by music starting at an early age as his father was a violinist (who played for the London Philharmonic) and his mother a cellist. After giving cello a try, McCallum became entranced by such classic writers as Chaucer, Kipling, Dickens, and Shakespeare, which inspired McCallum to give acting a try as a teenager. Before he could explore acting fully, McCallum enlisted in the Royal West African Frontier Force on the African Gold Coast in the early '50s, which inadvertently helped McCallum prepare for what would become his signature acting role -- as blond Russian agent Ilya Kuryakin in TV's The Man from U.N.C.L.E. -- which McCallum played from 1964 through 1968. During the late '60s, McCallum issued several albums that have since become novelty cult items among collectors (à la William Shatner's The Transformed Man) -- 1966's Music: A Part of Me, 1968's Music: A Bit More of Me, and 1969's Music: It's Happening Now! -- which mixed renditions of then-current hits (the Beatles' "Yesterday," the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction," etc.) along with McCallum originals. McCallum continued to act in both movies and TV, and retained a sizeable fan base, as proven by the fanzine the McCallum Observer, which was issued quarterly by superfan Lynda Mendoza. David McCallum died on September 25, 2023, at the age of 90. ~ Greg Prato