Darren McGavin Movies
A versatile leading and character actor who is equally adept at comedy as he is with drama, Darren McGavin has spent the bulk of his time on television and only occasionally appears in feature films. He also has extensive stage experience. McGavin attended a year of college and then moved to New York to study acting at the Neighborhood Playhouse and the Actor's Studio. He made his film debut in 1945 playing small supporting roles in such movies as A Song to Remember, Kiss and Tell, and She Wouldn't Say Yes. His film career did not really take flight until he appeared in Otto Preminger's The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell, The Man With the Golden Arm, and David Lean's Summertime (all 1955). In 1957, he played the title role in the television detective drama Mike Hammer. In feature films, McGavin averaged a film or two per year; by 1967, he had switched to television movies like The Outsider (1967) and The Challengers (1968). In 1971, he played vampire-hunting investigative reporter Carl Kolchak in The Nightstalker, a popular television movie that successfully blended humor, suspense, and horror. McGavin's wise-cracking character then appeared in a sequel and in 1974 starred in the short-lived television series Kolchak: The Nightstalker. While with the show, McGavin directed a few episodes. He had already directed and produced Happy Mother's Day, Love George (aka Run, Stranger, Run) (1973). In 1983, McGavin played one of his most memorable roles, that of the foul-mouthed, somewhat discombobulated, but well-meaning father in the uproarious A Christmas Story. McGavin earned an Emmy in 1990 for his recurring role as Murphy Brown's father on the popular sitcom Murphy Brown (1988-1998). Throughout the '90s, McGavin slowed down and only occasionally performed. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide- 1979
Television film featuring the Marvel Comics hero doing battle with a mad industrialist who wields a neutron bomb. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide
- 1979
The old 1930s song was "Love For Sale;" now it's the 1970s, and, just like cars and condominiums, it's Love for Rent. Lisa Eilbacher is the innocent midwestern girl who comes to wicked old New York looking for her sister Annette O'Toole. O'Toole is now gainfully employed by an "escort bureau" (note those quote marks), and Eilbacher is likewise drawn into this questionable lifestyle. The ad copy for this TV movie notes that the sisters are "forced to face reality", which is more than the scriptwriters did. Not surprisingly, Love for Rent was based on a Playboy magazine story (by Don Pierce). Its initial audience on November 11, 1979, was most likely close to zero, since a rival network was offering the TV premiere of Dog Day Afternoon. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1978
Set in 1900s San Francisco, Donovan's Kid stars Darren McGavin as pugnacious Irishman Timothy Donovan. Together with his sidekick Old Bailey (Mickey Rooney), Donovan attempts to rescue his wife and daughter from the autocratic rule of his wife's uncle. Shelley Fabares and Murray Hamilton costar in this typical bit of blarney from the Disney factory. Donovan's Kid premiered as a two-part installment of the TV anthology The Wonderful World of Disney. It first aired on January 7 and 14, 1979 (though viewers in the Eastern and Central time zones missed the first installment due to the NFC playoffs). ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
In this Disney western, Jim Dale plays Eli Bloodshy, and his twin sons Wild Billy and Jasper. The older man has founded the town of Bloodshy, and now that he has apparently died, his sons must battle for control of his legacy in a wild train race. One of them is a city-slicker, a mild-mannered, bible-spouting fellow; the other is a gun-fighting, drunken, hot-tempered lad, more at home with outlaws than with law-abiding citizens. When they settle with each other, they still have to battle venal Mayor Ragsdale (Darren McGavin) for real control. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jim Dale, Karen Valentine, (more)
- 1978
- PG
Mike Nolan (Darren McGavin) is a Beverly Hills resident whose divorce case -- blown by a hopelessly inept, possibly larcenous attorney (Dick Martin) -- has left him with no home, no job, and no assets, except for his car. And when the car is driven off by 16-year-old repo agent "Larry" (Denise Nickerson), Mike gives chase and finds himself hired by the brassy owner (Sylvia Miles) of the auto repossession company the girl works for. He and Larry are teamed together to go after a car being driven by luscious deadbeat Gloria Martine (Joan Collins), but before long Mike is up to his neck in trouble, not only fending off unwanted advances from Larry but trying for some extracurricular activity with Gloria. And that's not even taking into account the hoods, motorcyclists, and other irate citizens that he runs afoul of in his new "career". ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide
- 1978
Robert Duvall stars as Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower in this made-for-TV biography, which focuses on his career in the military during World War II as he helped to guide Allied forces to victory. Along with Eisenhower's military exploits and political aspirations, Ike: The War Years also offers a perspective on his person life, in particular his relationship with Kay Summersby (Lee Remick), the driver who later claimed to have had a long-term romantic relationship with him. First broadcast as a multi-part miniseries, Ike: The War Years also stars Dana Andrews, Darren McGavin, Laurence Luckinbill, and Steve Roberts as Franklin D. Roosevelt. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Duvall, Lee Remick, (more)
Stretching the Airport concept as far as it will go, this third film in the series sticks a jet full of old actors 50 feet underwater in the Bermuda Triangle. Oxygen (and credibility) grows short, and Jimmy Stewart plays an art collector targeted for a heist. Jack Lemmon is the unfortunate pilot, and Christopher Lee shows up along with Brenda Vaccaro, Joseph Cotten, and Olivia de Havilland. Jerry Jameson, auteur of The Bat People, was selected to helm this entry featuring that film's star, Michael Pataki. George Kennedy, the only man to appear in all four Airport films, is along for the ride as well. ~ Robert Firsching, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jack Lemmon, Lee Grant, (more)
- 1976
Former policewoman Dorothy Uhnak wrote the book upon which this 150-minute TV movie was based. The central characters of Law and Order are the male members of an Irish-American family--three generations of police officers. The bulk of the drama concerns the conflicts between Deputy Chief of Public Affairs Brian O'Malley (Darren McGavin) and his Vietnam-vet son (Art Hindle), who has become a beat cop. In addition to his problems at home, Chief O'Malley must contend with rumors of departmental corruption. Law and Order was designed as the pilot film for a Police Story-style series with a family slant. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1976
In this crime drama, two dogged FBI agents are on the case to investigate one of the U.S.'s most infamous bank robberies. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Darren McGavin, Leslie Nielsen, (more)
In this Disney comedy, a pair of spoiled kids, bored by their filthy rich grandfather, decide they'd rather be with their mom who is in Hong Kong. In order to get her attention, they engineer their own kidnapping. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- David Niven, Darren McGavin, (more)
- 1975
The Demon and the Mummy is a jerrybuilt "TV movie" comprised of two episodes from the 1974-75 TV series Night Stalker. As always, reporter Karl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) stumbles onto evidence of the Supernatural. And as always, his editor Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland) refuses to believe Kolchak. The "Demon" of the title is a Succubus, a devil in female form (Carolyn Jones). The "Mummy" is of the Aztec variety, requiring fresh human hearts to stay alive. The original titles of the two Night Stalker episodes included herein were "Demon in Lace" and "Legacy of Terror." ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
In this theatrically released episode from the TV series based on the popular feature film, Shaft, the tough New York detective must use all of his experience to solve the case and bring the crooks to justice. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1974
- Add Kolchak: The Night Stalker [TV Series] to QueueAdd Kolchak: The Night Stalker [TV Series] to top of Queue
Debuting Friday, September 13, 1974 on ABC, the weekly, hour-long sci-fi/fantasy series Kolchak: The Night Stalker was spun off from two well-received feature length entries from the same network's Movie of the Week: The Night Stalker (1971) and The Night Strangler (1973). Starring in both these made-for-TV offerings was Darren McGavin as Carl Kolchak, a fly-by-night newspaper reporter who'd stumbled onto proof of actual paranormal and supernatural activity (a vampire terrorizing Las Vegas in Night Stalker, a werewolf decimating Seattle in Night Strangler), only to have his stories suppressed and himself bullied into silence by nervous police officials and politicians who didn't want to scare away tourists and merchants. By the time the Kolchak series proper began, the title character (still played by McGavin) had been effectively blacklisted by every major publisher in the US, and was forced to work for the Chicago-based Independent News Service, a seat-of-the-pants operation edited by Tony Vincenzo (another carryover from the movie versions). Having likewise been exiled from the higher journalistic circles thanks to Kolchak's "unbelievable" news scoops, Vincenzo harbored a grudge against our hero, but kept him on the payroll all the same. As for Kolchak, he was determined to regain his credibility by filing a story about the Supernatural that could be proven beyond doubt--and of course, he was always foiled when the evidence "mysteriously" vanished at the end of each episode. Making matters worse, Kolchak couldn't even post a "normal" news story, since bizarre and unexplainable things kept happening around him wherever he went. Other regulars included Jack Grinnage as Ron Updike, Independent News' fledgling society reporter who yearned to break into the "big time" and was willing to stab Kolchak in the back to get what he wanted; and Ruth McDevitt as the service's advice columnist Miss Emily Cowles, the only person whom Kolchak could rely upon when things got rough. As for the series' various ghosts, monsters, vampires, mummies and lycanthropes, they were seldom seen full-face but instead lurked in the shadows, in the tradition of the classic Val Lewton "psychological horror" epics of the 1940s (Trivia note: among the series' writers was a young Robert Zemeckis). Although the series enjoyed the built-in following of viewers who'd loved The Night Stalker and The Night Strangler, Kolchak: The Night Stalker languished in the ratings opposite such competition as Police Woman and The Rockford Files. Even if the series had been a hit, however, it would have been scuttled by a lawsuit instigated by Jeff Rice, author of the novel upon which the original Night Stalker was based, who insisted he had not given anyone permission to turn his property into a weekly series. Some thirty years after its cancellation on August 30, 1975, Kolchak: The Night Stalker was revived by the X-Files team under the simplified title Night Stalker, with Stuart Townsend as Carl Kolchak. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Darren McGavin, Simon Oakland, (more)
- 1974
Crackle of Death is a hybrid feature film comprised of two episodes from the 1974 TV series Night Stalker. Series regulars Darren McGavin and Simon Oakland head the cast, playing, respectively, reporter Carl Kolchak and editor Tony Vincenzo. It was Kolchak's weekly habit on the series to run across an example of supernatural phenomena, then to try to convince the disbelieving Vincenzo to run the story. The two Night Stalker episodes represented herein are "The Energy Eater", in which a new hospital is bedevilled by a creature that thrives on electrical energy, and "Fire Fall", in which a famed pianist is troubled by his evil alter ego. Guest stars in the 94-minute Crackle of Death include Philip Carey, William Smith, Elaine Giftos. Directors for the individual components were Alex Grasshoff and Don Weis. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1974
Though it barely received big-city release (it lay on the shelf for nearly two years before it received any sort of release), The Petty Story did quite well on a regional basis. As indicated by the title, this is the story of the Petty family of stock-car racing fame. Richard Petty, who won over 200 races before his 1993 retirement, stars as himself, while Darren McGavin provides acting relief as Petty's father Lee. The film pulls no punches in charting the turbulent relationship between father and son. For those not interested in domestic melodrama, the film is chock-full of great racing scenes. Also appearing in The Petty Story are Kathie Browne (Mrs. Darren McGavin),Noah Beery Jr. (who went through most of the same paces in Big Fauss and Little Halsey), Lynne Marta and L.Q. Jones. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Richard Petty, Darren McGavin, (more)
- 1973
The Night Strangler is the sequel to the enormously successful 1972 TV movie The Night Stalker. Darren McGavin returns as seedy reporter Carl Kolchak, who previously ran into conflict when Las Vegas authorities refused to acknowledge Kolchak's uncovering of a modern-day vampire. Now he's in Seattle, on the trail of a mysterious strangler who drains the blood of his victims. Kolchak's quest takes him to a hidden underground city beneath Seattle and the bizarre residents therein. Margaret Hamilton (The Wizard of Oz) is seen briefly as an expert on alchemy; John Carradine also makes cameo. The success of this telemovie and its predecessor inspired a brief 1974 TV series, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, also starring McGavin. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1973
- PG
In this star-studded Canadian feature, young Johnny (Ron Howard) returns to his home to find out more about his early childhood, and who his father is. He runs headlong into the rivalry between his mother (Cloris Leachman) and her sister (Patricia Neal). What he cannot know is that his inquiries will stir up a hornet's nest among the other villagers. Apparently more than one person in his hometown has something to hide. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide
- 1973
At first glance, we were prepared to designate B Must Die as a hybrid TV feature, consisting of two episodes of either The Outsider or Night Stalker. That's because the star of this obscure entry is Darren McGavin, who also headlined the two aforementioned weekly series. Further research revealed, however, that McGavin's character name in B Must Die is "Pal", which doesn't jive with either Outsider or Kolchak. Then we discovered that the film was a tax-writeoff action drama, boasting a convoluted storyline about a political/industrial rebellion in an unnamed South American country. Patricia Neal and Burgess Meredith costar in B Must Die. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
Seedy newspaper reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) is assigned the Las Vegas police beat by his boss Tony Vincenzo (Simon Oakland). A series of murders has been plaguing the Glitter Capital; the victims, all beautiful showgirls, have had the blood drained from their bodies. Kolchak can't understand why the authorities are so uncooperative as he probes the case. Nor can he believe the evidence he's gleaned on his own: There can't possibly be a Dracula-like vampire stalking Las Vegas, or can there? Adapted by Richard Matheson from a novel by Jeff Rice, The Night Stalker debuted January 11, 1972 - -and on that fateful evening, this thriller became the highest-rated TV movie up to its time, as well as an instant cult classic. The film spawned a popular sequel, The Night Strangler (1972), and a 1974 TV series. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Darren McGavin, Carol Lynley, (more)
- 1972
In her final acting appearance, Susan Hayward is ironically cast as a research doctor who can no longer face up to the notion of dealing with death on a daily basis. Recently widowed, Dr. Maggie Cole is on the verge of giving up her job and going into seclusion. She is shaken back to reality by crusty but lovable "street doctor" Lou Grazzo (Darren McGavin), who coerces Maggie into accepting a job at a Chicago slum clinic. At first adjusting admirably to her new surroundings, Maggie undergoes a devastating assault to her emotions when she befriends a teenaged leukemia patient. Written by real-life M.D. Sandor Stern and originally telecast by ABC on September 27, 1972, Say Goodbye, Maggie Cole was supposed to have been the pilot for a weekly series, but plans for this project were abandoned after the death of star Susan Hayward. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1972
During a cross-country balloon race, 2 aeronauts become entangled in the start of the Civil War. ~ All Movie Guide
- 1972
This TV movie was the pilot for the popular series The Six Million Dollar Man. In this maiden effort, we are told just how astronaut Steve Austin became a bionic man. Surviving a near-fatal crash, the mutilated Austin is given artificial limbs (plus one faux eye) and reassembled into a part-human, part-electronic entity, endowed with superstrength and the ability to run faster than anyone--a feat which is always depicted in slow motion. Put to work by the Office of Strategic Information, Col. Austin answers to his immediate superior Darren McGavin (replaced by Richard Anderson in the series proper). Martin Balsam plays the doctor responsible for Austin's superhuman status (Balsam's character was played on the series by Martin Brooks) Filmed in part at Edwards Air Force Base, The Six Million Dollar Man was first telecast on March 7, 1973, where it performed admirably opposite a Bob Hope special; the series itself began on a monthly basis in October of 1973, then became a weekly in January of 1974. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
The Death of Me Yet opens in a typical American small town that turns out to be in the middle of the Soviet Union. As we all know from those Jack Webb-narrated documentaries of the 1950s, the rascally Russians have set up these ersatz American communities in order to train their agents to subtly infiltrate the good ol' USA. The agent of choice in this TV movie is Doug McClure, who poses as a supposedly respectable newspaper editor in a genuine American small town. Darren McGavin plays the US government agent who arrives in town and shakes things up by asking all sorts of probing questions about the above-suspicion Mr. McClure. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1971
Banyon is an A-number-one detective yarn set (very accurately) in the 1930s. Robert Forster, emulating John Garfield in virtually every scene, plays private eye Miles C. Banyon. Right now he's in dutch because a beautiful young woman has been found murdered--and Banyon's gun was the murder weapon. This state of affairs plunges the detective into a maelstrom of deceit and double-cross involving (among many elements) a Winchell-style radio commentator (Jose Ferrer), a paroled big-time gangster, a scar-faced assassin, and a Nazi Bund camp. Once he solves the main mystery, Banyon is faced with the unhappy Maltese Falcon task of exposing a close friend as a murderer. First telecast March 15, 1971, Banyon spawned a brief TV series one year later, with Robert Forster still in the lead. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Robert Forster, Darren McGavin, (more)
