Tribute: James Darren soared in space and song
By Fleet Capt. Dave Mason
LOS ANGELES — James Darren started his Hollywood career singing and surfing, but the show biz wave he caught ultimately led to outer space.
It was the late 1950s and early ’60s. Darren surfed his way into fans’ hearts as “Moondoggie” in three “Gidget” movies, in which Darren acted and sang. Darren went on to play time-traveling scientist Tony Newman in “The Time Tunnel” in the 1960s. He also portrayed a police officer alongside William Shatner in “T.J. Hooker” in the 1980s. Fast forward to the 1990s, and Darren is as cool as a cucumber and singing jazz standards such as “Come Fly With Me” as the beloved hologram Vic Fontaine on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.”
Darren died Monday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. He was 88.
The Philadelphia native talked at a “Star Trek” convention in Las Vegas a couple or so years ago about his real-life singing career inspiring holographic Las Vegas singer Vic Fontaine. Darren released a series of singles throughout the late 1950s ,’60s and ’70s. When he played Vic on “DS9,” Darren felt inspired to resume singing, and his albums were released through 2019.
On “Deep Space Nine,” Darren’s character of Vic was there to help Nog (Aron Eisenberg) after the young Ferengi lost a leg in the war with the Dominion. He coached Odo (Rene Auberjonois) on winning the heart of Major Kira (Nana Visitor). And he and Capt. Benjamin Sisko, played by actor and musician Avery Brooks, sang a duet together: “The Best Is Yet to Come.”
The USS Angeles dims its lights in honor of Darren, who never missed a beat with his characters.
