Prolific Actor Darren McGavin Dead at 83

In Memory

Darren McGavin, a constant presence in American film and television for the past 60 years died Saturday of natural causes. Making his film debut in the 1945 feature A Song to Remember he eventually struck up something of a relationship with director Otto Premminger who cast him in two films in 1955, The Man with the Golden Arm and The Court Martial of Billy Mitchell. McGavin had greater success on television then in the movies for most of his career, and started in such series as Mike Hammer, The Riverboat and later in Kolchak: The Night Stalker and the mini-series The Martian Chronicles. However it was as "the old man", Peter Billingsleys father in the 1983 film A Christmas Story for which he will be most widely rememberd. Darren McGavin is survived by his four children, he was married to actress Kathine Browne from 1969 until her death in 2003.