David McCallum

McCallum was first married to actress Jill Ireland, whom he met on March 28 1957 while filming Hell Drivers (1957).

Father was concertmaster and violinist David McCallum Sr..; a black & white photograph from the mid-1960's of David, Sr. and David, Jr. was used during one episode of NCIS (2003). The photo can be seen in Victoria's (Ducky's mother's) bedroom in NCIS: The Meat Puzzle (2005).

Since David McCallum's father, David McCallum Sr.. , was first violinist for the London Philharmonic and his mother, Dorothy Dorman, was a cellist, it's not surprising that David was originally headed for a career in music, playing oboe. He studied briefly at the Royal Academy of Music. He left that, however, for the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He made nearly a dozen movies in the United Kingdom before his critically acclaimed work as Lt. Wyatt in Billy Budd (1962). To the older generation, he is perhaps best known for his portrayal of U. N. C. L. E. agent Illya Kuryakin in the hit TV series The Man from U. N. C. L. E.

In 1963 he introduced Ireland to Charles Bronson when both were filming The Great Escape (1963).

(1964). To younger audience, he is best known for his superlative portrayal of Dr.

David met Katherine Carpenter (his second wife) quite by accident. On a Sunday in New York in 1965, he and Robert Vaughn were posing for a fashion magazine and were accompanied by several high fashion models to various landmarks in the city. One of the models was Katherine, who he would marry two years later.

She subsequently left McCallum and married Bronson in 1968.

David attended the 1982 COMDEX (Computer Dealer Expo) computer convention.

McCallum and Ireland had three sons: Paul, Jason (an adopted son who died from an accidental drug overdose in 1989), and Val (short for Valentine).

In Hear My Song (1991) he played Chief Constable Jim Abbott, a senior policeman attempting to track down and arrest the famous Irish singer (and tax fugitive) Josef Locke when a nightclub entrepreneur smuggles Locke back into the UK on a fishing boat for one last payday performance in Liverpool. Whilst the film was part fact and part fiction, in real life McCallum's father was a famous violinist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and actually played for the real Josef Locke in his career. McCallum recalled this story during publicity interviews for the film.

He was considered for Joe Dawson in Highlander (1992).

He has played the same character (Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard) in three different series: JAG (1995), NCIS (2003) and NCIS: New Orleans (2014).

Donald "Duckie" Mallard on the hit CBS series, NCIS (2003).

In Season 2, episode 13, of N.C.I.S. (2005), Jethro Gibbs (Mark Harmon) is asked what Dr. Donald "Ducky" Mallard (McCallum) looked like as a young man. Gibbs replies: "Illya Kuryakin." Ilya Kuryakin was the name of McCallum's character from "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." (1964-1968) a role for which he was nominated for two Emmys and a Golden Globe.

He was diagnosed with Dupuytren's contracture (a common benign condition which involves the thickening and contracture of the fibrous connective tissue beneath the skin of the palm). He underwent surgery in mid-2009 to alleviate the condition. Other sufferers of the condition are Bill Nighy and Ronald Reagan.

With the deaths of James Garner on July 19, 2014 and Richard Attenborough on August 24, 2014, he is one of the two last surviving stars of The Great Escape (1963), along with John Leyton.

He wrote the book "Once a Crooked Man" (2016), which mixes an espionage novel and a mystery thriller with some light comedy thrown in. The book was published by Minotaur, and the hardcover is 337 pages long.