Profile of Darren McGavin on Famous Like Me

Darren McGavin (born May 7, 1922 in San Joaquin, California), is an actor who first appeared in the movie A Song to Remember (1945) and moved on to a wide variety of TV and movie roles. Over the course of his career this veteran actor has starred in seven different TV series and guest-starred in many more.

McGavin is probably best known for his role of "The Old Man" in the classic Christmas movie A Christmas Story (1983). He has won one ACE award (for the 1991 TV movie Clara) and received an Emmy nomination as an Outstanding Guest Star in a Comedy Series on the comedy series Murphy Brown. Other memorable roles include reporter Carl Kolchak in the TV movies The Night Stalker (1972), The Night Strangler (1973), and the television series Kolchak: The Night Stalker (1974). He is also well known for his role as Mike Hammer in the TV series Mike Hammer (1957).

Kolchak was the inspiration for the successful 1993 series The X-Files, and—because of this—McGavin was asked to play the role of Arthur Dales, the man who started the X-Files, in three episodes. Season 5's Travelers, and two episodes from Season 6: Agua Mala and The Unnatural. Unfortunately, failing health forced him to withdraw from the latter, and the script—written and directed by series star David Duchovny—was rewritten to feature M. Emmet Walsh as Dales' brother, also called Arthur.

McGavin also appeared on a Christmas episode ("Midnight of the Century") of Chris Carter's Millennium, playing the long-estranged father of Frank Black (Lance Henriksen).

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