David McCallum died bearing no ill will towards movie giant who stole his wife
As David McCallum took his place among one of the most iconic casts Hollywood ever assembled, nothing in the film’s title, The Great Escape, struck him as ominous.
Why would it? He was happily married to fellow star Jill Ireland, with three children together. His career was firmly on the rise. He was playing naval officer Eric Ashley-Pitt in the 1963 Second World War epic about the mass escape of British and Commonwealth POWs from German Stalag Luft III camp.
His character, nicknamed Dispersal, was the one to come up with the genius idea of filling their trousers with soil from the excavated tunnel, to be shaken out in the exercise yard. He was acting alongside a line-up of big beasts: Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, Donald Pleasance, James Coburn... and Charles Bronson. Friendly McCallum introduced Bronson to his wife on set.
Hollywood legend has immortalised the moment, claiming Bronson responded: “I’m going to marry your wife!” And not long after, Jill made her escape from matrimony – straight into Bronson’s waiting arms. David had been called away for a screen test for The Greatest Story Ever Told, in which he would play Judas Iscariot.
David with Jill Ireland (Mirrorpix)He recalled: “Jill had just had a miscarriage so I was concerned about leaving her, but Charles Bronson said, ‘Don’t worry, I’ll take care of her. I didn’t realise they had already begun an affair.” Remarkably David, who died on Monday at 90, bore Bronson no ill will for the betrayal.
NCIS, Great Escape and Man From U.N.C.L.E. actor David McCallum has died
“I never hated him,” he said. “Charlie was always a good friend. I find that when problems come along, worrying about them and getting anxious and negative is quite unnecessary. You can solve them, usually amicably. That’s just what happened.” He claimed to have no memory of the “I’m going to marry your wife” moment but admitted: “It was an extremely difficult time, not least because we had three children.”
And even harder days were coming. He and Jill had sons Paul and Valentine naturally, and adopted Jason. In 1989, aged 27 and on the eve of becoming a father himself, Jason died from an accidental overdose. “The worst moment of my life was when I lost my son, there’s no question of that,” David said.
“Losing people you love are always the most terrible moments, especially when they’re so young. But it’s gone, it’s done. He’s not coming back, so I don’t dwell on it. The best moment of my life is right now.” After divorcing Jill, who stayed with Branson until her death at 54 in 1990, he wed model and actress Katherine Carpenter and had two more children, Peter and Sophie.
They remained married for 56 years until his death this week from natural causes. In a career that ranged from Russian agent Illya Kuryakin in The Man From U.N.C.L.E through another POW turn in Colditz (1972-1974) to sci-if chiller Sapphire and Steel (1979-1982), McCallum also shared the screen with some luminous leading ladies.
A young Joanna Lumley was Sapphire to his Steel and he said: “There’s something wonderful about a beautiful woman smiling, and the first thing that comes to mind with Joanna is her incredible smile. She’s beautiful, talented and a fascinating conversationalist.” He had already been exposed to an early dose of sex appeal as a student, studying alongside Joan Collins at London’s Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts.
David with wife Katherine Carpenter (Getty Images)
David in promo shot for The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (Snap/REX/Shutterstock)“Joan and I were in the same class and used to do fencing classes together too. She’d wear a skin-tight jumpsuit and she was, shall we say, very impressive,” he laughed. "She wasn’t that good a fencer but, boy, she looked good.” It wasn’t long until David too was a heartthrob, partly because of that iconic mop of bright blond hair.
He was modest about it, saying of his role as Kuryakin: “When I was filmed with the studio lights, I looked really blond. The look was part of the whole enigmatic thing they did with my character, IlIya, producing a climate of mystery about him. It had great appeal.” MGM Studios claimed his sack of fan mail was bigger than any other star’s in their history – more even than Clark Gable’s.
David said: “I went for a walk in Central Park in New York and a crowd gathered around me. Then people started pushing, and from the back came two mounted policemen, who had to lift me up. We trotted out of the park.” The New York Times reported in a 1965 profile that “McCallum’s motorcades are now, by order of the police chiefs of the cities he visits, forbidden to stop anywhere along the line of drive. If the entourage slowed, there would be carnage in the streets.”
David could be star-struck too. Recalling his time on The Great Escape, he said: “There was this wee kid from Glasgow and I’m working with extraordinary people like Steve McQueen and Charles Bronson.” He and his co-stars were living life in the fast lane – sometimes too literally, David said: “I remember how, outside the German studios, the police set up speed traps. The likes of Donald Pleasance and myself always stuck to the speed limit.
“But one day the policeman stopped Steve and asked him to get out of the car. They told him that they’d stopped many of his comrades but he had won the prize as the fastest. They took poor Steve to the police station and the whole production had to stop for a few hours!”
Man From U.N.C.L.E star's life imploded when famous actor stole his wife
Although The Great Escape brought David to a global cinematic audience, his late-flowering role as Dr Donald “Ducky” Mallard in NCIS brought him to a new generation. That – and his instrumental song The Edge being sampled by Dr Dre for the track The Next Episode featuring Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg and Krupp. The son of musicians, David released four albums over his career.
David surrounded became synonymous with Man From U.N.CL.E. role (NBC via Getty Images)But to prepare for his role as Ducky, McCallum went above and beyond, studying how to perform autopsies for real and joining medical examiners at conventions. As his son Peter said in tribute to his father this week: “He was a true Renaissance man – he was fascinated by science and culture and would turn those passions into knowledge.
"For example, he was capable of conducting a symphony orchestra. And – if needed – he could actually perform an autopsy, based on his decades-long studies for his role on NCIS.” Peter went on to say how he’d checked on his mother after the loss of his father: “After returning from the hospital to their apartment, I asked my mother if she was OK before she went to sleep.
“Her answer was simply, ‘Yes. But I do wish we had had a chance to grow old together’. She is 79, and dad just turned 90. The honesty in that emotion shows how vibrant their beautiful relationship and daily lives were, and that somehow, even at 90, daddy never grew old.”
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