Darren McGavin

Burt Reynolds, Darren McGavin's costar in Riverboat (1963), once said of him, "I will say this about McGavin. He is going to be a very disappointed man on the first Easter after his death."

In addition to making appearances on The X-Files, Darren McGavin also guested on Chris Carter's Millennium, playing Frank Black's estranged father.

After Tony Franciosa was fired from The Name of the Game, Darren McGavin was one of the actors who occasionally filled in on the series. The others were Peter Falk, Robert Culp, and Robert Wagner.

Darren McGavin appeared in two films directed by Otto Preminger: The Man With the Golden Arm and The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell.

Darren McGavin received a special tribute as part of the Annual Memorial tribute at The 79th Annual Academy Awards in 2007.

Darren McGavin studied acting at New York City's prestigious Neighborhood Playhouse under the legendary acting coach, Sanford Meisner.

Darren McGavin narrated the audiobooks for John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series.

Years before they co-starred in The Night Stalker, Darren McGavin and Simon Oakland appeared together in an August 31, 1962 Purex Special for Women TV presentation called "The Problem Child."

During the filming of The Natural, Robert Redford was so pleased with Darren McGavin's performance that they began to expand his role. However, after a certain point, union rules dictated that his contract needed to be renegotiated for salary and billing. After haggling on salary, and holding up production of the movie because of it, the billing had to be decided. Apparently, McGavin became somewhat fed up with the proceedings and instructed his agent to waive his billing entirely so they could get back to filming. That is why he is uncredited for his appearance in the film.

Though he was initially enthusastic about Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Darren McGavin felt the quality of the scripts began to decline early on in the run, and he hoped the show would not be picked up for a second season.

Darren McGavin briefly worked for a private detective agency before he became an actor.

Darren McGavin narrated the original audiobooks of Robert Ludlum's Jason Bourne trilogy.

Jack Nicholson was considered for the role of the "Old Man" in A Christmas Story before Darren McGavin was cast.

Darren McGavin was married twice, first to Melanie York until 1969, then to Kathie Brown until her death in 2003.

Darren McGavin appears (uncredited) in the pilot of the 2005 Night Stalker revival, thanks to a digital insert of old footage into the episode. He is leaning against a desk in the newsroom in an early scene in the episode.

Before he accepted the role of Arthur Dales on The X-Files, creator Chris Carter had tried to cast Darren McGavin in other roles on the show, including Fox Mulder's father.

He won a CableACE award in 1991 (Actor in a Dramatic Series, Clara).

Darren McGavin was an accomplished stage actor, appearing in productions of "Death of a Salesman", "The Rainmaker", "The King and I" (as the King of Siam) and "Blood Sweat & Stanley Poole," among others.

He studied martial arts during his early days as an actor.

Darren McGavin was nominated for an Emmy in 1990 for his role as Candace Bergen's father on Murphy Brown.

Darren McGavin raised himself. His parents disappeared and he spent his teenage years living in warehouses and eluding social workers.

Darren McGavin was originally cast in The Six Million Dollar Man in what became Richard Anderson's role of Oscar Goldman. He appeared in the pilot movie, but not the regular series.

As a tribute to Kolchak: The Night Stalker, X-Files creator Chris Carter got Darren McGavin to appear as Arthur Dales, the agent who initially investigated the X-Files. He appeared in two episodes and was going to be in a third, but poor health forced him out. The character was replaced by M. Emmett Walsh.