Remembering Actor David McCallum / Allen Ginsberg

Fresh Air

NPR

Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture, Books

4.4 • 34.4K Ratings

🗓️ 29 September 2023

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Scottish actor David McCallum played an eccentric medical examiner on the CBS crime series NCIS, but he found fame nearly 60 years ago in his role as Russian agent Illya Kuryakin on the TV series The Man from U.N.C.L.E. He died Sept. 25 at age 90.

Also, we feature our interview with Allen Ginsberg. A tribute album of musical interpretations of his poems will be released next week.

Film critic Justin Chang reviews the new futuristic action thriller The Creator.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Rough Translation is a podcast with stories from people around the world that give us a new lens
0:04.7	on our own life. Like, what can a Japanese elementary school teach us about hands-off parenting,
0:09.6	or a trip to Ukraine about the art of resilience, and can a luxurious French lunch break?
0:14.8	Two hours really help us get our work done. Rough Translation from NPR. Let us take your places.
0:21.0	This is Fresh Air. I'm Tanya Mosley. We're remembering the Scottish-born actor David McCullum,
0:26.8	who died Monday at the age of 90. He played the bow-tied medical examiner known as Ducky
0:32.3	on the CBS series in CIS. I received a call from a man claiming to be a lawyer. He said he had
0:39.4	information about a member of my family. I suggested that we meet at the coffee shop round the
0:44.4	front there. What kind of information? Well, actually he didn't have any. Well, it became
0:50.4	quickly apparent that he was fishing for information from me. I left. He followed.
0:57.2	Yes, he tried to force me into that van. I struggled, and I was not unconscious. When I awoke,
1:03.9	I was exactly as you found me. Trust up like a chicken. But it was his TV role nearly 60 years ago
1:12.0	that made him famous and a heartthrob. He played a Russian spy on the Tungan-cheek secret agent
1:17.6	series The Man from Uncle, which stood for United Network Command for Law and Enforcement.
1:32.9	McCullum also performed in various roles in theater and film, most notably playing Shakespeare's
1:38.2	Julius Caesar in Central Park in 2000. He was trained at the Royal Academy of dramatic art in
1:44.0	London, though at one time he was expected to pursue a career in music. His father was the first
1:50.4	violinist for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London, and his mother was a cellist. Terry
1:56.1	Gross spoke to David McCullum in 1992 when he was appearing in the British film Hear My Song.
2:03.0	David McCullum, I have to ask you about The Man from Uncle, the series that you co-starred in
2:08.6	from 1964 to 1968. And in asking you about it, I have to confess that I had a real crush on you.
2:16.0	That was probably one of like millions of teenage girls. Was that annoying to you or fun or what
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -550 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.