James Darren, ‘Gidget’ Teen Idol ‘Moondoggie,’ Dies at 88

James Darren, a teen idol who helped ignite the 1960s surfing craze as a charismatic beach boy paired off with Sandra Dee in the hit film Gidget, died Monday at 88.

Darren died in his sleep at a Los Angeles hospital, his son Jim Moret told news outlets.

Moret told The Hollywood Reporter that Darren was supposed to have had an aortic valve replacement but was too weak for the surgery. “I always thought he would pull through,” his son told the entertainment trade, “because he was so cool. He was always cool.”

In his long career, Darren acted, sang and built up a successful behind-the-scenes career as a television director, helming episodes of such well-known series as Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place. In the 1980s, he was Officer Jim Corrigan on the television cop show T.J. Hooker.

But to young movie fans of the late 1950s, he would be remembered best as Moondoggie, the dark-haired surfer boy in the smash 1959 release Gidget. Dee starred as the title character, a spunky Southern Californian who hits the beach and eventually falls in love with Moondoggie.

“I was in love with Sandra,” Darren later recalled. “I thought that she was absolutely perfect as Gidget. She had tremendous charm.”

(Left to right) Sandra Dee and James Darren in "Gidget."

Everett Collection

The film was based on a novel that a California man, Frederick Kohner, had written about his own teenage daughter and helped spur interest in surfing — one that influenced pop music, slang and even fashion.

For Darren, his success with teen fans led to a recording contract, as it did with many young actors at the time, among them Tab Hunter and Annette Funicello. Two of Darren’s singles, “Goodbye Cruel World” and “Her Royal Majesty,” reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. (“Goodbye Cruel World” also appeared in Steven Spielberg’s 2022 semi-autobiographical film, The Fabelmans.) Other singles included “Gidget” and “Angel Face.”

Darren was the only Gidget cast member who appeared in both its sequels, 1961’s Gidget Goes Hawaiian and 1963’s Gidget Goes to Rome. Dee was replaced by Deborah Walley in the second film and Cindy Carol in the third. (Gidget later became a television show, launching the career of Sally Field.)

“They had me under contract; I was a prisoner,” Darren told Entertainment Weekly in 2004. “But with those lovely young ladies, it was the best prison I think I’ll ever be in.”

As a contract player at Columbia Studios, Darren appeared in grownup films, too, including The Brothers Rico, Operation Meatball and The Guns of Navarone.

By the mid-’60s, when Darren appeared in For Those Who Think Young and The Lively Set, his big-screen acting career was almost over. He appeared in just a handful of movies after the 1960s ended, last appearing in 2017’s Lucky, directed by John Carroll Lynch.