OCR Text |
Show ' 1 By JACK RYAN DAVID ENTERTAINMENT MC CALLUM'S EYES strata your love in a physical way. Yes, when I return home from lo- beneath furtively . a 1 t uia BJiuca ui uxuuu iiiur as u the letter he holds in his hand contains a world-de- M m v- It U from a group of teen-ay- e fans in Detroit Finally he reads it to 70a: "W are the rirla who chased van into a fas station here," the fans' vJ write. "When we cornered you, you said: 'How old are you, anyway ?' David, what did you mean by that?" McCallum is bewildered. "Don't they understand that I was telling them how silly they were to make such a fuss? Why must youth have idols? I never needed idols. Their families must not be giving them something they need." The) needs of modern youth is only one of many dilemmas explored by the curious mind of actor David MeGaftasr A wispy, f oot-- . nonhero, he unexpectedly finds himself the darling of youth. And, like the youth that worships him, he is an enigma. "I might describe myself as ah, diffident," David says and then breaks off to run to his dictionary, wnicn is never iar away, ue woks up words, not because of any lack in his vocabulary, but because he must be precise in everything he does. "No, diffident means shy. I'm not shy." More research. "Ah, here it is loof . No, this word is better detached. I am detached." Detached he is in many respects. Extremely popular with fellow workers, he is invited to a party by Keenan Wynn, his cos tar in the science-fictio- n thriller, "Around the World Under the Sea." He replies: "Sorry, can't make it" He is urged to join a yachting party by actress . Shirley Eaton and her husband.' Instead he locks him"Sorry self in a room and pounds a typewriter or drives to a newly purchased home in the protective Hollywood Hills and tends his rose garden in solitude. Maybe he is more "diffident" than he admits. Th Scottish-bor- n actor doesn't need to look up the word "frugaL" He knows it applies to him. He boasts, for example, of the expensive camera he bought from a magazine as a bargain, .then concedes he takes few pictures. "I wouldn't want to spend much money on film unless I could sell the pictures." Frugality even applies to his time. He clocks the minutes it takes to drive to work. "Down the expressway, I make it in 22 minutes. Let's see, this, new route took 20. We saved two minutes I" 5-- it :7 N ' :' V. if self-relia- nt self-relia-nt III:. ) 8, ... ..." .. cation, I've determined to hold my children more often and very close. They should be able to cuddle with their parents and feel the security of physical closeness." You almost get the impression McCallum is reflecting wistfully on some old needs of his own. He is the son of cellist Dorothy McCallum and violinist David McCallum, of the Mantovani Orchestra. He began preparing for an artistic career at 14, when his father found backstage jobs for him. ' "1 was mad very young," he reflects, "but not in a competitive way. I was' never out playing with other children and taking daily knocks, and I think it left me a little introverted." Despite his own parents' urging! toward music, David was drawn to the theaterbut without much initial success. When he was in his twenties, his father told him: "We're through subsidizing you. Only if you study the oboe will we continue to support you." David chose a life which he now describes as a game of "Whom do. we pay next?" or "Is this the moment for bankruptcy?" Yet, in 1S57, he spotted a magazine cover of Jill Ireland, arranged an introduction, and, though hardly impulsive, married her a week later. waa w uumuuo a stem amsa calls: "In those days I was romantic, but I've matured. I no longer have romantic illusions about physical beauty." Then he assures you that his own wife is not only "quite a dish hut intelligent" Before leaving for the U.S., David's parents and friends again urged him to abandon acting. "If you haven't made it by your age at home," they said, "you never wilL" David did make it, however, in the role of Ilya Kuryakia in the television series, "The Man from U.N.CL.E." He describes Ilya as "a noninvolved person like myself, who has no known life away from his business and who never answers a question directly." Success has done little to change McCallum. He remains boyishly naive in many ways. He has no desire to make a career as a romantic idol; yet the. experience is still so new he walks about half afraid teen mobs will notice himand they wont The fans are admittedly an enigma to him and he to them. But sometimes when David McCallum rambles on, bemused by human, needs, you get the idea that teenidol have more in ager and teen-ag- e common than they realize. "2. David McCallum at JJ P work on set of film, "Around the World Under the Sea." THE CASE OF THE Puzzled- - and Puzzlin-gRomantic Idol Why teen-age- rs . need him as a hero is a mystery to David McCallum, but no more a mystery than the hero himselfI But, of the many McCallum characteristics, conscientiousness eomes through strongest, Andrew Marton, director of "Around the World der the Sea," mumbles after a scene : "A pro that David is." And conscientiousness applies not only to the way he works but even to the way he strives to be a better husband and father. On location David receives a letter each day from his actress-wif- e Jill Ireland ("I've got wMteJjfindJ. up in the living room now . . . I'm moving my paintings around . . . I've lost confidence m my earlier ones the color"). He sets every thing aside to send off a reply. David is fascinated by the idea of theog applying the ries of Ivan Tors, producer of "Around the World Under the Sea," to his' three children, Paul, 7, Jason, 3, and Valentine, 2. Tors runs a California animal farm in which animal-trainin- -- -- meththe usual punishment-rewar- d od of training animals is supplanted by love and affection. "Petting is very important in Tors training," David muses. "Ivan uses touch to give his animals a' sense of security. Children respond the same way. You cant be subtle in loving a child; you must demon- - half-afra- id Family Weekly, September t8,MS 7 |