Fond Farewell: Cutie Callan

We rarely, if ever, do we present two Fond Farewells in a row. We wouldn't ever want to have to! But, after writing about Dame Angela Lansbury and discovering that scarcely a day prior to her passing we also lost another person whose work we've enjoyed, I felt that I had to mark the occasion the best I could. Martin Harris Calinieff entered the world on November 22nd, 1935 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Before reaching his twenties, he'd begun dancing and performing comedy as "Mickey Calin." But soon enough the world would soon come to know him as Michael Callan. 

Still in his teens, Callan moved to The Big Apple and secured employment as a dancer in Julie Andrews' Broadway hit, The Boyfriend. This was followed by the comedy-musical revue Catch a Star.

He and a female partner took part in an early TV talent show called Chance of a Lifetime and were even given a guest spot on The Ed Sullivan Show. But still greater things were on the horizon...

At age 21, he auditioned for the groundbreaking 1957 Jerome Robbins Broadway musical West Side Story and won the role of Riff, a key member of The Jets gang. While winning raves in this part, a Colombia Pictures talent scout - Joyce Selznick - took notice. She'd previously discovered Tony Curtis and James Darren and thought he'd be another great addition to the young males leads to the studio.

Callan was only interested in signing for two years, but Selznick convinced him to sign for seven, feeling that the weight of Columbia Studios publicity build-up would prove beneficial to him and his career. He left West Side Story in 1959 and was soon being groomed for a film career in Hollywood.

His first film featured two long-time stars, Gary Cooper and Rita Hayworth, along with another handsome young man, Tab Hunter, but They Came to Cordura (1959) was not exactly a smash at the box office with its downbeat story line.

From there, he swung into a starring role as a trapeze artist.

The Flying Fontaines (1959) paired him with Evy Norlund, a Danish beauty who would soon wed James Darren.

It was early in his career, but he was already beginning to fit a certain mold, that of a troubled youth who was either misunderstood or had a chip on his shoulder, often accompanied by a crooked smirk. He costarred (as a character named "Griff!") with Tuesday Weld and Dick Clark in Because They're Young (1960), about a school principal who aims to work with dysfunctional juveniles.

In a cruel twist of fate, the very contract which was helping to make him a known commodity in the movies prevented him from reprising his role of Riff in the movie West Side Story (1961.) Russ Tamblyn inherited the part. Callan had to make due with a WSS-inspired dance routine (with switchblade in hand!) in the movie Pepe (1960)

Next came Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961), which helped kick off a string of appearances in which he wore either a swimsuit or less. Which is, to our way of thinking, the way it should be!

In this installment, Gidget was played by Deborah Walley, who got to frolic in the sand with a glistening, wet Callan. James Darren, by the way, played his rival for Walley's affection.

One of Callan's most memorable movies, and rightly so, was Mysterious Island (1961), in which he played one of several Civil War era men stranded after a shipwreck.

In time, two  women are on hand, too, and after the halfway point of the movie, Callan and Beth Rogan go sort of Adam & Eve on us in abbreviated clothing.

One of the most memorable scenes has Callan and Rogan discovering a gigantic honeycomb inside a cliff. Which is fun and all until the humongous bee returns...!

Callan stays in his short-shorts for the remainder of the film and by that time all the other men (including hunky Michael Craig) have opted to go shirtless, too.

13 West Street (1962) had Callan back in punk mode, menacing a dissipated Alan Ladd.

But he was no common street thug. He was actually quite wealthy! Here Rod Steiger questions him just as he's come out of the family pool.

The estate pool, with its distinctive patterned floor, was used in countless movies and TV shows and was the home of The Colbys. (We saw Charlton Heston, John James and Maxwell Caulfield come out of this same pool!)

1962's Bon Voyage! re-teamed him with Deborah Walley. Check out his white bucks!

Sadly, he kept his clothes on in this one. But someone forgot to tell me that in this innocuous Disney movie (starring Fred MacMurray and Jane Wyman), with later scenes set in the south of France, there are background extras crawling out of the woodwork in skimpy, barely-there suits! 

He was one of The Interns (1962) alongside Haya Harareet (remember her from Ben Hur, 1959?) The movie was a hit, inspiring a sequel two years later called The New Interns. He was one of only a couple of cast members to return for that.

As the early 1960s progressed, Callan was balancing film work (such as The Victors, 1963) with appearances on television, including Arrest and Trial, Dr. Kildare, Twelve o' Clock High and even Hazel.

Cat Ballou (1965), in which he played Jane Fonda's love interest, was a smash hit and ought to have led to other things, but the lion's share of the applause went to costar Lee Marvin, who won an Oscar for his work in the comedy western.

That same year, he starred in the British scavenger hunt comedy You Must Be Joking!, in which he was practically the only American performer.

He had a blurry, blink-and-you'll-miss-it, bit in which he's shot at by a child with a pea shooter while attempting to pilfer some clothing from a line during the madcap escapades. These two films would be the last features Callan appeared in until 1972! It's not that he would be out of work, just exploring a new avenue.

Callan had been wed since 1960 to wife Carlyn and they had two daughters. Now he was about to portray a swinging bachelor on TV who had need of a "pretend" wife in order to aid him in the business community and career-wise.

In 1966, Callan made the cover of TV Guide as the star of Occasional Wife. He lived in an apartment building with faux spouse Patricia Harty installed two-floors above. She'd pop in via the fire escape if his boss called upon him at home, etc... The series was popular at first, but then leveled off, being canceled after one season. However, Callan and Harty wound up marrying for real, his own marriage having sunk under the long separations caused by the show. Harty, however, lived up to the series title, and their union was ended by 1970.

Now Callan emerged as a frequent guest star on many hit series of the time, including Ironside, The Name of the Game, The F.B.I. and Marcus Welby, M.D.

Those dramatic appearances were balanced by plenty of comedy turns as well, including The Mary Tyler Moore Show, That Girl and (as seen here with Mary Ann Mobley) multiple episodes of Love, American Style.

The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972) represented a return to movie screens, though by this time there weren't many of the famed 7 around, nor much of the lustre from the original movie.

There was no career upswing to be found with the light sex comedy Fraser, the Sensuous Lion (1972) which had Callan receiving virility tips from a talking maned beast...

In 1974, he starred in The Photographer, a low-budget thriller in which he took seminude photos of models before doing them in.

Lepke (1975) had him in support of Tony Curtis, who'd once been discovered by the same agent as he. A marginal success, it did nothing substantial to further his big screen career. he remained very active on TV, however, with work on Police Story, Medical Center, Barnaby Jones, S.W.A.T., Switch and The Bionic Woman, among others.

In 1977 came Record City, an ensemble comedy about the whack-a-doodle goings on at a popular music store.

The following year, he joined an all-star cast for The Cat and the Canary (1978), a whodunnit with Carol Lynley, Honor Blackman, James Fox and Wendy Hiller among other names. Chiefly, he appeared on TV at this time, though, in miniseries like Scruples or on Fantasy Island.

He produced his own next movie, Double Exposure (1983), which was similar in story line to The Photographer. Now pushing 50, he nonetheless performed seminude love scenes.

He also frolicked on the beach with Joanna Pettet in a pair of cutoffs, recalling those long ago Mysterious Island days. Well-cast as his brother was disabled actor James Stacy. This was followed by a role in the Linda Blair prison howler Chained Heat (1984.)

Seen here with third wife Karen (1975-1984), Callan remained busy on TV through the 1980s and early-1990s. He often popped up on action shows such as The Fall Guy, T. J. Hooker, Hardcastle and McCormick, Knight Rider and Superboy, along with the occasional telefilm (and a few episodes of Murder, She Wrote.)

Nevertheless, when he showed up in the 2003 Matt Damon-Greg Kinnear comedy Stuck on You, it is unlikely that anyone realized who he was or who he'd once been. The trademark smirky grin was still in place, though. Callan made one more small film appearance in 2006 before retiring. 

One interesting trivia tidbit. When Glenn Gordon Caron was preparing what would soon become a smash hit TV show, Moonlighting, he sought an actor who had the same cocksure attitude and crooked grin as Michael Callan. Thus, Bruce Willis can almost thank Callan for the career that stemmed from his being cast in that role. Callan was 86 when he passed away from pneumonia on October 10th.

The End!