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Darren McGavin was the only man to play Kolchak
"The minute I saw him, I knew he was the only actor to play Carl Kolchak."
If you were to try to explain the plot of Kolchak: The Night Stalker to a stranger, they might think you were crazy. While the original series didn't last incredibly long, the television series has enjoyed a dutiful and loyal fanbase since its cancellation. The good news is that even though this loveably strange show was ended ahead of its time, we also have a few different Kolchak films to enjoy in addition to the series, and this includes the television film that started it all: Kolchak: The Night Stalker.
The book Produced and Directed by Dan Curtis is a novel compiled by Jim Pierson that explores the projects of Dan Curtis. Curtis is perhaps best known for the series Dark Shadows, but he is also the producer of the film Kolchak: The Night Stalker as well as director of The Night Strangler. The introduction of the book, written by Mark Dawidziak, does reminisce about the production of the first Kolchak film, which Curtis was invited to produce by ABC-TV head Barry Diller.
Curtis said, "He [Diller] tells me about this vampire story and I'm listening to him and thinking, 'There's no way I'm going to do this.' I almost didn't do it. You know what I did? I told him I was a great big movie director now, so I wasn't interested in doing television. Can you believe it?" Still, Diller was persistent. Curtis continued, "Barry says to just sit tight. He wants to send me the story. That did it...What a great story — so traditional yet so modern. And it had a sense of humor. It was a great premise waiting to be made into a great movie."
By the time Curtis agreed to produce, the film was still looking for its star. Interestingly enough, Darren McGavin had been looking for a story like Kolchak for quite some time at that point. He said, "We are surrounded by mysteries that we don't know how to combat or deal with. Kolchak is the seeker of truth who will break that veil of secrecy. That's the initial springboard of the character, and that's what I always wanted to play."
Even better, while McGavin was realizing that he wanted to play Kolchak, Curtis was realizing that there was no one better for the job. He said, "The minute I saw him, I knew he was the only actor to play Carl Kolchak. Darren McGavin was a big reason that The Night Stalker worked so well. Nobody can deny that. And nobody should have been surprised by that. He was one of the most underrated actors in show business."
28 Comments
Kolchak only ran 1 season. Run Invaders Voyage, etc.
I know every word of dialogue in Kol hak sheesh!
A novel is a work of fiction; this is non-fiction. "Novel" and "volume" are NOT interchangeable terms.
Who writes this stuff?
Not that I care all that much ....
.... you might want to redirect your reply, since we don't disagree.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darren_McGavin#Early_life
