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Before he starred in Kolchak, Darren McGavin worked as a real private eye
McGavin took "method acting" to a whole new level.
Darren McGavin was the perfect person for the role of Carl Kolchak of Kolchak: The Night Stalker. Not only was he a phenomenal actor, McGavin had actually gone into the field and done investigative work before he became an actor.
"For four months I was employed as an investigator in New York while trying to get my career in gear," he said during an interview with the Boston Globe. However, McGavin's job wasn't nearly as exciting as Kolchak's was. "My shift was six to midnight and mostly I had to stand in front of an apartment house in the rain to keep track of a guy and a girl under surveillance," he said. "It didn't seem like a glamorous occupation out there, I tell you."
While working as an investigator gave McGavin the preparation he needed to play the part, he was also careful to approach the show's content with an analytical eye. "Our stories fall into three categories," McGavin said in an interview with Newsday, "the Gothic, science fiction and the occult. We don't deal with the grotesque."
McGavin also discussed Kolchak's similarities with another popular fantastical show, The Twilight Zone. But while the two shows explored similar content at times, McGavin understood that a show like Kolchak stood out on its own, precisely because of its weirder elements. "The unknown and dark forces have always been fascinating to audiences," he said. "You'll recall the great success Rod Serling's Twilight Zone had, but of course, Stalker isn't at all that particular kind of vehicle."
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