Darren McGavin Kolchak: The Night Stalker

Darren McGavin: ''I've worked very hard to get a terrible reputation.''

McGavin was great at being bad.

September 19, 2024, 3:16PM By MeTV Staff

NBC/Universal

Darren McGavin didn't just play a tough-as-nails investigator on television; he was actually pretty tough in real life, too.

During an interview with The Daily Advertiser, McGavin revealed that he kept up quite an unconventional attitude while on the set of his television series Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

"I've worked very hard to get a terrible reputation," McGavin said.

McGavin revealed that there was a method to his madness, and he cemented his "terrible reputation" in an effort to encourage good work. "The first two directors who came in on the show were wary. Then after the first one turned in a smashing job, the second one talked to him and asked if it was true I was a monster. The first one said, 'No if you listen to him, he'll make you look good."

McGavin felt that fear worked as an excellent motivator on set. "I believe, that if people come in scared, it's better all around," he said.

Ironically enough, no matter the quality of Kolchak, McGavin himself was animated about his belief that, despite starring in the series, he'd never become a viewer himself.

"It's the kind of show I would never watch," said McGavin during an interview with The Boston Globe. "these horror pictures and scientific mumbo jumbo are pretty much of a bore to me. They make papier mache faces and wear rubber masks and I think that's pretty ridiculous."

Ultimately, McGavin said that it was Carl Kolchak, the heart of the story, that drew him to the project in the first place. "Ah, then, but there's the character, the news hawk who gets involved in these things," he said. "He's one-of-a-kind, colorful, and unquenchable, despite the seedy clothes, the setbacks he's had, and the difficulty of hanging onto a job. Even his name, Carl Kolchak, has a nice ring to it."