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Darren McGavin was once called the John Wayne of monster chasers
Admittedly, it's hard to picture John Wayne chasing after a vampire like Kolchak does.
To call someone a hero is a high praise, but to refer to someone as a "John Wayne" is a different compliment entirely. Wayne, typically the star of Western features like Stagecoach and Rio Bravo, was known for playing courageous and valiant characters that seemed to always win the day. Wayne is credited as having been one of the actors to revolutionize the Western genre and is one of the most well-remembered stars throughout the history of cinema.
All this to say, if someone is calling you a John Wayne, it's safe to say that it's a compliment. Darren McGavin was paid this credit during an interview with the Sunday News. McGavin was best known as the star of Kolchak: The Night Stalker, a supernatural series where McGavin played a reporter tracking down all the things that went bump in the night.
The praise was paid to McGavin by his wife, Kathie Browne. While Westerns and supernatural programs seem like they couldn't be further from one another in terms of genre, Browne begged to differ. "Haven't you known a few vampires in Beverly Hills?" she asked. "Darren is John Wayne chasing a different monster every week."
It's one of the highest approvals an actor can receive, and McGavin did his best to live up to it. To McGavin, the true scares in the show were brought on by leaving much to the imagination of the viewer.
"We can make it fun," the actor said. "As for the horror side, we're not going to show much. I don't believe papier-mache masks or rubber fins induce fear, so you're not going to see much of the monsters, but you'll see what he's done and the fear he creates in others."
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