Darren died in his sleep at a Los Angeles hospital, his son Jim Moret told news outlets.

Moret told The Hollywood Reporter that Darren was supposed have had an aortic valve replacement but was too weak for the surgery. “I always thought he would pull through,” his son told the entertainment trade, “because he was so cool. He was always cool.”

In his long career, Darren acted, sang and built up a successful behind-the-scenes career as a television director, helming episodes of such well-known series as “Beverly Hills 90210” and “Melrose Place.” In the 1980s, he was Officer Jim Corrigan on the television cop show “T.J. Hooker.”

But to young movie fans of the late 1950s, he would be remembered best as Moondoggie, the dark-haired surfer boy in the smash 1959 release “Gidget.” Dee starred as the title character, a spunky Southern Californian who hits the beach and eventually falls in love with Moondoggie.

“I was in love with Sandra,” Darren later recalled. “I thought that she was absolutely perfect as Gidget. She had tremendous charm.”

The film was based on a novel that a California man, Frederick Kohner, had written about his own teenage daughter and helped spur interest in surfing — one that influenced pop music, slang and even fashion.

For Darren, his success with teen fans led to a recording contract, as it did with many young actors at the time, among them Tab Hunter and Annette Funicello. Two of Darren’s singles, “Goodbye Cruel World” and “Her Royal Majesty,” reached the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. (“Goodbye Cruel World” also appeared in Steven Spielberg’s 2022 semi-autobiographical film, “The Fabelmans.”) Other singles included “Gidget” and “Angel Face.”

Darren was the only “Gidget” cast member who appeared in both its sequels, 1961’s “Gidget Goes Hawaiian” and 1963’s “Gidget Goes to Rome.” Dee was replaced by Deborah Walley in the second film and Cindy Carol in the third. (“Gidget” later became a television show, launching the career of Sally Field. )

“They had me under contract; I was a prisoner,” Darren told Entertainment Weekly in 2004. “But with those lovely young ladies, it was the best prison I think I’ll ever be in.”

As a contract player at Columbia Studios, Darren appeared in grown-up films, too, including “The Brothers Rico,” “Operation Meatball” and “The Guns of Navarone.”

By the mid-’60s, when Darren appeared in “For Those Who Think Young” and “The Lively Set,” his big-screen acting career was almost over. He appeared in just a handful of movies after the 1960s ended, last appearing in 2017’s “Lucky,” directed by John Carroll Lynch.

But he remained active on television, appearing as a lead on the sci-fi show “The Time Tunnel” in the late 1960s, and doing guest spots and small recurring roles in TV shows such as “The Love Boat,” “Hawaii Five-O” and “Fantasy Island.”

Darren was a series regular for four seasons of the William Shatner-starrer “T.J. Hooker” in the 1980s. While appearing on the show, he noticed that no director was listed for an upcoming sequence and asked if he could try out for it.

“When it was shown, I got several offers to direct,” he told the New York Daily News. “Soon I was getting so many offers to direct, I kind of gave up acting and singing.”

For almost two years, Darren directed episodes of “Walker, Texas Ranger,” “Hunter,” “Melrose Place,” “Beverly Hills 90210” and other series. He returned to acting in the 1990s with small roles in “Melrose Place” and “Star Trek, Deep Space Nine.”

Darren was born James Ercolani in 1936 and grew up in South Philadelphia, not far from such fellow teen idols of the 1950s and ’60s as Fabian and Frankie Avalon. Singing came easy to him, and at 14 he was appearing in local nightclubs.

“From the age of 5 or 6 I knew I wanted to be an entertainer, or famous maybe,” he said in a 2003 interview with the News-Press of Fort Myers, Florida. He noted that such luminaries as Eddie Fisher and Al Martino had lived in the same area as he did, “a real neighborhood. It made you feel you could be successful, too.”

According to a 1958 Los Angeles Times profile, he got a break when he went to New York to get some pictures taken and the photographer’s office put him in touch with a talent scout.

He was soon signed by Columbia Pictures, and the newspaper said that after a few appearances, his fan mail at the studio was running “second only to Kim Novak’s. … The studio now feels that the young man is ready to hit the jackpot.”

Darren married his first wife, Gloria, in 1955 and together had Moret, an “Inside Edition” correspondent and former CNN anchorman. After a divorce he married Evy Norlund, who came to the U.S. as the Danish entry in the Miss Universe contest. They had two sons, Christian and Anthony.

He was also the godfather of Nancy Sinatra’s daughter A.J. Lambert. Sinatra, his “For Those Who Think Young” co-star, posted The Hollywood Reporter obituary on her X page, with a broken heart emoji.

Bob Thomas, a longtime Associated Press journalist who died in 2014, was the principal writer of this obituary.

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Torn died Tuesday afternoon at his home with his wife, Amy Wright, and daughters Katie Torn and Angelica Page by his side, according to his publicist Rick Miramontez. No cause of death was given.

His career on stage and screen spanned seven decades, ranging from an early career of dark, threatening roles to iconic comedic performances later in life.

After acclaimed performances in “Cross Creek,” ”Sweet Bird of Youth” and other dramas, Torn turned to comedy to capture his Emmy as the bombastic, ethically challenged television producer in “The Larry Sanders Show.” Created by and starring Garry Shandling, HBO’s spoof of TV talk shows aired from 1992 to 1998 and is widely credited with inspiring such satirical programs as “30 Rock” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Born Elmore Rual Torn, the actor adopted the name Rip in his boyhood, following the tradition of his father and uncle. It was the subject of endless ridicule during his early days as a stage actor in New York, and fellow drama students urged him to change it.

With customary stubbornness, he refused, eventually overcoming the jokes with a series of powerful performances that led to his being regarded, along with Marlon Brando, Paul Newman and James Dean, as actors of a postwar generation who brought tense realism to their craft. He was also a political activist who joined James Baldwin, Harry Belafonte and other cultural and civil rights leaders for a frank and emotional 1963 meeting with then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy about the country’s treatment of blacks.

Torn made his film debut in 1956 in an adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ “Baby Doll,” and within a few years was a respected film and television actor, working on occasions with his second wife, Geraldine Page. At the Actors Studio, he gained the attention of Elia Kazan, who hired him as understudy to Alex Nicol, then playing Brick Pollitt in the Tennessee Williams classic, “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” Toward the end of the show’s Broadway run, Torn took over the role of the alcoholic, emotionally troubled former football hero. He did so billed against his wishes as Elmore Torn.

Cast later in a “U.S. Steel Hour” production for television, he was told to either change his name or forfeit the role. He threatened to return to his native Texas, but finally agreed to be credited as Eric Torn. He was billed as Rip Torn thereafter. His success eventually inspired a younger cousin to take up acting, too — Oscar winner Sissy Spacek.

Other film credits included “Critics Choice” and “The Cincinnati Kid.” In Albert Brooks’ “Defending Your Life,” he was featured as a gregarious attorney in the afterlife.

Brooks tweeted Tuesday night, “R.I.P Rip Torn. He was so great in Defending Your Life. I’ll miss you Rip, you were a true original.”

On television he played such figures as Richard Nixon, Lyndon B. Johnson and Walt Whitman.

His career hit a dry spell in the 1970s, and he blamed it on the buzz in Hollywood at the time that he was difficult to work with, a reputation sealed when tension on the set of “Easy Rider” led to his being replaced by Jack Nicholson for the 1969 release and missing out on one of the biggest hits of the era.

“I wouldn’t say that I was blacklisted,” he told The Associated Press in 1984, “but the word got around that I was difficult and unreliable. Unreliable! In all my years in the theater I have never missed a performance.”

He managed to keep working in small projects in theater, films and TV, returning to the mainstream in 1983 with “Cross Creek,” in which he played table-smashing backwoodsman Marsh Turner. The role brought him his only Oscar nomination, for best supporting actor.

Among his other films: “City Heat” and “Men in Black.”

But he never entirely shook his rebellious reputation.

“What do they say about all the guys that are tremendous actors?” he told The New York Times in 2006. “Don’t they say they have a volatile temper and emotions? Yeah, sure they do! They’re not saying they like a nice, mild guy. Look at Sean Penn.

In 1994, actor-director Dennis Hopper said on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” that Torn once pulled a knife in a New York restaurant as he complained about being replaced in “Easy Rider.” He sued Hopper for slander and won a $475,000 judgment.

He remained active in film and television in later years, including a recurring role in “30 Rock” and a voice acting gig in the 2007 animated “Bee Movie.”

He weathered a couple of drunken driving arrests, including one in December 2008 near his home in Salisbury, Connecticut, that led to his placement in an alcohol education program.

Born in Temple, Texas, Torn initially studied agriculture at Texas A&M and acting at the University of Texas. After service as a military policeman during the Korean War, he hitchhiked to Hollywood. Landing only tiny roles in movies and TV dramas, and supporting himself as a fry cook and dishwasher, he decided to shift to New York and seek more training as an actor.

Torn and his first wife, actress Ann Wedgeworth, had a daughter, Danae, before divorcing. In 1963 he married Page, with whom he had co-starred in the touring production and movie version of “Sweet Bird of Youth.” They had three children, a daughter, Angelica, and twins Jon and Tony, and appeared in productions together until her death in 1987. Torn also had two children, Katie and Claire, with actress Amy Wright.

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Former AP Entertainment Writer Bob Thomas in Los Angeles compiled this report before his death in 2014.

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This story has been corrected to show that Rip Torn was not in “The Hunt for Red October”.

While he had done earlier fundraising specials, Lewis appeared in his first Labor Day telethon, broadcast on a single New York station, in 1966. Donations totaled $1,002,114.

He continued each year as the telethon grew into a huge event, seen on more than 200 stations.

By 2007, the yearly take was nearly $64 million, and the Muscular Dystrophy Association said the telecast had raised $1.46 billion to fight the disease since it began.

Muscular dystrophy is a group of genetic diseases characterized by progressive weakness and degeneration of muscles that control movement. The most severe and most common childhood form is Duchenne muscular dystrophy, which occurs in about one in every 3,500 male births.

Lewis died Sunday in Las Vegas. He was 91.

“MDA would not be the organization it is today if it were not for Jerry’s tireless efforts on behalf of ‘his kids.’ His enthusiasm for finding cures for neuromuscular disease was matched only by his unyielding commitment to see the fight through to the end,” said MDA Chairman of the Board R. Rodney Howell in a statement Sunday. “Jerry’s love, passion and brilliance are woven throughout this organization, which he helped build from the ground up.”

Lewis had said that there was a special reason why he devoted so much time and energy to the MD cause, but it wouldn’t be revealed until the disease had been conquered or until after his death.

The shows did more than just raise money.

“The telethons have heightened public awareness, not only for MDA victims, but other disabilities as well,” MDA spokesman Bob Mackle once said. “Before the telethons, people with disabilities weren’t seen on television. Children were not allowed in schools, disabled persons were shunned. The telethons changed that by humanizing the victims.”

The shows were an amalgam of musical and comedy acts, Las Vegas spectacles, celebrity appearances, donation pitches and sentiment. Also surprises.

In 1976 Frank Sinatra had just finished a song, “Never Gonna Fall in Love Again,” when he told Lewis, “I’ve got a friend I’d like you to meet.”

Dean Martin, holding a cigarette, strode onstage with his usual nonchalance. The audience exploded, and Lewis was stunned. The two old partners hadn’t spoken since they had acrimoniously ended their act 20 years before. They embraced, and Lewis later recalled saying a quick prayer: “Dear God, give me a line. Help me to say something. I don’t know what to do.”

When he regained his composure, Lewis said to Martin: “Ya workin’?” The laughter rocked the theater, and Martin, who was a big star in films and television, allowed that he got a few weeks’ work at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

The encounter was, said USA Today in 2002, “one of the greatest moments in TV history.”

In 2002, another surprise guest came onstage: Sean Hayes, the excitable Jack McFarland on TV’s “Will and Grace,” who was cast as Jerry Lewis in a CBS biopic, “Martin and Lewis.”

Lewis had not interfered with the TV movie and had even offered advice to Hayes: “Always play the 9-year-old kid and always hold onto that innocence.”

In 1970 Lewis introduced Johnny Carson, expecting the king of night shows to appear as his usual dapper self. Instead, Carson waddled out dressed and wigged like the talkative octogenarian Aunt Blabby.

Sammy Davis had been a regular visitor, and in 1989 he served as New York host, despite undergoing therapy for throat cancer. He died a few months later.

More than 2,000 performers, from Bing Crosby and Jack Benny to Adam Sandler and the “Friends” cast, have appeared on the telethon. Ed McMahon became a stalwart. In his first year, he was guest host for 10 minutes. The following year he did eight hours.

“You were terrific; I really leaned on you,” Lewis told him. “I wish you could do the whole show with me.” McMahon became the telethon’s anchor.

Over the years Lewis was criticized for allegedly exploiting young people with muscular dystrophy. In 1985 he opened the show talking to the national poster boy. “You know that I love you? Huh? Answer me,” Lewis said. When the boy said yes, Lewis added: “Now let’s see if we can get the people out there to answer you, too.”

In 1992, Lewis’s charitable crusade was tainted by pickets who protested that the telethon those with the disease appear sad by focusing on the small number of children who died and that it portrayed the living as “objects of charity, forever dependent and forever with a hand out.”

Lewis replied angrily that the protesters were a small minority who “confuse compassion with pity.” He was so incensed over claims of “pity mongering,” he announced he would no longer host the telethon. He rescinded his threat in time for the 1993 event.

In 2000, telethon viewers were surprised by Lewis’ appearance. His cheeks had ballooned and he admitted in an interview that “I look like a (expletive) pumpkin.”

He had gained 45 pounds because of taking the steroid prednisone to treat his pulmonary fibrosis, one of many ailments he suffered.

“I’ve had pain in 37 straight telethons,” he remarked in 2002. He attributed much of his pain to his years of comedy pratfalls.

Lewis was given the prestigious Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2009. His last telethon MDA telethon was broadcast in 2010 although he remained invested in the organization’s progress throughout his life.

“MDA and the families we serve will always be grateful for the thousands of hours he dedicated through the telethon,” Howell’s statement continued. “Though we will miss him beyond measure, we suspect that somewhere in heaven, he’s already urging the angels to give ‘just one dollar more for my kids.'”

Thomas is a late Associated Press entertainment writer. AP Film Writer Lindsey Bahr contributed from Los Angeles.