‘NCIS’ Star David McCallum Recalls His Time Working on Classic Series ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’
While he has been with the “NCIS” production for quite a while, David McCallum recalls his time working on the classic TV series “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”
During his interview with Television Academy, the “NCIS” star recalls when he was approached about the American spy series. “I was out of work and I had bills to pay. And [actor] Charlie Bronson knew that was the case. He said, ‘Why don’t we have lunch in the commissary in MGM, and maybe we’ll see what happens.’”
So, the “NCIS” castmate met with Bronson to discuss the TV show. After the discussion with Bronson, McCallum was approached by his agent, who told him he was offered three TV series. “One is to play Alexander the Great; Another is to play Judas Iscariot of course, as I just done ‘Judas and the Greatest Story Ever Told’; And the other is a thing called ‘Solo,’ which is based to a certain extent on the Bond books. Or no it’s like the Bond books. It wasn’t called ‘Solo’ in the end, because there’s a character in a Bond book, Mr. Solo, and there was a conflict that it became ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’”
According to IMDb, “The Man From U.N.C.L.E. follows the two top agents of the United Network Command for Law and Enforcement (U.N.C.L.E) as they fight the enemies of peace, particularly the forces from T.H.R.U.S.H. McCallum starred in the series with Robert Vaughn, Leo G. Carroll, John Herman Shatner, and David Armstrong. The series ran from 1964 to 1968 and has 105 episodes over a span of four seasons.
‘NCIS’ Star David McCallum Shares His Thoughts About ‘The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’ Reboot Film
During a 2016 interview with FOX411, “NCIS” star David McCallum shared his thoughts about Guy Ritchie’s film adaptation reboot of “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.”
“[They] have produced a wonderful, exciting movie,” McCallum declared. “That in no way encroaches into what we did back in the ’60s and at the same time, uses a lot of elements that Norman Felton and Sam Rolfe created within the old ‘Man from U.N.C.L.E.’”
McCallum further recalled working with Robert Vaughn on the hit series. “It was a very agonizing time in the United States because of the Vietnam War, the Cold War,” McCallum said. “People managed to escape for an hour with a Russian working with an American which was totally unheard of in those days.”
Along with praising Henry Cavill and Artie Hammer for their roles in the film, McCallum gave special praise to Alicia Vikander, the Swedish actress who played Gaby in the movie. “We had a lot of very beautiful, wonderful ladies and actresses who came by on ‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’ I must say that in the new film, Alicia Vikander is probably the most gorgeous and luscious one I’ve seen yet connected to ‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’”
