Today, November 22nd, is the 72nd birthday of versatile stage, screen and TV star Michael Callan.  He’s done it all, including a stint during the early 1960s as a genuine teen idol, and it doesn’t get much better than that.  It’s almost hard to say what he’s best known for, since he’s such a versatile actor and has done everything from musicals, to westerns, to comedies, to science fiction, to gangsters and good guys.  I would wager that he’s appeared in many of your favorites over the years, as he has mine.

Pennsylvania-born (birth name Martin Calinieff) Michael’s natural singing abilities led to a childhood vocal lessons which eventually extended into dancing instruction, too.  It wasn’t long before Mickey (as he was known then) began to work professionally in nightclubs and soon in New York on Broadway primarily as a dancer, which he parlayed into the opportunity to play “Riff” in the first production of West Side Story.  (You can hear him on the original Broadway cast album, particularly on the tracks for “The Jet Song,” “Cool” and “Tonight.”).  The groundbreaking musical debuted on Sept. 27, 1959, and it wasn’t long before Hollywood–in the form of Columbia Pictures–came knocking on Mickey’s dressing room door.

The first thing they cast this talented singer and dancer in was a Gary Cooper western They Came to Cordura, and then they dressed him in spangled tights and put him on a trapeze in The Flying Fontaines, both from 1959.  Harkening at least a little to his stint in West Side Story, the now-named Michael Callan co-starred as a juvenile delinquent in Because They’re Young, with Dick Clark as a sympathetic teacher and Warren Berlinger and Roberta Shore (sort of reprising their roles as teenagers like they had both played in Blue Denim the year before.)  A small dancing role in Pepe, Columbia’s all-star showcase for the talented Mexican star Cantinflas (some four years after he had co-starred as Passepartout opposite David Niven in Around the World in Eighty Days) was next. 

Callan donned swim trunks and flip-flops for his co-starring role in Columbia’s 2nd Gidget movie called Gidget Goes Hawaiian, starring the pert Deborah Walley as Gidget (taking over from Sandra Dee) and James Darren as Moondoggie.  Probably my favorite Callan movie is the legendary fantasy classic Mysterious Island, where famously he and the lovely Beth Rogan find themselves walled up alive in a giant bee’s humungous honeycomb.  (He also is the one who jumps on the giant chicken, so he gets to do all sorts of fun stuff!)  As a matter of fact, it’s Michael Callan’s excited face which adorns the cover of the DVD release of this amazing film. 

Callan gave a great and likeable performance in the 1962 ensemble drama The Interns, and also starred in its sequel The New Interns a couple of years later.  He also appeared in several TV series episodes and more movies around this time, then in 1965 he landed the co-starring role of Clay Boone, title heroine Jane Fonda’s boyfriend, in the raucous Cat Ballou.  Co-starring Lee Marvin, who won the Best Actor Oscar for his dual role, Cat Ballou was one of the first spoof westerns and continues to amuse after repeated viewings and more than forty years later.

Michael Callan settled into a constantly busy career, including a stab at his own sitcom in Occasional Wife in 1966, starring Patricia Harty, who would become his 2nd wife.  (Check out the snazzy theme song with great bongos here–scroll down to the show’s listing.  Sidenote:  For some crazy reason I seem to be able to remember every theme song from approx. 1963 to about 1967; obviously those were my formative years!).  More movies, including the ripped-from-the-headlines Frasier, the Sensuous Lion, based on the real-life exploits of Lion Country Safari’s horniest big cat, and lots and lots of TV kept Callan top-of-mind and well-regarded in all entertainment circles. 

In addition to his performing prowess, Michael Callan has done behind-the-scenes producing duties and kept his hand in all aspects of Hollywood.  (There’s also an interesting and weird story about his involvement with alleged-crackpot UFO informant William Cooper in the late 1980s!). 

Never typecast and always a pro, let’s hope for many more appearances by Michael Callan in the future!  Be sure to visit his official website where you can purchase autographed photos and learn more about him!

Best Wishes and Happy Birthday, Michael Callan!