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Former Baltimore Orioles third baseman Brooks Robinson is honored during a ceremony for the Hall of Fame before a baseball game between the Houston Astros and Baltimore Orioles, Sept. 24, 2022, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Gail Burton, File)

Portrait of Baltimore Orioles Infielder Brooks Robinson. (Bettmann Archive/Getty Images)

By BOB THOMAS (Associated Press)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor David McCallum, who became a teen heartthrob in the hit series “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” in the 1960s and was the eccentric medical examiner in the popular “NCIS” 40 years later, has died. He was 90.

McCallum died Monday of natural causes surrounded by family at New York Presbyterian Hospital, CBS said in a statement.

“David was a gifted actor and author, and beloved by many around the world. He led an incredible life, and his legacy will forever live on through his family and the countless hours on film and television that will never go away,” said a statement from CBS.

Scottish-born McCallum had been doing well appearing in such films “A Night to Remember” (about the Titanic), “The Great Escape” and “The Greatest Story Ever Told” (as Judas). But it was “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” that made the blond actor with the Beatlesque haircut a household name in the mid-’60s.

The success of the James Bond books and films had set off a chain reaction, with secret agents proliferating on both large and small screens. Indeed, Bond creator Ian Fleming contributed some ideas as “The Man From U.N.C.L.E.” was being developed, according to Jon Heitland’s “The Man From U.N.C.L.E. Book.”

The show, which debuted in 1964, starred Robert Vaughn as Napoleon Solo, an agent in a secretive, high-tech squad of crime fighters whose initials stood for United Network Command for Law and Enforcement. Despite the Cold War, the agency had an international staff, with McCallum as Illya Kuryakin, Solo’s Russian sidekick.

The role was relatively small at first, McCallum recalled, adding in a 1998 interview that “I’d never heard of the word ‘sidekick’ before.”

The show drew mixed reviews but eventually caught on, particularly with teenage girls attracted by McCallum’s good looks and enigmatic, intellectual character. By 1965, Illya was a full partner to Vaughn’s character and both stars were mobbed during personal appearances.

The series lasted to 1968. Vaughn and McCallum reunited in 1983 for a nostalgic TV movie, “The Return of the Man From U.N.C.L.E.,” in which the agents were lured out of retirement to save the world once more.

McCallum returned to television in 2003 in another series with an agency known by its initials — CBS’ “NCIS.” He played Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard, a bookish pathologist for the Naval Criminal Investigation Service, an agency handling crimes involving the Navy or the Marines. Mark Harmon played the NCIS boss.

McCallum said he thought Ducky, who sported glasses and a bow tie and had an eye for pretty women, “looked a little silly, but it was great fun to do.” He took the role seriously, too, spending time in the Los Angeles coroner’s office to gain insight into how autopsies are conducted.

Co-star Lauren Holly took to X, formerly Twitter, to mourn: “You were the kindest man. Thank you for being you.” The previously announced 20th anniversary “NCIS” marathon on Monday night will now include an “in memoriam” card in remembrance of McCallum.

The series built an audience gradually, eventually reaching the roster of top 10 shows. McCallum, who lived in New York, stayed in a one-bedroom apartment in Santa Monica when “NCIS” was in production.

“He was a scholar and a gentleman, always gracious, a consummate professional, and never one to pass up a joke. From day one, it was an honor to work with him and he never let us down. He was, quite simply, a legend, said a statement from ”NCIS” Executive Producers Steven D. Binder and David North.

McCallum’s work with “U.N.C.L.E.” brought him two Emmy nominations, and he got a third as an educator struggling with alcoholism in a 1969 Hallmark Hall of Fame drama called “Teacher, Teacher.”

In 1975, he had the title role in a short-lived science fiction series, “The Invisible Man,” and from 1979 to 1982 he played Steel in a British science fiction series, “Sapphire and Steel.” Over the years, he also appeared in guest shots in many TV shows, including “Murder, She Wrote” and “Sex and the City.”

He appeared on Broadway in a 1968 comedy, “The Flip Side,” and in a 1999 revival of “Amadeus” starring Michael Sheen and David Suchet. He also was in several off-Broadway productions.

Largely based in the U.S. from the 1960s onward, McCallum was a longtime American citizen, telling The Associated Press in 2003 that “I have always loved the freedom of this country and everything it stands for. And I live here, and I like to vote here.”

David Keith McCallum was born in Glasgow in 1933. His parents were musicians; his father, also named David, played violin, his mother played cello. When David was 3, the family moved to London, where David Sr. played with the London Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic.

Young David attended the Royal Academy of Music where he learned the oboe. He decided he wasn’t good enough, so he turned to theater, studying briefly at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. But “I was a small, emaciated blond with a caved chest, so there weren’t an awful lot of parts for me,” he commented in a Los Angeles Times interview in 2009.

After time out for military service, he returned to London and began getting work on live television and movies, In 1957 he appeared in “Robbery Under Arms,” an adventure set in early Australia, with a rising actress, Jill Ireland. The couple married that same year.

In 1963, McCallum was part of the large cast of “The Great Escape” and he and his wife became friendly with Charles Bronson, also in the film. Ireland eventually fell in love with Bronson and she and McCallum divorced in 1967. She married Bronson in 1968.

“It all worked out fine,” McCallum said in 2009, “because soon after that I got together with Katherine (Carpenter, a former model) and we’ve been very happily married for 42 years.”

McCallum had three sons from his first marriage, Paul, Jason and Valentine, and a son and daughter from his second, Peter and Sophie. Jason died of an overdose.

“He was a true Renaissance man — he was fascinated by science and culture and would turn those passions into knowledge. For example, he was capable of conducting a symphony orchestra and (if needed) could actually perform an autopsy, based on his decades-long studies for his role on NCIS,” Peter McCallum said in a statement.

In 2007, when he was working on “NCIS,” McCallum told a reporter: “I’ve always felt the harder I work, the luckier I get. I believe in serendipitous things happening, but at the same time, dedicating yourself to what you do is the best way to get along in this life.”

___

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

Anna Maria Sie lived the ultimate American dream.

Together, for 56 years, she and her husband, John J. Sie, both immigrants to the U.S., built a family in Colorado during his successful career in cable television.

Over the last 20 years, she became known as a generous philanthropist in Denver’s arts, film and academic spaces, and she built a legacy of work funding Down syndrome research.

“She’s kind and compassionate and supportive,” John Sie said. “A champion to those in need.”

Anna Sie died Sept. 20 at her home surrounded by her family. She was 78 years old.

She was diagnosed with endometrial cancer nearly a decade ago in December 2013.

Anna Sie immigrated from Naples, Italy, by ship with her father and two older brothers in 1955 and John Sie came from China five years before her.

For several years, while her family in the U.S. saved money to send for her mother, older sister and two younger brothers still in Italy, Anna Sie cooked, cleaned and became a translator for the family.

She was a switchboard operator when she met her husband, and through John Sie’s career-building, Anna Sie was the constant “guiding light” for the family.

After the two married, John Sie during his career helped build Showtime through Telecommunication Inc. and founded the Starz and Encore channels, but it was Anna Sie who inspired his entrepreneurship in television.

“It was her love of film that really guided me through my career,” John Sie said. “For the last 56 years, she immeasurably contributed to the welfare of all she touched. I’m forever grateful for those precious years.”

It was that work ethic and her strength and compassion that inspired her large family.

In addition to her husband, she is survived by five children: Susan Sie, Dr. Debbie Sie (Justin Hoffman), James Sie (Doug Wood), Michelle Sie Whitten (Tom Whitten) and Allison Sie Hildestad (Orin Hildestad); six grandchildren: Ben Sie, Shaela Hoffman, Sophia and Patrick Whitten, Silas and Freyja Hildestad; five siblings, Sabatino Maglione, Rosa Del Tufo, Ciro Maglione, Tony Maglione, and Sal Maglione, and dozens of in-laws, nieces, nephews and cousins.

“She’s my hero,” Sie Whitten said. “We have walked this path with her for 10 years since she got diagnosed. (She had) so much grace in the face of death every year. She was so strong right until the end.”

Throughout Anna Sie’s life in Denver, she was known for her generosity and kindness.

As the film lover her husband knew her as, Anna Sie, with John Sie, was a big supporter of Denver’s film scene, helping establish the Sie FilmCenter at 2510 E. Colfax Ave., the only nonprofit independent movie house in metro Denver.

“The two of them saw that as a need for our organization to have a truly independent art house cinema. We are so grateful for their contributions to make it happen,” Kevin Smith, CEO of Denver Film, said.

In 2008, Anna Sie created the Maria and Tommaso Maglione Italian Filmmaker Award within the Denver Film Festival to recognize the best Italian language films. Sie not only funded the award, named after her film-buff parents, she also helped judge the competition.

“She had an uncanny eye for spotting talent. She would go through the process with us and watch a ton of films and help us select,” Smith said.

Smith said the Sies channeled some of the money made through providing movies on cable via the Starz channel back into strengthening Colorado’s cinema culture. Their contributions will continue for years to come through an endowment the couple created.

“For me, it was one of those serendipitous things. I find it interesting that film was such a passionate part of it all. When you look at her life, it could have been a movie,” he said.

Anna Sie’s love of film extended to the couple’s support of Denver’s scene by establishing the Sie FilmCenter at 2510 E. Colfax Ave., the only nonprofit independent movie house in metro Denver.

“Anna was an elegant and gracious presence in all her interactions with the museum,” said Christoph Heinrich, the Frederick and Jan Mayer Director of the Denver Art Museum. “Alongside her husband, John, her boundless generosity and enthusiasm for being a welcoming place for all will have a positive impact in our community for generations to come.”

Additionally in the Colorado community, Anna endowed the Anna Maglione-Sie Chair in Italian Language and Literature at the University of Denver and the Dan and Boyce Sher Chair at the University of Colorado Boulder College of Music.

As impactful as her philanthropy has been to Denver’s arts and academic communities, it’s through her contributions to advance Down syndrome research her family and friends said she leaves the biggest legacy.

“Without her, we wouldn’t have some of the resources we now have in Denver,” Sharon Magness Blake, one of Anna Sie’s best friends, said. “She made a huge impact.”

One of Anna Sie’s granddaughters, Sophia, has Down syndrome, and, seeing the gap in academic research when the family started looking for resources, she got to work to fix that.

“She realized there was a void, so she, her husband and (Sie Whitten), they all worked very hard for 20 years advancing research and care,” Magness Blake said.

The Anna and John J. Sie Foundation in 2008 was the founding donor for the Linda Crnic Institute for Down Syndrome at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus , which is one of the only academic centers fully dedicated to Down syndrome research and is now the largest geographic cluster of Down syndrome researchers in the world.

A year later, the family founded the GLOBAL Down Syndrome Foundation nonprofit to further support education and advocacy of Down Syndrome.

For Frank Stephens, a board member at the GLOBAL Down Syndrome Foundation, Anna Sie made a lifetime’s worth of difference in his life.

Stephens also has Down syndrome, and he said he will always keep her kindness close to him.

“She never doubted for one minute people with Down syndrome could do a whole lot,” Stephens said. “That’s what she understood, and now everyone does. The world is now better because of the way she existed.”

Stephens’ father, John Stephens, said Anna Sie made a significant impact not only on the treatment of people with Down syndrome in the medical community but her efforts in no small part helped to improve their life expectancy.

“The average life expectancy when Frank was born was 20 or 23 (years old),” John Stephens said. “It’s now in the 60s. It’s in no small measure because of what she and John (Sie) started. The fact people started paying attention, that’s the difference she made.”

Frank Stephens said her work will “always be a force for good and for change.”

Additionally, Anna and John Sie founded the Alzheimer’s and Cognition Center, Anna and John J. Sie Center for Down Syndrome at Children’s Hospital Colorado, and the pilot GLOBAL Adult Down Syndrome Center at Denver Health.

She also provided the seed funding to start the GLOBAL Inclusive Program, the first post-secondary program for students with intellectual disabilities at a Jesuit University and the second at a Catholic University in the U.S.

“From my perspective, with that idea that every person counts, we can help a lot of people if we set our minds to it,” said Sie Whitten, who is also the president and CEO of the GLOBAL Down Syndrome Foundation. “She has been very protective of (people with Down syndrome) in terms of inclusion and discrimination, but also to make sure they can live much longer and healthier lives.”

On top of Sie’s devotion to her family and her philanthropic work, she was one of the most dependable friends someone could have, according to Magness Blake.

“She was always there when you needed someone to talk to, and was very generous with her time,” Magness Blake said. “She took being a friend seriously. She would do just about anything to help you. It was comforting to know there was somebody out there who would go to such lengths to help you.”

Magness Blake said she will remember her friend as an amazing lady with elegance.

“She was a very regal, great lady,” she said. “One of a kind. She would laugh at my saying that, but she really was.”

Services for Anna Sie will be at 10 a.m., Thursday at the Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception, 1530 Logan St., in Denver.

In lieu of flowers, Anna asked that donations in her memory be sent to the Global Down Syndrome Foundation at www.globaldownsyndrome.org or mailed to 3239 E. 2nd Avenue, Denver, CO 80206.

Staff writer Aldo Svaldi contributed to this story.

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