A place could not be thinner for such an undertaking

[sovay]

I did not approve of concluding our break-fast to discover that David McCallum had died. I saw him first in The Great Escape (1963), which always seemed to be playing somewhere in my childhood. My brother was almost named Ilya until my father remonstrated with my mother that their children would sound like a Russian vaudeville act. Every headline I've seen mentions The Man from U.N.C.L.E. (1964–68) and NCIS (2003–), but he will always look to me like something even more enigmatic than a slim, blond-mopped Russian agent, because at least Kuryakin was human. In the same way that Sapphire & Steel (1979–82) left its final assignment suspended in stars and narrative, I imagine McCallum like Steel disappearing out of time like a video cut, itself the kind of ghost that would have fit seamlessly into his medium atomic weight's store of exasperation with the human carelessness of time and its traces, our deliberate preservation of lost moments that opens up cracks in the world as flimsy as a filmstrip and as engulfing as centuries, but these deaths twenty-four times a second are the only way I have ever known him, even when he was alive, like every actor trailing roles behind him like freeze-frames. I will find a new one for his memory. I assume the integrity of time is pretty much a dead loss in our TV.

Comments

[alexxkay]

In my youth, I imprinted strongly on his Caedmon Records reading of "The Rats in the Walls". I'm not sure if that was the first HPL I encountered or not, but it definitely contributed to my appreciation for his work.

(Unfortunate that this work is marred by the Very Racist Cat Name...)

[sholio]

I saw this news earlier today, elsewhere on social media, and I'm sadder than I would have expected because I've actually only ever seen him in NCIS (though of course I'm aware of his other well-known shows and always had general intentions of watching them someday). But he had an incredibly long career on popular shows, doing what he enjoyed, and must have worked right up until close to the end. We all should be so lucky. Maybe this will get me to finally check out his other projects.

[cyphomandra]

Oh no! I hadn’t heard. I encountered Sapphire & Steel as a teenager; it played late at night and I would sneak through the house to watch it illicitly and then equally secretly phone a friend after each episode to analyse it in detail. Such haunting, beautiful television, with its precise but dreamlike logic, and he and Lumley made it work so well.

[thisbluespirit]

left its final assignment suspended in stars and narrative, I imagine McCallum like Steel disappearing out of time like a video cut, itself the kind of ghost that would have fit seamlessly into his medium atomic weight's store of exasperation with the human carelessness of time and its traces, our deliberate preservation of lost moments that opens up cracks in the world as flimsy as a filmstrip and as engulfing as centuries, but these deaths twenty-four times a second are the only way I have ever known him, even when he was alive, like every actor trailing roles behind him like freeze-frames.

This is beautiful!

I've only ever really seen him as Steel, too (barring a so-so WWII film I was watching for Suzanne Neve content). I'm sorry to hear the news, of course, but people were (kindly) sending me messages and, I'm just, I don't think people understand exactly which David I watched this series for. It always has been so hard to explain that; McCallum fans find it difficult to comprehend and there are such a lot of McCallum fans in the fandom. Deservedly, of course, but still. My S&S David has already left us.

But farewell, Steel, yes. What will we do now? Break the corridor and take the consequences, I suppose. ♥

[minoanmiss]

This is a really lovely tribute.

[theseatheseatheopensea]

Thank you for sharing this! I hadn't heard the news, and appreciate doing so via such a thoughtful and beautifully written tribute--"suspended in stars and narrative" really is Elementally perfect! <3 (I watched a lot of The Man From UNCLE reruns growing up, and will forever consider it one of the classic slash fandoms, but David McCallum will always be Steel to me.)

[moon_custafer]

I think perhaps I ought to link to this Wimsey/Man from U.N.C.L.E. crossover: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1073454/chapters/2154834

[nineweaving]

Damn. In junior high, I used placate mean girls by drawing Ilya pin-ups for their lockers. They pleased me too: I thought he was pretty cool.

Nine