This cool pin-up comes to you courtesy of David McCallum, who conned pal (spelled p-a-t-s-y) Bob Vaughn into a bit part for his film, Three Bites of the Apple. Bob, in Venice shooting The Venetian Affair, went cross-canal to where David was on location, donned a bonnet and a beaming face and obliged the Scot--who serenaded him all the way.
David McCallum's giving everyone the silent treatment when it comes to the finally-admitted break-up of his marriage to Jill Ireland. But according to his closest associate, "David is bearing up beautifully despite the heartbreak." He was happy to be home after the continual strain of filming Three Bites of the Apple. Of course, the inevitable question was--would he ever be really home again?
We've got to hand it to David--he's just as good an actor off screen as on. He put up a great front for all observers of his marital scene, while on the inside he kept his hopes and heartbreak to himself. And who knew better than we did? We were the one who had the unpleasant task of telling David over a year ago that Jill and Charles Bronson were being seen dining in the popular Hollywood restaurants. There was no attempt by them to "hide," so we believed David when he insisted Bronson was "a good friend to each of us."
Then earlier this year (Feb. 25, to be exact), we visited David, Jill and Charles Bronson at the opening of an art gallery which Hill and Charlie had partnered in Beverly Hills. David had been plugging the gallery to us before the opening--to give it publicity in the art-conscious film colony--and we were pleased to be among the elite attending. Each one of the owner-artists (Waldon Ryer is the third) had a wall for exhibiting his or her works. And we noted that Jill was the model for several portraits by Bronson and Ryer, while David was model for only on of Jill's paintings. The children were subjects too. One of the McCallum boys was on hand for the event. It was the first time, David told us, they had permitted him up so late to be with his parents at a public event. David was departing immediately after the show for another personal appearance. Perhaps the lad's appearance with his parents together was multi-purposed?
Bronson stood by himself on the other side of the room--away from the McCallums. We spoke to him, and he was his usual self--pleasant in a restrained, terse way. he had gone through his own divorce and family break-up a couple of years earlier. It hadn't been easy to question him then--and it wasn't now.
The added problems of the split will be evident as soon as David, Jill and Bronson begin making their explanations. Whether they can maintain that old "private lives" attitude which existed when they were all "friends" is now highly doubtful.
TV fans of David McCallum will probably squint twice when they see their favorite hero in Universal's World Premiere attraction, "Hauser's Memory," on NBC November 24. The blond star of the former hit, The Man From UNCLE, will be seen as a dark-haired, bearded scientist.