New York Times, 1983
Leslie Bennetts
"Broadway Burden on the Actor"
The make-or-break aspect of a Broadway opening can also present a fearsome obstacle.
"With the terrifying costs of Broadway, not just in financial terms but
also in emotional terms, if someone gives you a Broadway play, you have a consideration
now that you never had before, which is: Am I strong enough to take a Broadway
opening?" says David McCallum, who starred in the Manhattan Theater Club's
production of "The Philanthropist." "It's always been terrifying,
but the responsibility that now falls on the actors, because of the financial
burden and the power wielded by the critics over whether you open and close
in one fell swoop -- with that hanging over you, it goes beyond terrifying.
Five years ago, I would have done 'The Philanthropist' on Broadway if someone
had handed it to me, whereas now I wouldn't. This play is too esoteric for me
to take the emotional risks. Broadway is just too damn tough."
(About the Carol Channing Special)
Carol Doesn't Need Tennis
New York Times, 1965(?)
George Gent
Her guests on the show, she said, will be George Burns, the cigar-smoking comedian
who teamed up with her in 1962 for an act that successfully played the Seattle
World's Fair and Las Vegas, and David McCallum, the blond Scot who co-stars
in NBC's "The Man From U.N.C.L.E."
"George, you know, is the greatest straight man in the business, and David
is our hero," she enthused. "My 12-year-old son Channing Lowe, just
loves him. You read all about David McCallum being so erudite, and it's true.
And with all his sex appeal -- and the girls do adore him -- he reminds me of
Sir John Gielgud and Alfred Lunt."
(About summer theater openings in the Northeast)
It's Frantic Time on the Straw Hat Circuit
Anne D. LeClaire
New York Times, 1979
Plays are not the only commodities the producers worry about; stars are the cause of many headaches, too. In New York, stars negotiate for a paycheck; on the circuit they demand a room with a view. Some requests are easy to fill, like those of David McCallum, a regular on the straw-hat circuit. Mr. McCallum, a devoted golfer, likes to spend virtually every offstage moment on the nearest course. (Most playhouse staffs have lists of local patrons who, given the opportunity to rub elbows with stars, willingly share club privileges, pools, courts and boats with actors who arrive wanting to know about recreational possibilities.)
Jack Gould
New York Times
Warren A. Bahr, senior executive vice president of Young & Rubicam and director of media relations and planning, said the agency had invested in a pilot preparation of a new version of "Teacher, Teacher," the Allan E. Sloane script that won an Emmy Award.
The part of the retarded child would be dropped in the new version. David McCallum, who starred in the original production, would be cast as the sensitive teacher coping with all the diverse problems common to today's education process. According to Mr. Bahr, Young & Rubicam is thinking of stripping the program in the same half-hour every week night -- running a series of episodes in the fashion of the old radio soap operas.