‘Gidget', ‘T.J. Hooker' star James Darren dies at 88

Seasoned actor James Darren passed away in his sleep on Monday.

Darren, 88, was hospitalised at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for an aortic valve replacement, his son Jim Moret disclosed to Variety and The Hollywood Reporter.

As per foreign news outlets, Darren was later 'deemed too weak' to have the procedure.

“He was a good man. He was very talented,” Moret told Variety. “He was forever young.”

Darren shared sons Moret, Christian Darren, and Anthony Darren with his wife Evy Norlund.

On the professional front, Darren was most famed for his role in Gidget and T.J. Hooker.

He also played a charismatic lounge singer, Vic Fontaine, across seven episodes in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's last two seasons.

He was also dubbed 'teen pop sensation' in his early career for releasing a series of singles throughout the late 1950s and 1960s, including the 1961 hit Goodbye Cruel World for which he bagged a gold record.

He also starred as the leading actor in the sci-fi, time-traveling series The Time Tunnel besides a handful of theatrical films including All the Young Men (1960), Let No Man Write My Epitaph (1960), The Guns of Navarone (1961), and Diamond Head (1962).

He also bagged guest star roles in many popular series such as S.W.A.T., Police Woman, Charlie's Angeles, Police Story, Hawaii Five-O, The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, and Melrose Place.