DAVID MCCALLUM

WHEN MARK HARMON first met David McCallum in 2003 while filming the backdoor pilot for NCIS (which aired on JAG), he gushed, “I can’t imagine I’m shaking the hand of Illya Kuryakin.”

- Matt Roush 

To which McCallum replied, “Good God, man, that was 40 years ago!” Such is the aura of a true TV legend, even one as charming and unassuming as McCallum, who died September 25 at a Manhattan hospital six days after turning 90.

Trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, the Scottish-born son of a violinist for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra first tasted international fame when cast as Kuryakin, the enigmatic Russian spy in NBC’s