CNN
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James Darren, an actor, director and singer who had his breakthrough role as Moondoggie in the 1959 film “Gidget,” died Monday at the age of 88, Variety reported.

The entertainer died at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, Variety reported, citing his son Jim Moret, a chief correspondent for Inside Edition. CNN has reached out to Darren’s and Moret’s agents for comment.

In response to a post in which singer Nancy Sinatra honored Darren on X, Moret wrote: “Nancy, my father loved you. Thank you so much for your kind and loving words.”

Darren had a long resume that spanned film and television, dating back to 1956, according to IMDb. But it was his role in “Gidget” that helped establish him as a heartthrob in the eyes of teenage moviegoers. In a 2015 interview with Los Angeles Magazine , he was asked when he first realized he was a Hollywood sensation.

“The defining moment was when I was in a studio in San Francisco and the news spread that I was there,” Darren said in the interview. “Thousands of girls were screaming outside the door. When I had to leave the building, they knocked me to the ground and pulled clumps of my hair out. The police had to rescue me and take me to the roof until everything calmed down. It was total chaos.”

In “Gidget,” Darren played Moondoggie, a surfer who rescues the main character from a bed of kelp and eventually becomes her romantic interest. He also appeared in two later Gidget films: 1961’s “Gidget Goes Hawaiian” and 1963’s “Gidget Goes to Rome.”

Darren also had supporting roles in the shows “The Time Tunnel”, “TJ Hooker” opposite co-star William Shatner, and “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”. He also directed episodes of shows including “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “Melrose Place”.

Darren was born in Philadelphia, studied acting in New York and was eventually signed to Columbia Pictures, Variety reported. He is survived by his wife Evy, his three children and five grandchildren, the outlet said.