Talk:David McCallum

RADA attendance

RADA gives his date of graduation as 1951:

https://www.rada.ac.uk/profiles/david-mccallum/

Joan Collins also graduated in 1951 according to RADA's web page:

https://www.rada.ac.uk/profiles/joan-collins/

This contradicts the article, which claims that he joined RADA in 1954. The reference given for him entering RADA in 1954 actually doesn't give a date. 23:56, 17 September 2026 (UTC) Mains Olsen (talk) 23:56, 17 September 2026 (UTC)

Also, if he was born in 1933, he would have been 18 in 1951, when he supposedly graduated. It looks like quite a big discrepancy. Mains Olsen (talk) 23:58, 17 September 2026 (UTC)

I checked this with AI search and it appears that RADA has made a mistake, there is a lot of evidence that McCallum was born in 1933, so please forget about this. Mains Olsen (talk) 00:08, 18 September 2026 (UTC)

The plot thickens. Although there is a lot of evidence that McCallum was born in 1933, according to the references of this article, McCallum claims he attended RADA with Joan Collins, but Collins definitely did graduate in 1951, according to her Wikipedia bio and other sources. The explanation that RADA has made a mistake doesn't seem correct. Possibly McCallum went to RADA before joining the army? Mains Olsen (talk) 00:38, 18 September 2026 (UTC)

More sources: Joan Collins says McCallum was her boyfriend at RADA; Grauniad obit claims he went to RADA from 1949 to 1951; British Film Institute also claims the same, does not mention army service from 1951 TV appearance in 1953, when he was supposedly in the army Mains Olsen (talk) 00:54, 18 September 2026 (UTC)

I've edited the article and added references for the 1951 graduation date. I have not added any further references for his date of birth since that doesn't seem controversial. Mains Olsen (talk) 01:32, 18 September 2026 (UTC)

Military career

McCallum's military service seems to have ended in 1953, and his regiment was the Middlesex regiment. Also it says that he was commissioned. So the claim that he was promoted to lieutenant in 1954 seems to be wrong, and the given reference seems to refer to someone with the same surname and initials in a different regiment.

I've removed this rather than ask for citations because it just looks wrong. Mains Olsen (talk) 05:46, 18 September 2026 (UTC)

Co-star status on UNCLE

McCallum was billed as the co-star on UNCLE from the very first episode, and he appeared with the other two lead actors in the introductory segment from the first episode onwards, so the whole paragraph about his enigmatic performance seems to be someone's invention. Since it isn't cited anywhere, I suppose it should just be removed. Mains Olsen (talk) 00:53, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

There is one citation to a sort of fan site, https://www.manfromuncle.org/mccallum.htm, but it doesn't contain the false claim about McCallum being elevated to co-star status during the run of the series. Mains Olsen (talk) 00:56, 24 September 2026 (UTC)

Removal of children's names and details

The names of McCallum's children and the death of his adopted son were removed in these three edits, presumably by the same editor: . McCallum discussed his son's death in several interviews and yet it was removed with the edit line "not notable". It does seem quite notable. Mains Olsen (talk) 03:20, 26 September 2026 (UTC)

Plagiarism

Reading through the various references and obituaries, it seems a lot of the article text here was copied and pasted from the articles. Just making a note about it for future reference. Mains Olsen (talk) 03:19, 27 September 2026 (UTC)

Citations for music in "The Man From UNCLE"

Someone added a request for citations for the musical interludes in UNCLE: . I've tried a bit to find references but there don't seem to be any. I think it can be checked by watching the show, but it hardly seems controversial enough to need this tag since anyone can confirm it easily. Also it hardly needs to be removed. Mains Olsen (talk) 00:57, 1 October 2026 (UTC)

I don't care if the music is identified, but IMO, if it's on the page, it should be cited. That's the point of encyclopedic content. Nitrobreather (talk) 05:18, 2 October 2026 (UTC)

The plot summaries of fictional works don't have citations because they are created by people summarising the plots. I think this is a very similar case. But I will restore it. Mains Olsen (talk) 00:34, 3 October 2026 (UTC)