Another RIP

LOS ANGELES — "Darren McGavin, the husky, tough-talking actor who starred in the TV series "Mike Hammer" and "Riverboat" and played strong roles in such films as "The Man with the Golden Arm, "The Natural" and the surprise hit "A Christmas Story," has died. He was 83."

I remember Mr. McGavin best from his Kolchak: The Night Stalker series, and of course as the Dad in Christmas Story. As Karl Kolchak he was terrific as the reporter always looking for a supernatural angle, then having the cops step in and tell him to keep things quiet once he stumbled across the occasional vampire or werewolf. He was a TV regular in the old days, appearing in such hits as Gunsmoke, The Man From U.N.C.L.E., and Mission Impossible, then later in the barfathon Murphy Brown series, portraying her father.