Michael Callan, best known for his role as Riff in West Side Story on Broadway, died on October 10 at the age of 86. Rebecca Goodman, Callan’s daughter, told The Hollywood Reporter that her father died on Monday night at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills from pneumonia complications.
Callan has been in the entertainment industry for over five decades. He was best known for his roles in West Side Story and films such as Gidget Goes Hawaiian, The Interns, and Cat Ballou.
Where was Michael Callan born? Ethnicity, Nationality, Family, Education
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Martin Harris Calinieff, born on November 22, 1935, enjoyed singing and dancing as a child and began dancing at local nightclubs at the age of 15. He later moved to New York City and began performing as Mickey Calin.
Michael Callan was initially cast in two musicals: The Boy Friend and Catch a Star. He auditioned for the role of Riff in West Side Story when he was 21 and was successful after several tries. Joyce Selznick, a talent scout for Columbia Pictures, discovered Callan and signed him to a seven-year contract.
He made his film debut in 1959 with They Came to Cordura, and the following year with The Flying Fontaines. Callan appeared as Griff Rimer in the 1960 drama film Because They’re Young and as a cameo in Pepe.
He was then cast in The Interns, Columbia’s highest-grossing film of the year in 1962. He later appeared in films like Gidget Goes Hawaiian, Mysterious Island, 13 West Street, and Bon Voyage! , The Victors, The New Interns, and other shows.
Michael Callan was also well-known for his television appearances. He made his television debut as the lead in the NBC comedy Occasional Wife. Breaking Point, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Marcus Welby, noon High, Charlie’s Angels, Fantasy Island, Love, American Style, and other shows followed.
He then co-starred in and produced the 1982 thriller horror film Double Exposure alongside Von Deming and William Byron Hillman. He returned to the theater on occasion and appeared in a variety of musicals.
Michael Callan’s children, Dawn and Rebecca Callan, survive him. In 1960, he married Carlyn Chapman, and they divorced in 1967. In 1968, Michael married Patricia Harty, but the couple divorced in 1970. Kareen Malouf, with whom he was married from 1975 to 1984, was his most recent marriage.
West Side Story’s Michael Callan character
Michael Callan played the Riff in the original Broadway production of West Side Story in 1957. The riff is the leader of The Jets in the show. William Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet inspired the musical. The plot revolved around the rivalry between two juvenile street gangs on Manhattan’s Upper West Side in the mid-1950s, the Jets and the Sharks.
Tony, the main character, is a former Jets and Riff player. He falls in love with Maria, the sister of Bernardo, the Sharks’ leader. West Side Story was made into a film for the first time by Robert Wise in 1961, and again by Steven Spielberg in 2021. In the 2021 film, Ansel Elgort and Rachel Zegler played pivotal roles. The 1961 film starred Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno, and George Chakiris.
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