Just two days after the 20th anniversary of NCIS‘s premiere, we are forced to say goodbye to another member of the popular series.

After a remarkable 60+ year acting career, David McCallum passed away on September 25, 2023.

The Scottish actor was best known for playing Dr. Donald “Ducky” Mallard on NCIS, from season one all the way through until season 20.

Many NCIS fans are now mourning the news of McCallum’s tragic passing. The popular actor passed away peacefully at a hospital in New York, surrounded by his family. He was 90 years old.

Hailing from Scotland, McCallum gained widespread recognition in the mid-1960s for his portrayal of the secret agent Illya Kuryakin in the The Man from U.N.C.L.E.

During his early years in Britain, David portrayed the real-life role of a struggling Scotsman in search of steady employment and a stable income in the English film and television industry.

He wasn’t widely recognized in his home country, and when he arrived in America in 1962, he was ”a nobody”. However, his portrayal of Kuryakin in U.N.C.L.E catapulted him to fame. Throughout the show’s golden years, McCallum received an astonishing 35,000 fan letters from all around the world.

But perhaps above all, many recognize him from the long-running series NCIS, where his character, ‘Ducky’, became immensely popular and contributed significantly to the show’s success. As the wise, quirky, and sometimes enigmatic chief medical examiner, McCallum earned himself a spot in the pantheon of Hollywood’s most beloved actors.