James Darren has died at the age of 88. The actor was best known for his role in the 1959 film Candyas well as his TV role decades later TJ WhoreEarly in his career, Darren was seen as a teen idol.

According to a statement on his website, the actor died in his sleep on Monday, September 2, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

His son, Within edition correspondent Jim Moret told The Hollywood Reporter that his father went to the hospital for an aortic valve replacement, but was deemed too weak to undergo the operation.

“I always thought he would make it because he was so cool. He was always cool,” Moret told the outlet. PEOPLE reached out to Moret’s rep for comment.

Darren, born James Ercolani, was born in Philadelphia in 1936. His parents were Italian immigrants, and he spent more time getting into trouble outside of school than studying. “I was a Dennis the Menace type, not a bad kid,” he told PEOPLE in 1983. After dropping out of high school at 16, he pursued acting and was discovered by a talent scout.

The Philadelphia native studied under legendary acting coach Stella Adler in New York before signing with Columbia Pictures and making his film debut in the 1956 drama Rumble on the docksaccording to his website. Although the film had a low budget, Darren began to receive a lot of fan mail. In 1957, he appeared in Operation Mad Ball, The Rico brothers And The Tijuana Storyand in 1958 he appeared in Shooting walk.

His biggest role came in 1959 CandySandra Dee played the title heroine in the surf film, with Darren as her love interest, a surfer nicknamed “Moondoggie.” The film was a huge success, bringing California surf culture and the film’s stars into the mainstream.

Fame wasn’t always fun for Darren. “One time in San Francisco I was on a dance party TV show and hundreds of girls stormed the studio, ripped the glass door off, dragged me out onto the floor and started pulling hair out of my head for souvenirs,” he told PEOPLE. “I was terrified. I had tears streaming down my face from the pain of pulling my hair out.”

The film also launched his singing career. Darren sang the title track for the film and its success led to him recording and releasing more songs, including his biggest hit, 1961’s “Goodbye Cruel World”, which peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Darren reprised the role in the 1961 film Gidget goes Hawaiian and 1963’s Gidget goes to Rome — though the actress who played Gidget changed each time, with Deborah Walley and Cindy Carol, respectively, playing the character in the sequels. “They had me under contract,” he explained to Entertainment weekly in 2004. “I was a prisoner. But with those beautiful young ladies, it was the best prison I think I will ever be in.”

Darren played teen idols on The Donna Reed Show And The Flintstonesand appeared in films including The Story of Gene Krupa, The guns of Navarone, Diamond head, The lively set And Venus in furIn 1966 he was cast in the leading role in the science fiction TV series The Time Tunnelwhich ran for one season.

In the 1970s Darren made a series of television appearances, including in Charlie’s Angels, Police story, Hawaii Five-O, Vegas, The Love Boat And Fantasy IslandHe also continued to make music and was the host of the PBS interview show Portrait of a legend.

From 1983 to 1986, Darren starred in the police series TJ Whore alongside William Shatner and Heather Locklear. He got the part thanks to a friend who was a producer on the show, who had them write the part of Agent Jim Corrigan for him.

“I panic when I’m not working,” he told PEOPLE. “I like to feel like a normal person with a normal job.” He also hoped the show would increase his name and facial recognition beyond Candy“I get disappointed when someone doesn’t know me from the things I’ve done before.”

Darren also directed an episode of TJ Whore and went on to direct episodes of Melrose Place, Beverly Hills, 90210, Texas Ranger Hiker And Werewolf.

In 1998 he began appearing on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine as Vic Fontaine, a holographic singer who also dispensed romantic advice. The Rat Pack-style character was originally written for Frank Sinatra, Jr., and was then offered to Steve Lawrence before Darren landed the role.

But Darren originally didn’t want to play another singer. His agent pushed him to actually read the script. “Of course I read the script and of course I loved it,” he told StarTrek.com in 2019. “It was just a great role. Vic Fontaine was like, what can I say? It was a dream come true for me. It was one of the most fun roles I’ve ever played.”

“If he had just been a singer, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it one tenth,” he explained, adding that he became very close to the rest of the cast during the filming of the episodes he appeared in.

Darren married Gloria Terlitsky, his high school sweetheart, in 1955. They had a son, Jim, in 1956. They divorced in 1958. Jim, a journalist, was adopted by Gloria’s third husband and took the surname Moret.

In 1960 he married Evy Norlund, a former Miss Denmark. They welcomed two sons: Christian in 1960 and Anthony in 1964.

Darren was also the godfather of Nancy Sinatra’s daughter.

“One of my dearest, best friends in the world has passed away,” Sinatra wrote in a tribute on X,

“Godfather to my daughter, AJ. Wishing him a speedy and beautiful journey through the universe and beyond. Godspeed, sweet Jimmy. My heart is broken but full of love for Evy, Christian, Anthony and Jimmy Jr,” her statement continued.

Although Darren sometimes wanted to avoid his opponents, Candy days, he admitted to the Los Angeles Times in 2019 that when he performed his one-man shows, it was always his Candy stories that received the greatest response.

“Candy “It was, you know, I was so lucky to get that part because when you do a movie or a TV show, whatever, the character that you play is either something that people fall in love with or hate,” he said in an interview. “One or the other. And luckily for me, luckily for them, they fell in love with Moondoggie.”

Darren is survived by his wife and children.