NCIS star Brian Dietzen recalls "meaningful" final chat with David McCallum
NCIS's Brian Dietzen has spoken about the "meaningful" final chat he had with co-star David McCallum.
McCallum, who played Dr Donald 'Ducky' Mallard in the police procedural, passed away at the age of 90 back in September.
Reflecting on the conversation he had with the actor just a few days before he died, Dietzen told People: "I'll say that I got to speak to him on his birthday, which was wonderful. That was on a Tuesday.
"He ended up passing away that weekend, so he was already in the hospital and obviously not doing very well."
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He continued: "He was, obviously, going through some health issues and whatnot, but he had this stretch of time in that last week where he got to chat with all of his family, his kids, and obviously, [his wife] Katherine.
"And I was lucky enough that when I called in, I got to actually talk to him."
While Diezten plans to keep the "contents of the call" to himself, he did add: "I will say I'm so glad that I got to speak to him one last time and I got to tell him how I felt. And so that was really meaningful."
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NCIS paid tribute to McCallum on Monday (February 19) with an episode titled 'The Stories We Leave Behind', which followed the team as they mourned Ducky while working on one of his unfinished cases.
Dietzen — who plays chief medical examiner Dr. Jimmy Palmer — co-wrote the episode with Scott Williams.
"When David passed away, Scott Williams, my co-writer, volunteered to do this episode and he said to me, 'I thought it was only right that you co-write with me,'" the actor told TVLine ahead of the episode airing.
"And then everybody in the room said, 'Yeah, that’s perfect. That’s what should happen.' And I said, 'Absolutely, I’d be honoured to'."
NCIS airs on CBS in the US. Seasons 1-20 are streaming on Disney+ in the UK.
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