Source: Entertainment Weekly
Joby Baker, best known for his role in the Gidget film series, died on June 22 in Mount Kisco, N.Y, of natural causes, as announced to Deadline.
He was 92.
The 1960s and ’70s film and television staple also appeared in the Elvis Presley movie Girl Happy, where he scored laughs as one of the King’s comic relief bandmates. In 1967, he starred in the short-lived but fondly remembered Good Morning World, which launched Goldie Hawn’s career and costarred Ronnie Schell, who died just 10 days before Baker.
Baker was born in Montreal, Quebec, on March 26, 1934. He first appeared on television in ’50s series such as The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show and Studio One, before landing his big break as the surfer Stinky in Gidget, opposite Sandra Dee. While Dee would move on from the film series, Baker would reprise his role in the sequels, Gidget Goes Hawaiian and Gidget Goes to Rome.
Throughout the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, Baker guested on many of the legendary TV shows of the time, including Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Ben Casey, The Dick Van Dyke Show, Perry Mason, Dragnet, Mannix, Barnaby Jones, and Medical Center.
Baker also appeared on the silver screen, in stirring dramas like Key Witness, the Jack Lemmon-Rick Nelson dramedy The Wackiest Ship in the Army, the comedy Hootenanny Hoot, Blackbeard’s Ghost opposite Peter Ustinov and Dean Jones, Superdad with Kurt Russell, and a small role in the disaster movie Avalanche, which also featured Rock Hudson and Mia Farrow.
After guest spots on the 1980s on Simon & Simon, Quincy, M.E., and The Paper Chase, Baker retired from Hollywood. His third wife was the Emmy-winning songwriter Dory Previn, who was also the second wife of composer André Previn. Dory Previn died in 2012. Baker married Megan Moore in 2014. He is also survived by his three children, two stepdaughters, six grandchildren, and one great-granddaughter.
In addition to his prolific acting career, Baker was a celebrated painter and sculptor.
“I was not interested in stardom, in fact I was embarrassed by it,” Baker said in a 2020 interview with Cult Radio A-Go-Go, as noted by The Hollywood Reporter. “I was the wrong type of person to be an actor.”
