When Hollywood released "Gidget" in 1959 it unleashed one of the first waves of mainstream attention and popularity for surfing in America. All of a sudden, that young teenage girl from Malibu was ...

In her youth, she was a real-life surfer girl heroine who inspired the “Gidget” movies, TV show and a book. Among the actors to portray Gidget were Sandra Dee and Sally Field. After the original ...

LOS ANGELES — James Darren, a teen idol who helped ignite the 1960s surfing craze as a charismatic beach boy paired off with Sandra Dee in the hit film “Gidget,” died Monday at 88. Darren died in his ...

After the original “Gidget” movie, in 1959, Hollywood churned out any number of sequels. “Gidget Grows Up.” “Gidget Goes to Rome.” “Gidget Gets Married.” And so on. Half a century later, the onetime ...