Daniel Joseph "Danny" Lockin (July 13, 1943 – August 21, 1977) was an American actor and dancer who appeared on stage, television, and film. He was best known for his portrayal of the character Barnaby Tucker in the 1969 film Hello, Dolly!.In August 1977, Lockin was stabbed over 100 times by a man he met in a Garden Grove, California bar. In September 1978, his killer was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to a four-year prison term.
It seems that everyone who talks to me is more concerned about her [Barbra Streisand] than what I have to say. Then I'm misquoted. I really get bugged about that. I never said Barbra was the most super-colossal thing that ever happened. She's human. But I have more respect for her than anyone I've ever worked with. She is the most professional person I have ever experienced. She has never done anything unprofessional. But I deplore being used because of my association with her. -- DL, in a 1968 interview
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Fact
1
On Sunday, August 21, 1977, Danny's mother drove him to perform on "The Gong Show", a popular TV show which featured assorted talent competitions. Danny and fellow dancer Billie Jo Conway, another of Jean Lockin's dance instructors, were invited on the show and competed well, tying for first place. After the taping, Danny and Billie Jo decided to stop at a Garden Grove bar for a drink to celebrate their victory. Danny was later seen leaving the bar with Charles Leslie Hopkins and was later murdered by Hopkins.
2
14-year-old Danny sang jazz with a quartet billed as "The Four Bits".
3
Kelly tested him 13 times before he got the part. After filming, he went to Broadway to play Barnaby opposite Ethel Merman and 'Phyllis Diller'.
4
The only child of Joseph and Jean Lockin. Jean was once a vaudeville dancer who later taught dance when she gave it up professionally. Danny was born in Hawaii where his father operated a Dole pineapple plantation. The family to Nebraska when he was only 3 years old and his mother eventually operated a dance studio in Omaha.
5
Danced professionally from age 8 with another young male dance partner, Neal Reynolds, and the acted was called "The Two Checkers". The two boys performed comedy, pantomime, and song and dance skits at fairs, hotels and restaurants in the Omaha area, but found bookings difficult due to severe racial prejudice (Reynolds was black). They performed together for about three years.
Family moved to Anaheim, California, in 1959, strictly for the purpose of getting him into show business. In between his studies at Rancho Alamitos High School in Garden Grove, he took dance, singing and acting lessons and auditioned for TV.
8
Attended Benson High School in Omaha, Nebraska and excelled in high school gymnastics, especially tumbling.
9
Buried in Westminster Memorial Park Cemetery, in Orange county -- Block 29, section 219, grave 4.
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Taught dance in the early 1970s for 5 years at his mothers dance studio in Garden Grove, California. His father died in 1961.
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Moved to NYC after graduating from high school and appeared in summer stock versions of "Gypsy," "The Sound of Music," "Take Me Along," "The Music Man" and "Tom Sawyer," among others.
12
Met Cathy Haas, a chorus line dancer, and they married in 1967. They had one son, Jeremy Daniel, born in 1969. The couple divorced in 1969.
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Fair, freckled and reddish-blond, Danny auditioned for the part of "Rolf" in the movie version of The Sound of Music (1965) but lost to Daniel Truhitte.
14
Danny Lockin lived in Orange County, California and worked at his mother's dance studio for several years after his appearance in "Hello Dolly" with Streisand. On August 21, 1977, he competed on "The Gong Show" and tied for first place. After the taping of that show in Los Angeles, he drove toward his home in Anaheim, but ended up at a bar in Garden Grove instead. He was later found murdered in a nearby apartment of Charles Hopkins who had stabbed him to death. Police found a "torture diary" under Hopkins' bed and prosecutors tried to pursue the death penalty using the pictures in the diary as evidence that Lockin's death was planned. However, Hopkins' trial was postponed because of a car accident, and in that time (lucky for Hopkins) the California Supreme Court ruled that such evidence found AFTER the initial crime scene investigation was NOT admissible. Without the diary to show premeditation, Hopkins was only found guilty of manslaughter and was sentenced to only four years in prison. Critics said justice hadn't been served, as Lockin was stabbed more than 100 times.
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
Hello, Dolly!
1969
Barnaby Tucker
My Three Sons
1964
TV Series
Jay Robinson
The Lieutenant
1963
TV Series
Bellhop
The Stripper
1963
Bit Part (uncredited)
Gypsy
1962
Yonkers Farm Boy (uncredited)
Soundtrack
Title
Year
Status
Character
Hello, Dolly!
1969
performer: "It Takes a Woman" 1964, "Put on Your Sunday Clothes" 1964, "Dancing" 1964, "Elegance" 1964, "Finale" Medley 1964 - uncredited
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
Dean Martin Presents the Golddiggers
1969
TV Series
Himself
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 1
1999
TV Movie documentary
Himself (uncredited)
Hollywood Screen Tests: Take 2
1999
TV Special documentary
Himself (uncredited)
Rodgers & Hammerstein: The Sound of Movies
1996
TV Movie documentary
Rolf (screen test) (as Danny Lochin)
Known for movies
Hello, Dolly! (1969) as Barnaby Tucker
Dean Martin Presents the Golddiggers (1969) as Himself
$17 Million
