Darius is remembered in the current issue of the performing arts magazine 'The Stage' in print and online as they pay tribute to some of the entertainment industry’s celebrated figures who passed over in 2022.
They say:
Darius Campbell Danesh transcended his early dalliances with glossy, brash television talent shows to enjoy success at the top of the pop charts, spells in the West End and, latterly, as a film producer.
Born Campbell Danesh in Glasgow, the son of a Scottish GP mother and an Iranian gastroenterologist father, he was raised in Bearsden, East Dunbartonshire and showed an early interest in performing.
Aged 12, he had a walk-on part with Scottish Opera and later toured with the company’s production of Carmen, including a performance at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
Wanting to enrol at RADA, instead he followed his parents’ ambition that he pursue more “respectable” employment options by reading English and Philosophy at Edinburgh University.
He shot to fame in 2001 as a contestant on ITV’s Popstars, seizing tabloid-attracting attention with an exaggerated version of Britney Spears’ Baby One More Time, although he was eliminated from the contest shortly afterwards.
Undeterred, he returned to the fray later the same year to come third in Simon Cowell’s rival talent show Pop Idol but refused the mogul’s offer of a recording contract. Instead, he signed to Mercury Records and saw his first single, the self-penned Colourblind, reach number one in the charts, while his debut album, Dive In, was a top 10 hit. He went on to have four other singles in top five positions on the chart.
In 2005, he made his West End debut as Billy Flynn in Chicago at the Adelphi Theatre, and took over the role of Sky Masterson from Ewan McGregor in Michael Grandage’s revival of Guys and Dolls at the Piccadilly.
He returned briefly to Chicago in 2006, 2011 and for the 2017 national tour.
In 2010, he was seen as Snow White’s Prince Charming in Glasgow’s King’s Theatre pantomime, won the first series of ITV’s Popstar to Operastar and sang, albeit for one night only, as Escamillo in David Freeman’s in-the-round Carmen at the O2 Arena.
His other stage forays afforded him star status but proved short-lived failures despite the involvement of musical theatre royalty. Cast as Rhett Butler in Gone with the Wind at the New London Theatre in 2008, Danesh had to compete not only with Clark Gable’s iconic portrayal in the 1939 film version, but also with director Trevor Nunn’s lumbering three hour adaptation and Margaret Martin’s lacklustre score. The run lasted just 79 performances.
From Here to Eternity (2013), with lyrics by Tim Rice, music from Stuart Brayson, book by Bill Oakes and Danesh (now calling himself Darius Campbell) creating the role of First Sergeant Milt Warden, fared marginally better to close after six months.
His last stage appearance, as the gambler Nick Arnstein, husband to Sheridan Smith’s Fanny Brice in Funny Girl, was also his most accomplished. First seen at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory in 2015, the show transferred to the Savoy Theatre in April 2016 and was filmed for broadcast in cinemas.
More recently, Danesh moved to America and became involved in film, producing the Daniel Radcliffe-starring Imperium in 2016 and psychological drama Tomorrow in 2018.
In 2011 he married the actor Natasha Henstridge, with the couple divorcing in 2018.
Darius Campbell Danesh was born on August 19, 1980, and died, aged 41, on August 11.