Born in Los Angeles, California James MacArthur was raised in New York by his adopted parents playwright Charles MacArthur and actress Helen Hayes. He was educated at the Solebury School in New Hope, Pennsylvania, where in his final year he played guard on the football team, captained the basketball team, rewrote the school's constitution, edited the school paper, played Scrooge in a local presentation of A Christmas Carol and was president of his class, the student government and the drama club. He officially began his four decade career in film and television in a 1954 episode of Climax!, and eventually assumed one of the most iconic roles in the history of television police dramas, that of Danny 'Danno' Williams in the 1968 series Hawaii Five-O.
James MacArthur died of natural causes at the age of 72.
