FROM Gidget's beach, to T.J. Hooker's beat, to Melrose Place - it's been a wild and wonderful career ride for James Darren.
�����Now he's re-teaming with his former T.J. Hooker co-star Heather Locklear to play a filthy-rich villain in MeIrose's climactic final episodes beginning later this month.
�����And the still-hunky 62-year-old - who starred as Officer Jim Corrigan opposite Heather's Officer Stacey Sheridan on the mid-1980s cop show - reveals in an exclusive interview that he's loving every minute of the raucous reunion.
�����"We're having a blast on the set," declares Darren, who has been married to wife Evy for nearly 40 years and has four grandkids from his two sons.
�����"It's great to meet up with Heather again. She's a happily married mom now - but she's just as much fun as she ever was."
�����While Darren became famous as Sandra Dee's squeaky-clean boyfriend Moondoggie in 1959's Gidget, he's no stranger to the sexy shenanigans of Melrose Place. In fact, he's even directed a few episodes of the steamy nighttime soap.
�����"It's great to be acting with younger performers," says Darren, who zips around Hollywood in his silver 1956 Porsche Speedster and rides dirt bikes on weekends.
�����"I'm acting with the kids - and still acting like a kid!
�����Darren won't say what he has in store for Heather's character Amanda. But don't expect him to get the best of her.
�����As our exclusive pics revealed two weeks ago, Amanda fakes her death and is carried off into the Hawaiian sunset by Dr. Peter Burns, played by Jack Wagner.
�����But shhhh - that's a little secret only GLOBE readers know!