Peter Graves
Graves in October 2009
Born	Peter Aurness (1926-03-18)March 18, 1926 Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Died	March 14, 2010(2010-03-14) (aged 83) Los Angeles, California, United States
Cause of death	Heart attack
Nationality	American
Education	Southwest High School
Alma mater	University of Minnesota
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1942–2010
Spouse	Joan Endress (m. 1950–2010, his death)
Children	3 daughters
Relatives	James Arness (brother, deceased)

Peter Aurness (March 18, 1926 – March 14, 2010),^[1][2][3][4] known professionally as Peter Graves, was an American film and television actor. He was best known for his starring role in the CBS television series Mission: Impossible from 1967 to 1973 (original) and from 1988 to 1990 (revival). His elder brother was actor James Arness (1923–2011).

Early life[link]

Graves was born Peter Aurness in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a son of Methodist^[5] parents Rolf Cirkler Aurness (1894–1982), a businessman, and his wife Ruth (née Duesler, died 1986), a journalist. Graves' ancestry was Norwegian, English and German. The family name originally was "Aursnes," but when Rolf's Norwegian father, Peter Aursnes, immigrated to New York City in 1887, he changed the spelling.^[6] Peter used the stage name "Graves", a maternal family name.^[7] He used the name Graves to honor his mother's family, and also so as to not be confused with his older brother, James Arness, who was a famous actor in his own right, as the star of the television series "Gunsmoke".

Graves graduated from Southwest High School in 1944, and spent two years in the United States Army Air Force near the end of World War II. He then enrolled at the University of Minnesota on the G.I. Bill, and was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.

Career[link]

Graves attending a ceremony to receive a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in October 2009

Throughout Graves' career he appeared in more than seventy films, television shows, and television movies. In the 1950s, Graves joined the NBC television series Fury, as the rancher and adoptive single father, Jim Newton.^[8][9] Graves also was involved in the 1953 World War II film, Stalag 17, where he portrayed a German spy pretending to be a prisoner of war.^[10]

From 1960-61 Graves starred as leading character Christopher Cobb in 34 episodes of the TV series Whiplash.^[11] In the story line Cobb is an American who arrives in Australia in the 1850s to establish the country's first stagecoach line, using a bullwhip rather than a gun to fight the crooks that he encounters.^[12] The series also starred Anthony Wickert. Graves also starred in the British made ITC series Court Martial playing U.S. Army Lawyer Major Frank Whittaker (one of the series two American Leads starring opposite Bradford Dillman's Captain David Young ) as well as guest roles in such series as Alfred Hitchcock Presents,^[13] Route 66 and The Invaders,(episode; 'Moonshot') In 1967, Graves was recruited by Desilu Studios to replace Steven Hill as the lead actor on Mission: Impossible. Graves played Jim Phelps, the sometimes gruff leader of the Impossible Missions Force or IMF, for the remaining six seasons of the series.^[14][15] After the series ended in 1973, Graves played a cameo-type support role in the feature film Sidecar Racers in Australia which was released in 1975. Graves also made a guest appearance in the teen soap opera Class of '74 in mid-1974, playing himself.^[16]

Graves was cast as Palmer Kirby in the 1983 ABC miniseries, The Winds of War.^[17] He played opposite Robert Mitchum, Jan Michael Vincent, Deborah Winters and Ali McGraw in what became in '83, the second most watched miniseries of all time (after Roots).^[18][19] After playing mainly serious roles in the 1970s, he acted as Captain Clarence Oveur in the early 80s comedies Airplane! and Airplane II: The Sequel.^[20][21][22]

In 1988 a Hollywood writers' strike resulted in a new Mission: Impossible series being commissioned. Graves was the only original cast member to return as a regular (although others made guest appearances).^[23] The series was filmed in Australia, and Graves made his third journey there for acting work. The new version of Mission: Impossible lasted for two seasons, ending in 1990. Bookending his work on Mission: Impossible, Graves starred in two pilot films called Call to Danger, which were an attempt to create a Mission: Impossible-style series in which Graves played a government agent (the Bureau of National Resources) who recruited civilians with special talents for secret missions.^[24][25][26]

The 1960s version of the pilot, according to Patrick White in The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier (which White reports was actually the second such pilot, but Graves was not involved in the first), is credited with winning Graves the role of Phelps; after Mission: Impossible ended in 1973, Graves filmed a third version of the pilot (this one structured as a made-for-TV movie), but it did not sell as a series. The concept was later used in the brief 1980s adventure series Masquerade.

Graves with wife Joan Endress in October 2009

During the 1990s, he hosted the documentary series Biography on A&E.^[27] He also acted in a number of films featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000, which subsequently featured running jokes about Graves' Biography work and presumed sibling rivalry with Arness. The films that have been featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000 include SST: Death Flight, It Conquered the World, Beginning of the End, Parts: The Clonus Horror, and an uncredited voiceover in The Eye Creatures. The film Killers from Space was featured in The Film Crew, Michael J. Nelson's follow-up to MST3K.^[28] Graves himself parodied his Biography work in the film Men in Black II, hosting an exposé television show. He also played Colonel John Camden on the television series 7th Heaven. In 1995, Graves starred with Charlton Heston, Mickey Rooney and Deborah Winters in the Warren Chaney docudrama, America: A Call to Greatness.^[29]

In the 1996 film update of Mission: Impossible, the character of Phelps (played by Jon Voight) was re-imagined as a traitor who murders three fellow IMF agents only to be killed himself at the end of the film, a decision that disappointed Graves.^[20]

On October 30, 2009, Graves was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[20]

AirTran Airways featured Graves in a series of web-only "Internetiquette" videos in 2009 in which Graves appeared in a pilot's uniform and references classic Airplane! lines.^[30] The videos were part of an AirTran Airways campaign to promote their in-flight wireless Internet access.^[30]

In the summer of 2009 Graves signed on as a spokesperson for reverse mortgage lender American Advisors Group (AAG).^[31] Graves appeared in a national commercial in which he marketed reverse mortgages.^[32]

Graves' final project was narrating the computer game epic Darkstar: The Interactive Movie,^[33] released November 5, 2010.

Personal life[link]

Handprints of Peter Graves in front of Hollywood Hills Amphitheater at the Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park

Graves was a devout Christian.^[34] He was married to Joan Endress Graves from 1950^[2] until his death. Their marriage produced three daughters: Kelly Jean, Claudia King and Amanda Lee.^[35] Graves had six grandchildren.^[36]

Death[link]

After returning from a brunch on March 14, 2010, Graves collapsed and died of a heart attack at the age of 83. He was four days from his 84th birthday. It was reported that one of his daughters attempted to revive him, but was unsuccessful.^[3]

Awards[link]

Graves was awarded a Golden Globe Award in 1971 for his role as Jim Phelps in the series Mission: Impossible.^[4] He also received nominations for an Emmy Award^[37] and Golden Globe awards^[38] in other seasons of that show. Graves also won a Primetime Emmy Award for outstanding informational series in 1997 as host of Biography.^[4]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Biography portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Peter Graves

• Peter Graves at the Internet Movie Database
• Peter Graves at the TCM Movie Database
• Peter Graves at AllRovi
• Biography and filmography at Brian's Drive-In Theater
• Peter Graves at The New York Times

Mike Connors
Born	Krekor Ohanian (1925-08-15) August 15, 1925 (age 86) Fresno, California
Years active	1952–present
Spouse	Mary Lou Willey (1949–present)

Mike Connors (born Krekor Ohanian, August 15, 1925) is an American actor best known for playing detective Joe Mannix in the CBS television series, Mannix. Before that, he had played a crime-fighting investigator, wielding a .38 handgun hidden in his back, in another CBS series, Tightrope.

Early life[link]

Connors was born in Fresno, California, of Armenian descent. He was an avid basketball player in high school who was nicknamed "Touch" by his teammates. During World War II he served in the United States Army Air Forces.^[1] After the war he attended the University of California at Los Angeles on a basketball scholarship, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity.^[1] William A. Wellman got him into acting after noticing his expressive face while Connors was playing basketball. He appeared on the Los Angeles CBS station as "Touch" Connors in an episode of Jukebox Jury before the program went national via ABC in 1953. Connors is credited in his early films, such as Island in the Sky (1953), Swamp Women (a.k.a. Swamp Diamonds), Five Guns West (1955), and Flesh and the Spur (1957) as "Touch Connors".

He played basketball for coach John Wooden at UCLA.

Connors recalled in an interview that he was renamed by Henry Willson saying that "Ohanian" was too close to the actor George O'Hanlon and came up with "Touch Connors".^[2]

Career[link]

His early film career started in the early 1950s. Among films he was cast in included a critically acclaimed John Wayne film, Island in the Sky (1953 film) in which he was a crewman on one of the search and rescue planes. In 1956, still billed as Touch Connors, he played an Amalekite herder in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston.

He appeared in numerous television series, including the co-starring role in the 1955 episode "Tomas and the Widow" of the NBC western anthology series Frontier. He guest starred on Jeannie Carson's unsuccessful 1956-1957 situation comedy Hey, Jeannie!. He appeared in two Rod Cameron syndicated crime dramas, City Detective and the western-themed State Trooper, and played the villain in the first episode filmed (but second one aired) of ABC-TV's smash hit Maverick opposite James Garner in 1957. He also appeared on two other syndicated series, The Silent Service, based on true stories of the submarine section of the United States Navy, and Sheriff of Cochise, set about Bisbee, Arizona. Connors also appeared in the episode of the TV Series One Step Beyond called "The Aerialist." In 1965, he co-starred in one of Robert Redford's earliest film roles, a WWII black comedy, Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious alongside Sir Alec Guinness.

Connors later took the starring roles in Tightrope (1959–1960), Mannix (1967–1975) and Today's F.B.I. (1981–1982). Due to the popularity of Tightrope in Mexico during the early 1960s, Discos Orfeon released a 45 rpm single of Connors singing in Spanish.^{[citation needed]} Mannix was originally produced by Desilu Productions (later absorbed by Paramount Television) and it was then-President Lucille Ball who pushed for CBS to keep the show on air after a lacklustre first season in the ratings. This move enabled the show to become a long-running hit for the network. Connors was able to work with his boss on-screen during a cross-promotion episode of Ball's Here's Lucy series in 1971, showing how adept at comedy he was. The episode opened Lucy's fourth season of that entertainment product and was titled 'Lucy and Mannix are Held Hostage'. It was notable for being the first episode shot at Universal Studios, after Ball ceased producing her show at Paramount Studios.

Connors' long history of police and military roles very possibly was the reason he was chosen to play Air Force Colonel Harrison "Hack" Peters in Herman Wouk's 1988 World War II-based miniseries War and Remembrance.

Connors lives in Encino, California.

Filmography[link]

• 1952 : Sudden Fear : Junior Kearney
• 1953 : The 49th Man : Lt. Magrew
• 1953 : Sky Commando : Lt. Hobson Lee
• 1953 : Island in the Sky : Gainer
• 1954 : Day of Triumph : Andrew
• 1955 : Swamp Women : Bob Matthews
• 1955 : Five Guns West : Hale Clinton
• 1955 : The Twinkle in God's Eye : Lou
• 1955 : Day the World Ended: Tony Lamont
• 1956 : Jaguar: Marty Lang
• 1956 : The Oklahoma Woman : Tom Blake
• 1956 : The Ten Commandments  : Amalekite herder
• 1956 : Shake, Rattle & Rock! : Garry Nelson
• 1957 : Flesh and the Spur : Stacy Tanner
• 1957 : Voodoo Woman : Ted Bronson
• 1958 : Suicide Battalion : Maj. Matt McCormack
• 1958 : Live Fast, Die Young : Rick
• 1960 : The Dalton That Got Away : Russ Dalton
• 1964 : Panic Button : Frank Pagano
• 1964 : Good Neighbor Sam : Howard Ebbets
• 1964 : Where Love Has Gone  : Major Luke Miller
• 1965 : Harlow : Jack Harrison
• 1965 : Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious : Sgt. Lucky Finder
• 1966 : Stagecoach : Hatfield
• 1966 : Se tutte le donne del mondo, aka Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (US title): Kelly
• 1979 : Avalanche Express : Haller
• 1979 : The Death of Oceanview Park : Sam Jackson
• 1980 : Nightkill : Wendell Atwell
• 1985 : Too Scared to Scream: Lt. Alex Dinardo
• 1989 : Fist Fighter : Billy Vance
• 1993 : Public Enemy #2
• 1994 : Downtown Heat : Steve
• 1999 : Gideon : Harland Greer
• 2000 : The Extreme Adventures of Super Dave (video) : Osborne
• 2003 : Nobody Knows Anything! : Joe Mannix

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• Mike Connors at the Internet Movie Database