'Mission: Impossible' star Peter Graves dies in LA

Post Reply
User avatar
Jazzy
Posts: 2962
Joined: Fri Oct 30, 2009 10:17 am

'Mission: Impossible' star Peter Graves dies in LA

Post by Jazzy »

I really loved Peter Graves as he was a humble man and great actor. RIP Peter :-1

Story Link: 'Mission: Impossible' star Peter Graves dies in LA
User avatar
Odie
Posts: 33482
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:10 pm

'Mission: Impossible' star Peter Graves dies in LA

Post by Odie »

Oh he was a great actor!:guitarist



R.I.P.
Life is just to short for drama.
hoppy
Posts: 4561
Joined: Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:58 am

'Mission: Impossible' star Peter Graves dies in LA

Post by hoppy »

James Arness ( Matt Dillon, Gunsmoke) is his older brother.
User avatar
chonsigirl
Posts: 33633
Joined: Mon Mar 07, 2005 8:28 am

'Mission: Impossible' star Peter Graves dies in LA

Post by chonsigirl »

I didn't know that, Hoppy. He was a good actor.
User avatar
Saint_
Posts: 3342
Joined: Wed Nov 04, 2009 3:05 pm
Location: The Four Corners
Contact:

'Mission: Impossible' star Peter Graves dies in LA

Post by Saint_ »

He was one of my role models when I was young....:(

Peter Graves

AKA Peter Graves Aurness

Born: 18-Mar-1926

Birthplace: Minneapolis, MN

Died: 14-Mar-2010

Location of death: Los Angeles, CA

Cause of death: Heart Failure

Gender: Male

Race or Ethnicity: White

Sexual orientation: Straight

Occupation: Actor

Nationality: United States

Executive summary: Mission: Impossible

Military service: USAF (two years)

Peter Graves was a familiar face from decades of assorted TV shows, best remembered as the mysterious Jim Phelps, commander of the Impossible Missions Force (IMF) on TV's Mission: Impossible.

As a boy growing up in Minnesota, he was Peter Aurness, the younger brother of James Aurness, who grew up to star in Gunsmoke. As a young actor, Graves had roles on old-time TV dramas like The Pepsi-Cola Playhouse, Schlitz Playhouse of Stars, and TV Reader's Digest. His first film was Rogue River in 1951 with Rory Calhoun. In his first starring role, 1952's Red Planet Mars, Graves played a man who thought he was receiving radio messages from Mars, but was actually establishing communication with God. Graves' most famous films include Billy Wilder's Stalag 17, Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter, and Roger Corman's It Conquered the World.

In his first TV series, The Ray Bolger Show (1953), Graves performed comedy skits and sang and danced. In the western Fury (1955-60), Graves played a widowed rancher who adopted a young orphan boy. Whiplash (1961-62) was another western, with Graves running a stagecoach company. Court Martial was a 1966 military drama.

Graves joined Mission: Impossible in 1967 for its second season, replacing the first season's lead, Steven Hill. Hill had played the team leader Mr. Briggs, while Graves played the team leader Mr. Phelps, but the change was never explained to viewers. Mission: Impossible was intelligent, well-written, suspenseful, and successful, and Graves stayed with the show until its cancellation in 1973. He later played the lascivious Captain Oveur in Airplane!. From 1987 to 2001, he was the host of A&E's Biography.

In 1988, 15 years after its cancellation, ABC executives revived Mission: Impossible when a writers' strike briefly loomed over Hollywood. The idea was to use scripts from the original series, thus obtaining new programming without violating union rules or breaking the strike. Graves returned as Mr. Phelps, surrounded by a new cast of IMF agents, and four episodes were filmed using scripts from the original series, almost verbatim. These episodes were well received, and the strike was soon settled, allowing production to continue for two seasons, with 35 episodes.

Graves should not be confused with the British film actor, Sir Peter Graves (1911-1994), who appeared in many musicals, including Waltz Time, Gaiety George, and Maytime in Mayfair.

Father: Rolf E. Aurness (b. 1894)

Mother: Ruth (Duesler) Salisbury Aurness (b. 1899)

Brother: James Arness (actor)

Wife: Joan Endress (college sweetheart, m. 1950, three daughters)

Daughter: Kelly

Daughter: Claudia

Daughter: Amanda

University: Drama, University of Minnesota

Phi Kappa Psi Fraternity

Endorsement of GEICO

Golden Globe 1971 for Mission: Impossible (best actor, drama)

Emmy 1997 for Biography (informational series)

Kentucky Colonel

TELEVISION

7th Heaven John Camden ("The Colonel", 1997-)

Mission: Impossible Jim Phelps (1988-90)

Mission: Impossible James Phelps (1967-73)

Whiplash Christopher Cobb (1961)

Fury Jim Newton (1955-60)

FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR

Men in Black II (26-Jun-2002) Himself

These Old Broads (12-Feb-2001)

House on Haunted Hill (24-Oct-1999) Himself

Addams Family Values (19-Nov-1993)

War and Remembrance (13-Nov-1988)

Number One with a Bullet (1987)

The Winds of War (6-Feb-1983)

Airplane II: The Sequel (10-Dec-1982)

Savannah Smiles (12-Nov-1982)

Airplane! (2-Jul-1980)

The Clonus Horror (Aug-1979)

The Rebels (14-May-1979)

SST: Death Flight (25-Feb-1977)

Where Have All the People Gone? (8-Oct-1974)

Scream of the Wolf (16-Jan-1974)

The 5 Man Army (16-Oct-1969)

Sergeant Ryker (1-Feb-1968)

The Ballad of Josie (1-Feb-1967)

Texas Across the River (26-Oct-1966)

A Rage to Live (20-Oct-1965)

Beginning of the End (28-Jun-1957)

Hold Back the Night (29-Jul-1956)

It Conquered the World (15-Jul-1956)

The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (22-Dec-1955)

Wichita (3-Jul-1955)

Robbers' Roost (30-May-1955)

The Night of the Hunter (19-Feb-1955)

The Long Gray Line (9-Feb-1955)

Black Tuesday (31-Dec-1954)

The Raid (4-Aug-1954)

The Yellow Tomahawk (May-1954)

Killers From Space (23-Jan-1954)

Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (2-Dec-1953)

War Paint (28-Aug-1953)

Stalag 17 (1-Jul-1953)

Red Planet Mars (15-May-1952)

Fort Defiance (9-Oct-1951)

Rogue River (15-Feb-1951)

Attached files
User avatar
Odie
Posts: 33482
Joined: Mon Jul 21, 2008 9:10 pm

'Mission: Impossible' star Peter Graves dies in LA

Post by Odie »

how well I remember him in 'Airplane'------- omg....he was the best!:yh_rotfl



'Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?' :yh_rotfl



Rumack: Captain, how soon can you land?

Captain Oveur: I can't tell.

Rumack: You can tell me. I'm a doctor.

Captain Oveur: No. I mean I'm just not sure.

Rumack: Well, can't you take a guess?

Captain Oveur: Well, not for another two hours.

Rumack: You can't take a guess for another two hours? :yh_rotfl
Life is just to short for drama.
Post Reply

Return to “Films Cinema Forum”