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Sun 14 Mar, 2010 09:23 pm
Peter Graves, the cool spymaster of television’s “Mission: Impossible” and the dignified host of the “Biography” series, who successfully spoofed his own gravitas in the “Airplane!” movie farces, died on Sunday. He was 83.
He died of a heart attack at his home in Pacific Palisades, Calif., said Fred Barman, his business manager.
It was a testament to Mr. Graves’s earnest, unhammy ability to make fun of himself that after decades of playing square he-men and straitlaced authority figures, he was perhaps best known to younger audiences for a deadpan line in “Airplane!” (“Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?”) and one from a memorable Geico car insurance commercial (“I was one lucky woman”).
Born Peter Aurness in Minneapolis
His brother played Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke.
@farmerman,
farmerman wrote:
and a giant vegetable.
Yes, a lot of people have forgotten that Jim Arness started life as an actors in that dreadful 1950 flick.
Did Peter ever have any other Hollywood roles besides Mr. Phelps? That's all I remember about him?
@Merry Andrew,
He played German plant among the allied prisoners in Stalag 17. It was one of his first roles.
@georgeob1,
Oh, wow, yeah I remember the movie and the role he played. Never made the connection. Thnx, geo.
His role in Stalag 17 is what I like best of all his roles. Never was a fan of Mission Impossible.
Yep, Stalag 17. Perfect role, perfectly played, in a perfect film.
Also loved him acting silly.
@edgarblythe,
I'll always remember him for his part on _Airplane_ "Have you ever been in a Turkish prison? Have you ever seen a grown man naked?" Deadpan delivery, so funny
Sorry to see him go.
@farmerman,
I remember The Thing. All I can recall is that they boiled him like the vegetable that he was. They did a remake of that, I think
@edgarblythe,
All I can remember about Mission Impossible is the theme.
I recall that Peter Graves was the German Plant (so to speak) in Stalag 17, but that's about all.
i guess he finally accepted the one last mission
@Merry Andrew,
Merry Andrew wrote:Did Peter ever have any other Hollywood roles besides Mr. Phelps? That's all I remember about him?
http://amazon.imdb.com/name/nm0336335/
Not many films. Graves spent most of his career on television. Most of his film work was undistinguished, such as his starring role in
Beginning of the End, a classic giant-grasshoppers-attack-Chicago film, featuring the insects in question climbing up stock photos of local landmarks such as the Wrigley Building.
I remember him as the father figure on Fury, Story of a Horse and the Boy Who Loved Him. When I heard that he had died, that's what I thought of first.
@edgarblythe,
edgarblythe wrote:
His role in Stalag 17 is what I like best of all his roles. Never was a fan of Mission Impossible.
Don't remember the role in the Stalag movie, but that could be just bad memory.
Actually, I was a big fan of the Mission: Impossible series. I thought it was great, and, at the time, this was quite an innovative show. Always had interesting story lines.
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