Peter Graves | |
|---|---|
 Graves in 1967 | |
| Born | Peter Duesler Aurness (1926-03-18)March 18, 1926 Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
| Died | March 14, 2010(2010-03-14) (aged 83) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Alma mater | University of Minnesota |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Years active | 1951–2010 |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 3 |
| Relatives | James Arness (brother) |
| Military career | |
| Allegiance |  United States |
| Branch |  United States Army Air Forces |
| Service years | 1944–1945[1][2] |
| Rank |  Corporal |
| Conflicts | World War II |
| Awards |  American Campaign Medal World War II Victory Medal |
Peter Graves (bornPeter Duesler Aurness; March 18, 1926 – March 14, 2010) was an American actor who portrayedJim Phelps in the television seriesMission: Impossible from 1967 to 1973 and in its revival from 1988 to 1990. His elder brother was actorJames Arness. Graves also played airline pilot Captain Clarence Oveur in the 1980 comedy filmAirplane! and its 1982 sequelAirplane II: The Sequel.
Peter Graves was born Peter Duesler Aurness on March 18, 1926, inMinneapolis, Minnesota,[3][4] the younger son of Rolf Cirkler Aurness (1894–1982), a businessman, and his wife, Ruth (née Duesler, died 1986), ajournalist.
Graves's ancestry wasNorwegian,German, andEnglish. He used the stage name Graves, a maternal family name,[5] to honor his mother's family, and also so as to not be confused with the stage name of his elder brotherJames Arness, star of the television seriesGunsmoke.
Graves graduated fromSouthwest High School in 1944. He was a two-time Minnesota state track champion in the 120 yard high hurdles at Southwest.[6] He served in theUnited States Army Air Forces duringWorld War II from 1944 to 1945,[1] reaching the rank ofcorporal, and was awarded theAmerican Campaign Medal and theWorld War II Victory Medal.[2] After demobilization, Graves enrolled at theUniversity of Minnesota on theG.I. Bill, and was a member ofPhi Kappa Psi fraternity.
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Graves appeared in more than 70 films, television shows, and television movies during his career. He was featured in a key role in the 1953 World War II film,Stalag 17.[7] In 1955, Graves joined theNBCtelevision seriesFury, as therancher and adoptive single father, Jim Newton.[8]
From 1960 to 1961, Graves starred as Christopher Cobb in 34 episodes of the British/Australian TV seriesWhiplash.[7] In the storyline, Cobb is an American who arrives inAustralia in the 1850s to establish the country's first stagecoach line, using abullwhip rather than a gun to fight the crooks he encounters. The series also starred Anthony Wickert. Graves also starred in the British ITC seriesCourt Martial, playing U.S. Army lawyer Major Frank Whittaker, as well as guest roles in such series asAlfred Hitchcock Presents,[7]Cimarron City,Route 66, andThe Invaders (episode "Moonshot").
In 1967, Graves was recruited byDesilu Studios to replaceSteven Hill as the lead actor onMission: Impossible. Graves portrayed the iconic character of Jim Phelps, the sometimes-gruff director of theImpossible Missions Force, for the six following seasons of the series.[8] After the series ended in 1973, Graves played a cameo-type support role in the feature filmSidecar Racers in Australia which was released in 1975. Graves also made a guest appearance in the teensoap operaClass of 74 in mid-1974, playing himself.[7]
Graves was cast as Palmer Kirby in the 1983ABCminiseriesThe Winds of War.[9] He played oppositeRobert Mitchum,Jan Michael Vincent,Deborah Winters andAli MacGraw in what became in 1983, the second-most watched miniseries of all time (afterRoots).[8][10] He reprised the role for the 1988 sequel miniseries,War and Remembrance. During this time, he became the host ofPBS'sDiscover: The World of Science.[11]
After playing mainly serious roles in the 1970s, he appeared as Captain Clarence Oveur in the early 1980s comediesAirplane! andAirplane II: The Sequel.[8][12]
In 1988, aHollywood writers' strike resulted in anewMission: Impossible series being commissioned. Graves was the only cast member from the original series to return as a regular, reprising his role as Jim Phelps, though others (most notablyGreg Morris, whose sonPhil was a regular in this version) made guest appearances. The series was filmed in Australia, and Graves made his third journey there for acting work. The new version ofMission: Impossible lasted for two seasons, ending in 1990. Bookending his work onMission: Impossible, Graves starred in twopilot films, both calledCall to Danger, which were attempts to create aMission: Impossible–style series. In the first of these (1968), Graves played a government agent (the Bureau of National Resources) who recruited civilians with special talents for secret missions.[13] Inthe secondCall to Danger, he portrayed an investigator for the Justice Department.[14]
The 1960s version of the pilot, according to Patrick White inThe 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; afterMission: Impossible ended in 1973, Graves filmed a third version of the pilot (this one structured as amade-for-TV movie), but it did not sell as a series. The concept was later used in the brief 1980s adventure seriesMasquerade.[15]
During the 1990s, he hosted and narrated the documentary seriesBiography onA&E. He also acted in a number of films featured onMystery Science Theater 3000, which subsequently featured running jokes about Graves'Biography work and presumed sibling rivalry with Arness. The films that have been featured onMystery Science Theater 3000 includeSST: Death Flight,It Conquered the World,Beginning of the End,[16] andParts: The Clonus Horror. The filmKillers from Space was featured inThe Film Crew,Michael J. Nelson's follow-up toMST3K. Graves himselfparodied hisBiography work in the filmMen in Black II, hosting an exposé television show. He also played Colonel John Camden in the television series7th Heaven.
Graves refused to reprise the role of Jim Phelps (played byJon Voight) in thefirst 1996 theatrical film ofMission: Impossible, after the character was revealed to be a traitor and the villain of the film. In the film, Phelps murders three fellow IMF agents, and is killed in a helicopter crash at the end, a decision that disappointed Graves and fellow cast members, and upset many fans of the original series.[12]
On October 30, 2009, Graves was honoured with a star on theHollywood Walk of Fame at 6667 Hollywood Blvd.[12]
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 classicAirplane! lines.[17] The videos were part of an AirTran Airways campaign to promote their in-flight wireless internet access.[17]
In the summer of 2009, Graves signed on as a spokesman forreverse mortgage lenderAmerican Advisors Group.[18] Graves' final project was narrating the computer game epicDarkstar: The Interactive Movie,[19] released November 5, 2010.
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Graves was a devoutChristian of immigrant GermanLutheran descent.[20] He was married to Joan Endress Graves for 60 years from 1950 until his death.[4]
On March 6, 1984, Graves was hospitalized at Tahoe Forest Hospital for a fractured jaw among other injuries sustained from a fall on an icy Lake Tahoe road the previous weekend. He received 100 stitches to his lower lip during his stay.[21]
Graves and his wife Joan had three daughters: Amanda, Kelly, and Claudia.
Controversially, Graves helped organize a Los Angeles city ban on gas-powered leaf blowers.[22]
On March 14, 2010, after returning from brunch with his family, Graves collapsed of aheart attack outside hisLos Angeles home. His daughter attemptedcardiopulmonary resuscitation unsuccessfully, and he was pronounced dead.[23]
Graves was awarded aGolden Globe Award in 1971 for his role as Jim Phelps in the seriesMission: Impossible.[24] In 1972, he received the Golden Plate Award of theAmerican Academy of Achievement.[25] He also received nominations for anEmmy Award[26] and Golden Globe awards[27] in other seasons of that show. Graves also won aPrimetime Emmy Award for outstanding informational series in 1997 as host ofBiography.[24]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | Rogue River | Pete Dandridge | |
| 1951 | Up Front | Military Policeman | Uncredited |
| 1951 | Angels in the Outfield | Radio Announcer | Uncredited |
| 1951 | Fort Defiance | Ned Tallon | |
| 1952 | The Congregation | Produced by the Protestant Film Commission. | |
| 1952 | Red Planet Mars | Chris Cronyn | |
| 1953 | Stalag 17 | Sgt. Frank Price | |
| 1953 | War Paint | Trooper Tolson | |
| 1953 | East of Sumatra | Cowboy | |
| 1953 | Beneath the 12-Mile Reef | Arnold Dix | |
| 1954 | Killers from Space | Doug Paul Martin | |
| 1954 | The Yellow Tomahawk | Walt Sawyer | |
| 1954 | The Raid | Capt. Frank Dwyer | |
| 1954 | A Man of Many Ideas | John Wanamaker | TV movie |
| 1954 | Black Tuesday | Peter Manning | |
| 1955 | The Long Gray Line | Cpl. Rudolph Heinz | |
| 1955 | The Man Who Tore Down the Wall | James Ewing | TV movie |
| 1955 | Robbers' Roost | Heesman | |
| 1955 | Wichita | Morgan Earp | |
| 1955 | The Night of the Hunter | Ben Harper | |
| 1955 | The Naked Street | Joe McFarland | |
| 1955 | Fort Yuma | Lt. Ben Keegan | |
| 1955 | The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell | Capt. Bob Elliott | |
| 1956 | It Conquered the World | Paul Nelson | |
| 1956 | Hold Back the Night | Lt. Lee Couzens | |
| 1956 | Canyon River | Bob Andrews | |
| 1957 | Bayou | Martin Davis | |
| 1957 | Beginning of the End | Ed Wainwright | |
| 1957 | Death in Small Doses | Agent / Tom Kaylor | |
| 1958 | Wolf Larsen | Van Weyden | |
| 1959 | A Stranger in My Arms | Donald Ashton Beasley | |
| 1961 | Las Vegas Beat | Bill Ballin | TV movie |
| 1964 | Mr. Kingston | TV movie | |
| 1965 | A Rage to Live | Jack Hollister | |
| 1965 | Attack of the Eye Creatures | Narrator of USAF Briefing Film | TV movie, Uncredited |
| 1966 | Texas Across the River | Capt. Stimpson | |
| 1967 | Valley of Mystery | Ben Barstow | TV movie |
| 1967 | The Ballad of Josie | Jason Meredith | |
| 1968 | Sergeant Ryker | Maj. Whitaker | Uses archive footage. The film was first shown as a two-part episode ofNBC'sKraft Suspense Theatre, which spawned the seriesCourt Martial. It was then recut and shown in cinemas |
| 1968 | Call to Danger | Jim Kingsley | TV movie |
| 1969 | The Five Man Army | Dutchman | |
| 1969 | Mission: Impossible vs. the Mob | Jim Phelps | Compilation of both parts of the two-partMission: Impossible episode "The Council" re-edited and released to European theaters |
| 1973 | Call to Danger | Doug Warfield | TV movie |
| 1973 | The President's Plane Is Missing | Mark Jones | TV movie |
| 1974 | Scream of the Wolf | John Wetherby | TV movie |
| 1974 | The Underground Man | Lew Archer | TV movie |
| 1974 | Where Have All The People Gone? | Steven Anders | TV movie |
| 1975 | Sidecar Racers | Carson | |
| 1975 | Dead Man on the Run | Jim Gideon | TV movie |
| 1976 | The Mysterious Monsters | Himself | Documentary narrator |
| 1977 | SST: Death Flight | Paul Whitley | TV movie |
| 1977 | High Seas Hijack | Elliott Rhoades | English Version |
| 1978 | The Gift of the Magi | O. Henry | TV movie |
| 1979 | Missile X – Geheimauftrag Neutronenbombe | Alec Franklin | Also known asThe Tehran Incident andCruise Missile |
| 1979 | Spree | Kandaris | Also known asSurvival Run |
| 1979 | The Rebels | George Washington | |
| 1979 | Parts: The Clonus Horror | Jeff Knight | |
| 1979 | Death Car on the Freeway | Lieutenant Haller | TV movie |
| 1980 | The Memory of Eva Ryker | Mike Rogers | |
| 1980 | Airplane! | Captain Clarence Oveur | |
| 1981 | 300 Miles for Stephanie | Captain McIntyre | TV movie |
| 1981 | Best of Friends | Nick Adams | TV movie |
| 1981 | The Guns and the Fury | Mark Janser | |
| 1982 | Savannah Smiles | Harland Dobbs | |
| 1982 | Airplane II: The Sequel | Captain Clarence Oveur | |
| 1984 | Aces Go Places 3 | Tom Collins | Cameo role in a Hong Kong movie |
| 1987 | Number One with a Bullet | Capt. Ferris | |
| 1987 | If It's Tuesday, It Still Must Be Belgium | Mr. Wainwright | TV movie |
| 1993 | Addams Family Values | Host | |
| 1999 | House on Haunted Hill | Himself | |
| 2001 | These Old Broads | Bill | TV movie |
| 2002 | Men in Black II | Himself | |
| 2003 | Looney Tunes: Back in Action | Host of Civil Defense Film | Uncredited |
| 2003 | With You in Spirit | Hal Whitman | TV movie |
| 2010 | Jack's Family Adventure | Uncle George Vickery | TV movie |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1955–1960 | Fury | Newton / Cyrus | |
| 1959–1960 | Whiplash | Christopher Cobb | |
| 1963 | The Alfred Hitchcock Hour | Mark Needham | Season 1 Episode 21: "I'll Be Judge - I'll Be Jury" |
| 1964 | The Virginian | Eastern Financier | |
| 1965-1966 | Court Martial | Major Frank Whittaker | |
| 1966 | Branded | Senator Keith Ashley | |
| 1966 | Daniel Boone | Logan Harris | Episode "Run A Crooked Mile" |
| 1967 | The F.B.I. | Manning Fryes | Episode "Rope of Gold" |
| 1967 | The Invaders | Gavin Lewis | 1 episode |
| 1967–1973 | Mission: Impossible | Jim Phelps | Main role (Seasons 2-7) |
| 1978 | The Love Boat | Reverend Gerald Whitney | "Man of the Cloth" S2 E9 |
| 1979 | Buck Rogers in the 25th Century | Major Noah Cooper | Episode "Return of the Fighting 69th" |
| 1983 | The Winds of War | Palmer 'Fred' Kirby | Miniseries |
| 1984 | Hammer House of Mystery and Suspense | John Bray | Episode "Tennis Court" |
| 1984 | Murder, She Wrote | Edmund Gerard | Episode "Lovers and Other Killers" |
| 1988-1990 | Mission: Impossible | Jim Phelps | Revival of the original series |
| 1988 | War and Remembrance | Palmer Kirby | |
| 1991 | The Golden Girls | Jerry Kennedy | |
| 1995 | Burke's Law | General Alexander Prescott | Episode "Who Killed the Toy Maker?" |
| 1996–2007 | 7th Heaven | John 'The Colonel' Camden | |
| 2005 | House | Myron | "Love Hurts" S1 E20 |
| 2006 | Cold Case | Anton Bikker | "The Hen House" S3 E21 |
| 2007 | American Dad! | Mr. Pibb | |
| 2007 | WordGirl | Mr. Callahan | Voice; Episode: "Chuck the Nice Pencil-Selling Guy" |
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust | Clark Tasslemuff | |
| 2010 | Darkstar: The Interactive Movie | Narrator | Posthumous release |
