Peter Graves 1926 - 2010

15 March 2010

0Comments | Comment on this Article

Peter Graves, a star of television and movies, who enjoyed a career that spanned over sixty years has died at the age of eighty three.

The actor kicked off his acting career in `1942 when he appeared in a short movie Winning Your Wings, at the time he was at attending the Southwest High School.

After graduating he went on to spend two years in the U.S. Air Force before going on to study at the University of Minnesota.

He returned to an acting career in the early fifties and he got Up Front, Fort Defiance and The Congregation under his belt.

While he continued to work in movies throughout the fifties he also established himself as a television star with NBC's series Fury.

Graves took on the central role as Jim Newton, who operated the Broken Wheel Ranch in California, where he stayed for 116 episodes up until 1960.

In the sixties he had another successful TV role under his belt in the form of Christopher Cobb in Whiplash, where he filmed thirty four episodes.

While he was still appearing on the big screen during this time in Night of the Hunter, Beginning of the End and A Stranger in My Arms it really was TV where he was making his name.

And his most famous show was still to come...In 1967 the actor joined Mission Impossible as Jim Phelps, leader of the Impossible Missions Force, for the remaining six series.

The role brought the actor award success as he picked up a Golden Globe in 1971 for his performance as Phelps.

At the end of the eighties Mission Impossible was re-commissioned and Graves was the only actor to return to the show on a regular basis. He was also offered the role in the nineties big screen version of the series but turned it down.

Despite spending much of his time working in TV the actor found success on the big screen in 1980 when he took on the comedy movie Airplane!

He starred in the role of Captain Clarence Oveur alongside Robert Hays and Leslie Nielsen. The movie was a huge critical hit when it was released, and it went on to be the fourth biggest grossing movie of the year.

He would return with Airplance II: The Sequel but it proved not to be as successful.

The actor last appeared on the big screen back in 2002 in Men In Black II before going on to have an uncredited role in Looney Tunes: Back In Acting a year later.

The actor was awarded with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2009.

Graves collapsed outside his home on Sunday from a suspected heart attack and his daughter tried to revive him.

The actor is survived by his wife Joan Endress, whom he married in 1950, and their three children and six grand children.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw

0Comments | Be the first to comment!