Peter Graves

Peter Graves
Graves in October 2009
Born	Peter Aurness March 18, 1926(1926-03-18) Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Died	March 14, 2010(2010-03-14) (aged 83) Los Angeles, California, United States
Occupation	Actor
Years active	1942–2010
Spouse	Joan Endress (1950–2010) (his death)

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. His brother is actor James Arness (born 1923).

Early life

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 father, Peter Aursnes, immigrated to New York City in 1887, he changed the spelling.^[6]

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^[7] on the G.I. Bill, and was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.

Career

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. Graves was also involved in the 1953 World War II film Stalag 17, acting as a German spy pretending to be a prisoner of war.

From 1960 to 1961, Graves starred as leading character Christopher Cobb in 34 episodes of the TV series Whiplash. 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. The series also starred Anthony Wickert. Graves also starred in Court Martial as well as guest roles in such series as Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Route 66 and The Invaders.

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. 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.

After playing mainly serious roles, in the 1980s, he acted as Captain Clarence Oveur in the comedies Airplane! and Airplane II: The Sequel.^[8]

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). 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.^[9][10] 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. 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 Attack of the Eye Creatures. The film Killers from Space was featured in The Film Crew, Michael J. Nelson's follow-up to MST3K. 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 the 1996 film update of Mission: Impossible, the character of Phelps was reimagined as a traitor who murders three fellow IMF agents, a decision that disappointed Graves. Jon Voight was cast as Phelps.^[8]

On October 30, 2009 Graves was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[8]

In 2009, AirTran Airways featured Graves in a series of web-only "Internetiquette" videos in which Graves appeared in a pilot's uniform and references classic Airplane! lines.^[11] The videos were part of an AirTran Airways campaign to promote their in-flight wireless Internet access.^[11]

In the summer of 2009, Graves signed on as a spokesperson for reverse mortgage lender American Advisors Group (AAG).^[12] Graves appeared in a national commercial in which he educated seniors about the benefits of reverse mortgages.^[13]

Graves' final project was narrating the computer game epic Darkstar: The Interactive Movie,^[14] released November 5, 2010.

Personal life

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

Graves was a devout Christian.^[15] He was married to Joan Endress from 1950^[2] until his death. Their marriage produced three daughters: Kelly Jean, Claudia King and Amanda Lee,^[16] all of whom survive him. Graves had six grandchildren.^[17]

Death

Graves died of a heart attack on March 14, 2010, four days prior to his 84th birthday. He had just returned from brunch with his wife and children, collapsing before he could enter the house. Although one of his daughters administered CPR, she could not revive him.^[3]

Awards

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^[18] and Golden Globe awards^[19] 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

References

External links

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