Posted by : Ray Plumlee in (Whatever Became Of)
Posted on March 22nd, 2010
Whatever Became Of Classic Space Travel Actor Peter Graves?
Tagged Under : 1950s, Biography, classic, Outer Space, science fiction, Space Travel, Space Travel History, Whatever Became Of
Classic Space Travel Actor Peter Graves
Space Travel Hero Role: 1950′s Actor for Science Fiction and Classic Space Travel Movies.
What They Are Doing Today:
Peter Graves passed away this past week on 14 March 2010 at the age of 83 in Pacific Palisades, California. Peter Graves died of an apparent heart attack. A legendary actor of 1950′s SciFi and classic Space Travel Movies is with us no more.
Space Travel Bio:
Peter (Aurness) Graves born 1926 in Minneapolis, Minnesota was the younger brother of James (Aurness) Arness himself a Classic Space Travel actor as the alien from 1951′s The Thing from Another World, and long time actor of Televisions Marshall Matt Dillon of Gunsmoke. Peter (Aurness) Graves took his grandfather’s name (Graves) to cut down on the confusion between him and his older brother.
An Air Force veteran (1944-45) and champion high school athlete who stood an imposing 6 feet 2 inches 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 on the G.I. Bill where he studied drama.
Graves first gained attention of many baby boomers with his 1950s television series and children’s Saturday morning show, “Fury,” about an orphan and his untamed black stallion. Filmed in Australia, it lasted six years on NBC.
He spoke with bible-quoting Martians in the 1952 Cold War thriller Red Planet Mars, and battled bug-eyed aliens in Killers from Space in 1954. He fended off a creepy Venusian invader in the Roger Corman cult classic It Conquered the World in 1956, and saved the country from gigantic grasshoppers in 1957’s Beginning of the End.
He is best remembered for the role of Jim Phelps, leader of a gang of special agents who battled evil conspirators in TV’s “Mission: Impossible” in more than 140 episodes. He won a Golden Globe in the role in 1971.
The show famously opened with the words: “Your mission, Jim, should you decide to accept it, is …” Following the briefing, Phelps was told: “As usual, should you or any member of your IM Force be captured or killed, the secretary will disavow any knowledge of your existence. This tape will self-destruct in five seconds. Good luck, Jim.” After the puff of smoke cleared, Phelps always accepted the mission, usually involving some un-American foreign power.
In 1980 he was the bumbling airline pilot Clarence Oveur in the 1980 disaster movie spoof “Airplane!” As the captain of a plane heading for disaster in the spoof movie Airplane! (1980), Graves got laughs by playing it as straight as his other roles.
Graves had a feature-film career never attaining A-list leading-man status. Some of his better known roles included Charles Laughton’s Night of the Hunter (1955) and two Otto Preminger films, Stalag 17 (1953) and The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955).
Science fiction fans will remember him appearing in the NBC TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century as Major Noah Cooper, commander of Earth’s 69th squadron, as well a bit part in Men in Black II and many appearances in Mystery Science Theater 3000.
In his later years, Graves brought his white-haired eminence to as host of A&E’s Biography from 1987 to 2006 and was the subject of a Biography episode himself in 1997.
From 1997 to 2007, Some readers might remember him for his more recent recurring role as Stephen Collins’ military dad in the TV series 7th Heaven.
As recently as 2009 he showed up in a series of videos, made on behalf of AirTran Airways, in which he wore his captain’s uniform that referred to the many “Airplane!” lines that have become cult classics.
Peter Graves is survived by his high school sweetheart and wife of sixty years, Joan Graves and three daughters Kelly Jean, Claudia King and Amanda Lee and six grandchildren.
He was also seen in films Our Man from Bond Street (1984), and had cameo roles in Addams Family Values (1993), House on Haunted Hill (1999), Men in Black II (2002), and Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003).
1956 Classic Space Travel Movie It Conquered the World
Major SciFi Acting Roles:
Red Planet Mars (1952)
Killers from Space (1954)
It Conquered the World (1956)
Beginning of the End (1957)
Where Have All The People Gone? (1974)
Missile X: The Neutron Bomb Incident (1978)
The Clonus Horror (1979)
Date of Birth: 18 March 1926 Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States
Date of Death: 14 March 2010 Age 83, Pacific Palisades, California, United States
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