Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

Actor Peter Graves died of a heart attack, he was 83, he was also the brother of actor James Arness, Peter was best known for the show Mission Impossible, and from the movie Airplane, Over, Over, Rodger, Rodger, Done, Dunn, Whats our Vector Victor, get us Clearence, Clearence....RIP Peter...

R.I.P. Peter.

winston wrote:R.I.P. Peter.

+1000

Just read this - How sad! But at least he lived to a ripe old age.

News to me too. R.I.P. Peter.
JimK

another actor brought out of straight tv and movie roles to perform unlikely comedy roles and do it well ! just like leslie neilson and lloyd bridges, and dare i say it ...charlie sheen ? you'll also remember graves as a nazi posing as an american flier in stalag 13. will miss him , but will see him frequently in his relm on tv.

jps wrote:

winston wrote:R.I.P. Peter.

+1000

+2000

I first saw Mission Impossible in 1968, living in a US Army housing area on a hill above Zweibrucken, Germany...a block of apartment buildings that (I would learn much later) had housed families of SS men in WWII. We had a cranky old B&W tv that got one German station...we used to watch stuff like 'The Avengers' dubbed into German: talk about incomprehensible. A friend of mine living a few blocks away had a color tv, and somehow was able to get AFRTS, the American military broadcasts, which included 'M.I.' I would go over to his place after school and be enthralled by the latest adventure in 'spreading freedom through the use of latex masks and knockout gas'. I don't know what blew my mind more, the plot intrigues or the bongo-fueled Lalo Schifrin Theme/Soundtrack. Each week, another acne-scarred demonic tyrant would have his power-mad world turned inside out, and Democracy emerged the winner as long as Barney could fit his shoulders through the ductwork. It was simple, straight-forward Good Guys vs. Bad Guys. It would be some years before I learned the whole truth about the CIA and its global doings, and the fact that those acne-scarred villains were actually put in place by our 'heroes' to begin with. Now, whenever I see an old episode of that show, I have to take it with the same 50 lb. bag of salt that a viewing of 'Gomer Pyle, USMC' requires.

That said, Peter Graves was a fantastic on-camera presence, and when he turned to comedy much later, my admiration for him as an actor capable of demonstrating he could refrain from taking himself too seriously went through the roof. Thanks, Peter...you and your brother James did some fine work while you were here.

And, while I'm throwing around my characteristically unpopular opinions...there is absolutely nothing even remotely sad about a guy who had a great life and made it to 83 before having his dossier come to the top of the pile...

"I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you."

I find myself humming that background music in M.I.....Y'know, when Greg Morris' character is in some elevator shaft or something. RIP Peter and thanks.

BAD RONBO, KiLLeR DWaRfS wrote:another actor brought out of straight tv and movie roles to perform unlikely comedy roles and do it well ! just like leslie neilson and lloyd bridges, and dare i say it ...charlie sheen ? you'll also remember graves as a nazi posing as an american flier in stalag 13. will miss him , but will see him frequently in his relm on tv.

+1 to that !

The movie Graves played a nazi spy in was actually Stalag 17. Stalag 13 was the camp in the TV show Hogan's Heroes.

paologregorio wrote:
The movie Graves played a nazi spy in was actually Stalag 17. Stalag 13 was the camp in the TV show Hogan's Heroes.

Good point of order there, Paulie.

I like the original Mission Impossible TV series with Peter Graves much better than the Tom Cruise feature films... at least the original series had plausible, believable "missions" ... not the totally unbelievable fantasy stuff about helicopters going into train tunnels, etc.

I think Graves portrayed the CIA in a good light .... maybe it's just that it was different time politically, during the Cold War, and spies didn't have to be "politically correct" before they blew up a bad guy or waterboarded them... er, ahem, utilized enhanced interrogation techniques. The good old days
Graves and his Mr. Phelps character were pretty cool !

A few minor differences between Hollywood and reality: Mr. Phelps and his crew were never depicted administering physical torture to anyone, much less some completely innocent farmer whose neighbor ratted him out for the reward money and then stole his property while he was being 'extremely renditioned'. They likewise were never shown getting the wrong address and blowing up some third-party nation's embassy. None of them was ever 'outed' by a sitting Vice President. Their mysterious 'bosses' were never linked to a peculiar religion centered in a sparsely populated Western state. They never deposited a ragtag force onto a Carribean beach and left them to be annihilated. They were not allowed to 'moonlight' as corporate spies for Investment Banks or chocolate manufacturers. I could go on, but one gets the idea...just like Gomer never had to drag his bag down to the airstrip to get on the C130...

No, if it's reality one savors, I'm afraid 'Get Smart' is about the closest Hollywood ever came...

I agree completely, Rich about the old MI series!

R.I.P., Mr. Graves.

http://www.nndb.com/people/166/000023097/
RIP