Monday, March 15, 2010

Peter Graves, 1926-2010: Oveur and Out

On Sunday afternoon, actor Peter Graves died of an apparent heart attack at the age of 83.

Because of he had a long and varied career in the biz, one's age probably dictates what role you associate with Peter. To some, he is Jim Phelps, the 2nd leader of the IMF on the original version of Mission: Impossible (a role he played from 1967-1973).



Peter also assumed the role of Phelps for 1988-1990 revival.

To others he is Capt. Clarence Oveur, the pilot who had a tendency to ask a little boy named Joey some rather odd questions in the 1980 spoof Airplane.

Below is a montage of Peter's scenes from the movie Airplane:



If you're a bit younger and were an A&E junkie, you probably associate Peter with his 12-year stint of hosting the documentary series Biography. Whatever you remember Peter for, his solid presence will be missed.

Side note: To the news outlets that gave away too much about a movie that Peter co-starred in early in his career (the 1953 POW comedy-drama Stalag 17), I have two words for you: spoiler alert! Oh, here are two more words: you suck! Even if news reports ruined the movie for you, I highly recommend that you still give it a look.

2 comments:

Richard said...

I was so sad when I found out he'd died! I remember watching reruns of Mission: Impossible during the summer holidays from school in the 80s.

RIP. :(

Malcolm said...

Richard: Thanks for stopping by. If you have cable/satellite and have the American Life TV channel on your system, they are showing reruns of "Mission: Impossible".

I haven't seen Mission: Impossible in years. I recently received a copy of the season 6 DVD set. I am trying to catch up on "Lost" so who knows when I will get to "Mission: Impossible".

 
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