Veteran actor Peter Graves has passed away yesterday 14th March after suffering a heart attack outside of his home. He was 83 years old. Graves made his screen debut in Winning Your Wings (a 1942 recruitment short for the US military alongside Jimmy Stewart) and went on to appear in over 100 feature films and television shows including Stalag 17 (1953), The Night of the Hunter (1955), The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell (1955) and The Ballad of Josie (1967).
Graves is perhaps best known to audiences as Jim Phelps, leader of the Impossible Missions Force from the classic spy series Mission: Impossible (1967-1973), for which he received a Golden Globe Award in 1971. He also gained recognition as deadpan pilot Captain Clarence Oveur in the 1980 spoof Airplane! (along with 1982’s Airplane II: The Sequel), and received a Primetime Emmy Award in 1997 for his work on the documentary series Biography.
In later years Graves had featured in cameo roles in a number of films including Addams Family Values (1993), The House on Haunted Hill (1999), Men in Black II (2002) and Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003), while his recent TV work included House M.D., Cold Case and American Dad!.
Originally published March 15, 2010. Updated April 10, 2018.
