Peter Graves died he was 83

Peter Aurness ,^[1][2][3][4] known professionally as Peter Graves, has died he was 83. Graves was an American film and television actor. ^[5] He was known for his starring role in the CBS television series Mission: Impossible from 1967-1973. He has an older brother, actor James Arness (born 1923) of the long-running Gunsmoke western series, which aired on CBS from 1955-1975.

(March 18, 1926 – March 14, 2010)

Graves was born Peter Aurness in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the son of Ruth (née Duesler, died September 1986), a journalist, and Rolf Cirkler Aurness (July 1894 - July 1982), a businessman descendants of Norwegian and German immigrants. The original paternal family name was "Aursnes," but when paternal grandfather Peter Aursnes immigrated from Norway to New York City in 1887, he changed the name to "Aurness."
He attended Southwest High School (Class of 1944) and spent two years in the United States Army Air Force before he enrolled at the University of Minnesota, where he was a member of Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.
Graves appeared in more than seventy films, TV series and TV movies.^[6] He is especially well known for the following roles:

• The rancher (Broken Wheel Ranch) and adoptive single father, Jim Newton, to a son played by child actor Bobby Diamond on the 1950s NBC television series Fury. The other costars were William Fawcett, who played the housekeeper and general ranch hand Pete Wilkey, and Roger Mobley, who appeared as Joey's friend Homer "Packy" Lambert.
• Price, a World War II German spy pretending to be a prisoner of war in the film Stalag 17
• A father on the run from the law in Night of the Hunter
• Jim Phelps, the leader of the elite Impossible Missions Force in the iconic CBS TV series Mission: Impossible
• Major Noah Cooper, commander of the Fighting 69th squadron in the NBC TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century
• Captain Clarence Oveur in the comedies Airplane! and Airplane II: The Sequel^[7]
• Colonel John Camden on the WB Network TV series 7th Heaven, with Barbara Rush as his wife, Ruth

From 1960–1961, 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 as Dan. Graves also starred in Court Martial as well as guest roles in such series as Alfred Hitchcock Presents and Route 66.
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.


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.^[8][9] The 1960s version of the pilot, according to Patrick White in The Complete Mission: Impossible Dossier, is credited with winning Graves the role of Phelps; after Mission: Impossible ended in 1973, Graves filmed a second version of the pilot, but it did not sell as a series. The concept was later used in the 1980s adventure series Masquerade.

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, and Parts: The Clonus Horror. The movie 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.
In the 1996 film update of Mission: Impossible, the character of Phelps was reimagined as a traitor who murdered three fellow IMF agents, a decision that disappointed Graves. Jon Voight was cast as Phelps.^[10]
On October 30, 2009 Graves was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[11]
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.^[12] The videos were part of an AirTran Airways campaign to promote their in-flight wireless Internet access.^[12]
In the summer of 2009, Graves signed on as a spokesperson for reverse mortgage lender; American Advisors Group (AAG).^[13] Graves appeared in a national commercial in which he educated seniors about the benefits of reverse mortgages.^[14]
Graves was married to Joan Endress from 1950^[2] until his death. Their marriage produced three daughters: Kelly Jean, Claudia King and Amanda Lee.^[15] Graves had six grandchildren.
Graves died of a heart attack on March 14, 2010,^[16] four days prior to his 84th birthday. The actor 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.

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