Leading Men Peter Graves
Per Quinlan's Film Stars:
Tall, well built American actor, brother of James Arness. His fair hair, blue eyes and faintly Oriental looks seemed to qualify him for a profitable run of handsome villains, especially after his treacherous Price in Stalag 17. But from 1955 he became involved as increasingly men of action in such successive TV series as Mission Impossible. His film leads since then have been largely in "Z" movies but now, white haired, he guyed his own image in the Airplane movies.
Peter Graves was born Peter Duesler Aurness in 1926 at Minneapolis, MN of a businessman father and a journalist mother. His ancestry was of Norwegian, German and English.
His brother was James Arness, the Matt Dillon of the successful 20 year TV series Gunsmoke.
Graves excelled at sports and music. And for a period of time he was a radio announcer.
After two years of service with the U. S. Air Force he began to study drama at the University of Minnesota. For a while after college he played with a band .
In 1951 he made his film debut in the film Rogue River. His television debut came in 1953 in an episode of Gruen Guild Theater.
Some of the film roles of Peter Graves were:
Rogue River (1951) as Pete Dandridge
Angels In The Outfield (1951) as Radio Announcer
Fort Defiance (1951) as Ned Tallan
Red Planet Mars (1952) as Chris Cronyn
Stalag 17 (1953) as Sgt. Frank Price
War Paint (1953) as Trooper Tolson
East Of Sumatra (1953) as Cowboy
Beneath The 12 Mile Reef (1953) as Arnold Dix
Killers From Space (1954) as Dr. Doug Paul Martin
The Yellow Tomahawk (1954) as Walt Sawyer
The Raid (1954) as Capt. Frank Dwyer
A Man Of Many Ideas ((1954-TV) as Sam Wanamaker
Black Tuesday (1954) as Peter Manning
The Long Gray Line (1955) as Cpl. Rudolph Heinz
The Man Who Tore Down The Wall (1955-TV) as Dr. James Ewing
Robbers Roost (1955) as Heesman
Wichita (1955) as Morgan
The Night Of The Hunter (1955) as Ben Harper
The Naked Street (1955) as Joe McFarland
Fort Yuma (1955) as Lt. Ben Keegan
The Court Martial Of Billy Mitchell (1955) as Capt. Bob Elliott
It Conquered The World (1956) as Dr. Paul Nelson
Hold Back The Night (1956) as Lt. Lee Couzens
Canyon River (1956) as Bob Andrews
Bayou (1957) as Martin Davis
Beginning Of The End (1957) as Dr. Ed Wainwright
Wolf Larsen (1958) as Van Weyden
A Stranger In My Arms (1959) as Donald Ashton Beasley
Las Vegas Beat (1961) as Bill Ballin
A Rage To Live (1965) as Jack Hollister
Texas Across The River (1965) as Capt Stimpson
Call To Danger (1968-TV) as Jim Kingsley
The Five Man Army (1969) as Dutchman
The President's Plane Is Missing (1973-TV) as Mark Jones
Scream Of The Wolf (1974-TV) as John Wetherby
The Underground Man (1974-TV) as Lew Archer
Where Have All The People Gone ( 1974-TV) as Steven Anders
Sidecar Racers (1975) as Carlson
Dead Man On The Run ((1975-TV) as Jim Gideon
SST: Death Flight (1977-TV) as Paul Whitley
Missile X: The Neutron Bomb Experiment (1977) as Alec Franklin
The Gift Of The Maji (1978-TV) as O. Henry
Spree (1979) as Khandaris
The Rebels (1979-TV) as George Washington
The Clonus Horror (1979) as Jeff Knight
Death Car On The Freeway (1979-TV) as Lt. Haller
The Memory Of Eva Ryker (1980-TV) as Mike Rogers
Airplane! (1980) as Capt. Oveur
300 Miles For Stephanie (1981-TV) as Capt McIntyre
Best Of Friends (1981-TV) as Nick Adams
The Guns And The Fury (1981) as Mark Janser
Savannah Smiles (1982) as Harland Dobbs
Airplane II: The Sequel (1982) as Capt. Oveur
The Winds Of War (1983 -TV Miniseries) as Palmer Kirby
Number One With A Bullet (1987) as Capt. Ferris
If It's Tuesday, It Still Must Be Belgium (1982-TV) as Mr. Wainwright
War & Remembrance (1988-TV Miniseries) as Palmer Kirby
Addams Family Values (1993) as Host
These Old Broads (2001-TV) as Bill
With You In Spirit (2003-TV) as Hal Whitman
Jack's Family Adventure (2010-TV) as Uncle George Vickery
Peter Graves was involved in several TV series;
Fury as Jim Newton (1955-1960)
Court Martial as Major Frank Whittaker (1965-1966)
Mission Impossible as James Phelps (1967 to 1973)
Mr. Graves also was the opening host and narrator for the A & E Biography series.
He also appeared as opening narrator for the newly restored version of the great World War Two epic series Victory At Sea.
Other televisions series that Graves appeared on were Gruen Guild Thaeter, Chevron Theater, Schlitz Playhouse Of Stars, The Pepsi Cola Playhouse, Biff Baker USA, Studio 57, TV's Readers Digest, Fireside Theater, Studio One In Hollywood, Matinee Theater, Lux Video Theater, Climax, Whiplash, Route 66, The Alfred Hitchcock Hour, Kraft Suspense Theater, The Virginian, Laredo, Branded, Run For Your Life, Daniel Boone, Walt Disney;s Wonderful World Of Color, 12 O'Clock High, The FBI, The Invaders, The Red Skelton Hour, Buck Rogers In The 25th Century, Simon & Simon, Fantasy Island, Fox Mystery Theater, Life With Lucy, The Love Boat, The Golden Girls, Burke's Law, Diagnosis Murder, House, Cold Case, American Dad and 7th Heaven among others.
Peter Graves was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame.
He was married to Joan Endress from 1950 until his death. The couple had three children.
Peter Graves passed away in March, 2010 from natural causes.
I enjoyed him in the films Beginning Of The End, It Conquered The World Stalag 17, Fort Defiance, Red Planet Mars, Hold Back The Night, Texas Across The River, Airplane I and II, The Long Gray Line and Fort Yuma.
I also enjoyed him in the TV series Fury and Mission Impossible.
Louie The Movie Buff