Airplane! actor Peter Graves dies (From The Westmorland Gazette)

Airplane! actor Peter Graves dies

2:18am Monday 15th March 2010 in

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Peter Graves, star of the television series Mission Impossible and the Airplane! films, has died.

Graves' publicist, Sandy Brokaw, said the actor died shortly after returning to his Los Angeles home from brunch with his family. He was 83.

The actor was best known for his portrayal of Jim Phelps, leader of a gang of special agents who battled evil conspirators in the long-running television series Mission: Impossible.

Normally cast as a hero, he turned in an unforgettable performance early in his career as the treacherous Nazi spy in Billy Wilder's 1953 prisoner-of-war drama Stalag 17.

He also masterfully lampooned his straight image when he portrayed bumbling airline pilot Clarence Oveur in the 1980 disaster movie spoof Airplane!