Mission: Impossible star Peter Graves dies at 83
Hollywood actor Peter Graves, star of Mission: Impossible and Airplane! has died. He was 83.
Graves died of an apparent heart attack at his Los Angeles home, publicist Sandy Brokaw confirmed.
Graves, who would have been 84 this week, was returning from brunch with his wife and children and collapsed outside the house, Mr Brokaw said.
One of his daughters tried to revive him but was unable to. Graves's family doctor believed the star had a heart attack.
The actor was best known for his portrayal of Jim Phelps, leader of a force of special agents in the long-running TV series Mission: Impossible. The star was also bumbling pilot Captain Clarence Oveur in the Airplane! comedy films and later in his career was the Emmy-winning host of TV show Biography.
Normally cast as a hero, he made a notable performance as a Nazi spy in Billy Wilder's 1953 prisoner-of-war drama Stalag 17.
Graves was the younger brother of fellow actor James Arness, who starred in the TV Western series Gunsmoke.
He married his college sweetheart, Joan Endress, in 1950.
