Peter Graves

The Spy Who Didn't Want to Be James Arness

Peter Graves wasn't really named Peter Graves. His real last name was Aurness. He changed it early in his career to keep audiences from thinking he was trying to ride the fame of his older brother, James Arness. James was already a star in the Western Gunsmoke, and Peter wanted a profile of his own in a Hollywood that never forgave family comparisons.

It worked better than expected.

In 1953, he worked under the direction of Billy Wilder in Stalag 17. He played a German spy infiltrating American prisoners with a restraint that caught the attention of casting directors. His square jaw and baritone voice were a perfect fit for authority roles. But 1950s Hollywood was a tough place for actors who didn't fit the traditional leading-man mold.

He spent several years jumping from series to series until he found a steady role in Fury. That production about a horse and an orphaned boy gave him financial security, but it risked typecasting him in children's projects. Then came the opportunity that would define his public image for decades.

The Self-Destructing Tape

In 1967, he got an urgent call to replace Steven Hill in a spy series that was starting to gain traction. The character was Jim Phelps. Over six seasons, he led the Mission: Impossible team with a technical coolness that fascinated audiences. He didn't need to shout to command. All he had to do was play a tape on a reel-to-reel recorder and stare straight into the camera with his clear eyes.

Phelps was the brains. The man who never broke a sweat while plotting impossible schemes to topple foreign dictators or take down international crime syndicates. Graves understood that the show's charisma lay not in physical action but in the precision of a Swiss watchmaker.

He accepted the role on the condition that he'd have time for his family. He was married to Joan Endress and refused to let endless shoots wreck his marriage. In the end, he stayed married to her for 60 years.

His agents begged him to take the role.

In the late seventies, his career seemed stuck in low-budget TV movies and low-profile documentaries. Then Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers showed up with the script for Airplane! in hand. At first, Graves thought the script was offensive garbage. He was horrified at the idea of playing a pilot with pedophilic tendencies who asks children whether they like gladiator movies.

The Risk of Absurd Humor

But the parody was a worldwide hit in 1980. That decision gave him a completely unexpected second career. Audiences discovered that television's most serious man could be its funniest, as long as he kept a straight face while saying the most outrageous things imaginable.

In 1988, he returned to his role as Jim Phelps in a new version of Mission: Impossible. Production moved to Australia to cut costs, and Graves filmed 35 additional episodes. They tried to revitalize the format, but audiences had already turned their attention elsewhere.

There was no third chance.

In 2010, he died of a heart attack in the driveway of his home in Los Angeles. He had just returned from a family lunch celebrating his upcoming birthday. He was 83 years old. His last credited role was voicing a character in the video game Leisure Suit Larry: Box Office Bust one year before his death.