Mike Connors (actor, 1925)

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Mike Connors with Gail Fisher (1970)

Mike Connors , actually Kreker J. Ohanian , (born August 15, 1925 in Fresno , California - † January 26, 2017 in Tarzana , California) was an American actor of Armenian descent.

Life

Mike Connors was born in California as the son of Armenian immigrants. After initially serving in World War II, he studied at the University of California at Los Angeles. There he was discovered playing a basketball game by Hollywood director William A. Wellman , who gave him access to the film business. He made his film debut in 1952 on the side of Joan Crawford in Masked Hearts . He then played mostly supporting roles in film and television productions, including a short appearance in 1956 in the monumental film The Ten Commandments by Cecil B. DeMille . He was able to establish himself as a popular guest actor in television series and as a leading actor in B-movies in the film business. In some of his early screen appearances, he was featured in the credits as Touch Connors , hence the fact that Touch was his nickname during high school.

Mike Connors finally became known to a wide audience for the title role as a daring private detective in the crime series Mannix, which was produced from 1967 to 1975 . The series became a huge success and in 1970 he was awarded the Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Series - Drama . This was followed mainly by television films and guest appearances in series. In 1997 he played the role of "Joe Mannix" again in an episode of the series Diagnosis: Murder . He ended his acting career in 2007 with a guest appearance on the sitcom Two and a Half Men as an admirer of Evelyn Harper ( Holland Taylor ).

He was married to Mary Lou Willey since 1949, with whom he had a son, Matthew Gunnar Connors (1958-2007), and a daughter, Dana Lee Connors (* 1960). Connors died in January 2017 at the age of 91 after being diagnosed with leukemia a week before he died .

Filmography (selection)

  • 1952: Masked Hearts (Sudden Fear)
  • 1954: Day of Triumph
  • 1955: Four Women in the Swamp (Swamp Women)
  • 1955: The last Seven (The Day the World Ended)
  • 1955: Five revolvers go west (Five Guns West)
  • 1956: Laya - The Girl in the Jungle (Jaguar)
  • 1956: The Ten Commandments (The Ten Commandments)
  • 1956: One Shot Faster (The Oklahoma Woman)
  • 1957: Blood and Spores (Flesh and the Spur)
  • 1958: Pacific Death Trap (Suicide Battalion)
  • 1964: Lend Me Your Husband (Good Neighbor Sam)
  • 1964: Where the love leads (Where Love has Gone)
  • 1964: Perry Mason (TV series, episode 8x07 The Case with the Imperious Duchess )
  • 1965: Situation hopeless - but not serious (Situation Hopeless… But Not Serious)
  • 1965: The World of Jean Harlow (Harlow)
  • 1966: San Fernando (stagecoach)
  • 1966: Our man in Rio (Se tutte le donne del mondo)
  • 1967–1975: Mannix (TV series, 194 episodes in 8 seasons)
  • 1976: The Killer Who Wouldn't Die (Movie made for TV)
  • 1978: The Long Journey Back (TV movie)
  • 1979: Avalanche Express (Avalanche Express)
  • 1979: Reckoning at Midnight (High Midnight) (TV movie)
  • 1980: Nightkill (Nightkill)
  • 1982: Too Scared to Scream
  • 1982: Love Boat (TV series, two episodes)
  • 1989: Fistfighter (Fistfighter)
  • 1993: Hart to Hart - The Return (Hart to Hart Returns) (TV movie)
  • 1997: James Dean : Race with Destiny (Movie made for TV)
  • 1997: Diagnosis: Murder (TV series, episode)
  • 1998: Walker, Texas Ranger (TV series, episode)
  • 1999: Gideon
  • 2003: Nobody Knows Anything!
  • 2007: Two and a Half Men (TV series, one episode)

Web links

Commons : Mike Connors  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. a b Pat Saperstein: Mike Connors, 'Mannix' Star, Dies at 91. In: Variety . January 26, 2017, accessed January 27, 2017 .
  2. Mike Connors. In: Notable Names Database . Retrieved October 3, 2013.
  3. Anita Hamilton: Celebrating Seniors - Mike Connors Turns 90. ( Memento of the original from April 12, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: Senior City. August 15, 2015, updated January 27, 2017, accessed January 27, 2017. Mike Barnes: Mike Connors, Principled Private Detective on 'Mannix,' Dies at 91. In: The Hollywood Reporter . January 26, 2017, accessed January 27, 2017. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / seniorcitylocal.com