Actor Peter Graves, aka Jim Phelps of Mission Impossible, died yesterday of natural causes at the age of 83.
Besides starring in the MI series for six years on television (Variety notes he turned down the role opposite Tom Cruise in the 1996 movie—I suspect because the movie version of Phelps makes him a turncoat), Graves had other stints on TV from the early 1960s up until today (Cold Case, American Dad). He also had a role in Billy Wilder’s Stalag 17. But many will remember Graves for a part he almost turned down—that of Captain Oveur in Airplane! Graves read the most absurd lines with the straightest face, nonchalantly asking a boy, “Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?” A recent YouTube clip helpfully combines all of his scenes in the movie:
