Thursday, January 26, 2017

Mike Connors, R. I. P.

Variety: Mike Connors, best known for playing detective Joe Mannix on 1960s and ’70s show “Mannix,” died Thursday in Tarzana, Calif. He was 91. 

He had been diagnosed a week ago with leukemia, according to his son-in-law Mike Condon. 

“Mannix” ran for eight seasons from 1968 to 1975 and was the last series from Desilu Productions. Connors won a Golden Globe for his performance as a tough, athletic investigator, who in quintessential detective show style, insisted on doing things his own way and often got beat up in the process. He drove an impressive series of muscle cars including a Dodge Dart and Chevrolet Camaro.  

Hat tip to Fred Zackel.

5 comments:

Deb said...

One of my favorite exchanges on SEINFELD. George and Jerry have inadvertently gotten into a limousine belonging to a white supremacist. They discuss how they can escape:

GEORGE: "Look, let's just jump out of the car."

JERRY: "We're doing 60 miles an hour!"

GEORGE: "So we jump and roll, you won't get hurt."

JERRY: "Jump and roll? Who are you--Mannix?"

Jeff Meyerson said...

I remember fondly his "Touch" Connors days in early movies by Roger Corman. We always enjoy the scene when Touch and his sidekicks try to muscle Yvonne De Carlo away from the well so they can water their livestock first, only to have Moses (in the person of Charlton Heston) crack his head with his staff.

RIP

Jeff Meyerson said...

That was THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, of course.

Jeff Meyerson said...

The NY Times has a much better obituary.

They call hiM "glass-jawed" rather than "Square-jawed" as Mannix got knocked unconscious 55 times during the course of the show. They also mention the Roger Corman films (including SWAMP WOMEN) and TEN COMMANDMENTS.

Mike Stamm said...

I always enjoyed the show. But wait--a Dodge Dart was a "muscle car"?