So many TV developments and innovations have gone by since the mid-'60s, it might be nearly impossible to remember how highly regarded "Mission: Impossible" was in its day. For a brief moment, this was the state-of-the-art television drama.
In June 1967, after its freshman season, "Mission: Impossible" won the Emmy award for best drama series. A year later, with Peter Graves having replaced Steven Hill as the spy team's leader, it repeated this impressive Emmy win.
Graves, who died Sunday at 83 of a heart attack, was the cool center of the espionage storm. And secret agents were everywhere during that spy-crazed era.
Sean Connery's James Bond had ignited the craze, and television was quick to respond. When "Mission: Impossible" premiered, secret agents were everywhere on the prime-time landscape. NBC had "The Man from U.N.C.L.E," "The Girl from U.N.C.L.E.," "I Spy" and the comedy sensation "Get Smart." ABC had "The Man Who Never Was." And CBS also had "The Wild, Wild West."
With Graves in command as Jim Phelps, "Mission: Impossible" outlasted them all. It stayed on the air until 1973, long after the spy craze had given way to the character cop era of "Columbo," "Kojak," "Cannon" and "McCloud."
And durability was a key to Graves' career. He might be best remembered for playing "Mr. Phelps," but he cut a path through an impressive chunk of TV history: "Fury" in the 1950s; "Mission: Impossible" in the '60s and '70s; the miniseries "The Winds of War" and its sequel, "War and Remembrance" in the '80s; host of A&E "Biography" in the '80s and '90s (for which he won an Emmy); and, most recently, that memorable Geico insurance commercial ("I was one lucky woman!").
The durability is undeniable, but so is the likability. Always a welcome presence in TV series, Graves won new fans by being able to rib his deadpan image in the film "Airplane!" (1980) and that Geico commercial.
He also made his share of notable serious films in the '50s, working with such directors as Billy Wilder ("Stalag 17"), Charles Laughton ("Night of the Hunter"), Otto Preminger ("The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell") and John Ford ("Long Gray Line").
But it was on television that Graves, like his brother Jim Arness ("Gunsmoke"), found a home and was welcomed into American homes.