Mr. 'Mission Impossible' dies at 83

[Sir T]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/15/arts/television/15graves.html?hp

Peter Graves, ‘Mission: Impossible’ Star, Dies at 83
By MICHAEL POLLAK
Published: March 14, 2010

Peter Graves, the cool spymaster of television’s “Mission: Impossible” and the dignified host of the “Biography” series, who successfully spoofed his own gravitas in the “Airplane!” movie farces, died on Sunday. He was 83.

He died of a heart attack at his home in Pacific Palisades, Calif., said Fred Barman, his business manager.

It was a testament to Mr. Graves’s earnest, unhammy ability to make fun of himself that after decades of playing square he-men and straitlaced authority figures, he was perhaps best known to younger audiences for a deadpan line in “Airplane!” (“Joey, do you like movies about gladiators?”) and one from a memorable Geico car insurance commercial (“I was one lucky woman”).

[Tannhauser]

I don't know anything about Mr. Graves, but he seemed to have class and he was hilarious in Airplane!  Farewell sir.

Maybe they have gladiator movies in Heaven.