Another of my childhood tv stars has passed away
Martin Milner, who starred on TV on “Adam-12” with Kent McCord and, earlier, on “Route 66” with George Maharis, died Sunday night, Diana Downing, a representative for his fan page, confirmed. He was 83.
Milner was also known for his roles as a jazz guitarist in the brilliant 1957 film “Sweet Smell of Success” and in the 1967 camp classic “Valley of the Dolls.”
Milner began acting in movies while a teen, after his father got him an agent, first appearing in the 1947 classic “Life With Father.” The film starred William Powell and Irene Dunne, and thus Milner, along with his co-star Elizabeth Taylor, bridged the generations in Hollywood between the golden age and contemporary era.
He appeared as Officer Pete Molloy alongside Kent McCord’s Officer Jim Reed in NBC’s “Adam-12” from 1968-75. Molloy was the seasoned, savvy veteran bringing along Reed who was, at first, a rookie.
The innovative series had a more realistic quality than previous cop shows: The partners, on which the show narrowly focused, would patrol with no idea what they would encounter through the course of the day, and viewers got to witness the highs and lows in their lives.
“Route 66” ran on CBS from 1960-64, about a decade before “Adam-12” and resolutely not produced by Webb: Written and lensed across North America and inspired by the spirit of Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road,” the series followed Milner’s Tod Stiles and George Maharis’ Buz Murdock as they traveled from town to town in a Corvette, exploring social issues and the changing cultural landscape.
As “Adam-12” ended in 1975, Milner transitioned smoothly to the Irwin Allen-produced series “Swiss Family Robinson,” in which he played the paterfamilias. When that series proved short lived, Milner went on to appear in a variety of TV movies; there was also a guest spot on “Police Story.”
(BTW Route 66 theme is one of the classics of the era of great tv music)
The fact that he appeared in two different tv shows that ran for years amounts to an amazing career in television. Most actors are lucky to have appeared in one (or unlucky, depending on how you look at it.)
I hope he had a satisfying acting career.
Greetings:
He was also in a whole lot of films (even in war movies), not usually in the leading role, but with lots of lines.
Never really cared for his acting though. He seemed too much like a pasty white guy to me. But he certainly worked a lot which is a measure of success.
It’s nice that the MeTV folks are regularly airing Adam-12, Emergency, and Dragnet – shows that never insult you as a conservative and you don’t have to worry about the youngins watching with you.
RIP also to Judy Carne of Laugh-In fame.
Judy Carne, too??? I loved Laugh-In (though what we thought was fast-paced, rapid shot comedy at the time hasn’t aged as well as the sitcoms)
Greetings:
I turned on a TV movie at 8pm on the “Movies” channel called “Last of the Comanches” and Martin Milner is in the cast as Private Billy of the US Cavalry. Broderick Crawford is playing me.
Pete Malloy was a character any of us would want mentoring us in a new job.
IIRC, he played many teenagers on the radio version of Dragnet.
A funny war picture appearance is the the southern SP that goes after the drunken bunch of sailors in “Mr. Roberts”.