Mike Connors
Encyclopedia
Mike Connors is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 actor best known for playing detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...

 Joe Mannix in the CBS television series, Mannix
Mannix
Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors...

. Before that, he had played a crime-fighting investigator, wielding a .38 handgun hidden in his back, in another CBS series, Tightrope
Tightrope (TV series)
Tightrope is an American crime drama series that aired on CBS from September 1959 to September 1960. Produced by Russell Rouse and Clarence Greene in association with Screen Gems, the series stars Mike Connors as an undercover agent named "Nick" who was assigned to infiltrate criminal gangs...

.

Early life

Connors was born Krekor Ohanian in Fresno
Fresno, California
Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...

, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, of Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...

n descent. He was an avid basketball player in high school who was nicknamed "Touch" by his teammates. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 he served in the United States Army Air Forces
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces was the military aviation arm of the United States of America during and immediately after World War II, and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force....

. After the war he attended the University of California at Los Angeles on a basketball scholarship, where he was a member of the Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta
Phi Delta Theta , also known as Phi Delt, is an international fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, Beta Theta Pi, and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad. The fraternity has about 169 active chapters and colonies in over 43 U.S...

 fraternity
Fraternity
A fraternity is a brotherhood, though the term usually connotes a distinct or formal organization. An organization referred to as a fraternity may be a:*Secret society*Chivalric order*Benefit society*Friendly society*Social club*Trade union...

. William A. Wellman
William A. Wellman
William Augustus Wellman was an American film director. Although Wellman began his film career as an actor, he worked on over 80 films, as director, producer and consultant but most often as a director, notable for his work in crime, adventure and action genre films, often focusing on aviation...

 got him into acting after noticing his expressive face while Connors was playing basketball. He appeared on the Los Angeles CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...

 station as "Touch" Connors in an episode of Jukebox Jury
Jukebox Jury
Jukebox Jury was an hour-long television series hosted by disc jockey Peter Potter which aired in the 1953-54 season on the American Broadcasting Company. It was thereafter syndicated in 1959....

before the program went national via ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 in 1953. Connors is credited in his early films, such as Island in the Sky
Island in the Sky (1953 film)
Island in The Sky is a 1953 American aviation adventure/drama film written by Ernest K. Gann based on his 1944 novel of the same name, directed by William A. Wellman, and starring and co-produced by John Wayne. It was released by Warner Bros...

(1953), Swamp Women
Swamp Women
Swamp Women was one of the first films directed by Roger Corman. This adventure/crime/horror film follows undercover police officer Lee Hampton who joins three female convicts and escapes from prison. The escape is part of a larger plot to uncover a cache of diamonds hidden deep within the swamps...

(a.k.a. Swamp Diamonds), Five Guns West (1955), and Flesh and the Spur
Flesh and the Spur
Flesh and the Spur is a 1957 Western film directed by Edward L. Cahn. The movie stars John Agar as Lucius Random, Marla English as Wild Willow, and future Mannix star Mike Connors as Stacy Tanner.-Plot:...

(1957) as "Touch Connors".

He played basketball for Coach John Wooden
John Wooden
John Robert Wooden was an American basketball player and coach. Nicknamed the "Wizard of Westwood", he won ten NCAA national championships in a 12-year period — seven in a row — as head coach at UCLA, an unprecedented feat. Within this period, his teams won a record 88 consecutive games...

 at UCLA.

Connors recalled in an interview that he was renamed by Henry Willson
Henry Willson
Henry Willson was an American Hollywood talent agent who played a large role in popularizing the beefcake craze of the 1950s. He was known for his stable of young, attractive clients, including Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Robert Wagner, Nick Adams, Guy Madison, Troy Donahue, Rory Calhoun, Clint...

 saying that "Ohanian" was too close to the actor George O'Hanlon
George O'Hanlon
George O'Hanlon was an American screen actor, comedian, and voice actor.-Early life and career:George O'Hanlon was born in Brooklyn, New York City on November 23, 1912....

 and came up with "Touch Connors".

Career

In 1956, still billed as Touch Connors, he played an Amalekite herder in Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil B. DeMille
Cecil Blount DeMille was an American film director and Academy Award-winning film producer in both silent and sound films. He was renowned for the flamboyance and showmanship of his movies...

's The Ten Commandments
The Ten Commandments (1956 film)
The Ten Commandments is a 1956 American epic film that dramatized the biblical story of the Exodus, in which the Hebrew-born Moses, an adopted Egyptian prince, becomes the deliverer of the Hebrew slaves. The film, released by Paramount Pictures in VistaVision on October 5, 1956, was directed by...

starring Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston was an American actor of film, theatre and television. Heston is known for heroic roles in films such as The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor, El Cid, and Planet of the Apes...

.

He appeared in numerous television series, including the co-starring role in the 1955 episode "Tomas and the Widow" of the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...

 western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...

 anthology series Frontier
Frontier (1955 TV series)
This program should not be confused with Frontiers , the British program Frontier , Frontier Justice , Frontier Circus, or Frontier Doctor....

. He guest starred on Jeannie Carson
Jeannie Carson
Jeannie Carson is a retired English-born United States-based comedienne and musical theatre actress...

's unsuccessful 1956-1957 situation comedy
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...

 Hey, Jeannie!
Hey, Jeannie!
Hey, Jeannie! is a 32-episode half-hour situation comedy starring Jeannie Carson as a young Scottish woman living in New York City. Twenty-six segments aired on CBS from September 8, 1956 to May 4, 1957 in the Saturday slot following The Gale Storm Show and preceding the western series Gunsmoke.Six...

. He appeared in two Rod Cameron
Rod Cameron
Rod Cameron was a Canadian-born movie actor whose career extended from the 1930s to the 1970s. He appeared in horror, war, action and science fiction movies, but is best remembered for his many Westerns....

 syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...

  crime dramas, City Detective
City Detective (TV series)
City Detective is a half-hour syndicated crime drama starring Rod Cameron as 43-year-old Bart Grant, a tough 1950s New York City police lieutenant. The first of three consecutive Rod Cameron series, City Detective aired between January 1, 1953 and May 10, 1955...

and the western-themed State Trooper
State Trooper (TV series)
State Trooper is a half-hour television crime drama set in the 1950s American West, starring Rod Cameron as Rod Blake, an officer of the Nevada State Troopers. The series aired 104 episodes in syndication from September 25, 1956, to June 25, 1959...

, and played the villain in the first episode filmed (but second one aired) of ABC-TV
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

's smash hit Maverick
Maverick (TV series)
Maverick is a western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins. The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and stars James Garner as Bret Maverick, a cagey, articulate cardsharp. Eight episodes into the first season, he was joined by Jack Kelly as his brother...

opposite James Garner
James Garner
James Garner is an American film and television actor, one of the first Hollywood actors to excel in both media. He has starred in several television series spanning a career of more than five decades...

 in 1957. He also appeared on two other syndicated series, The Silent Service
The Silent Service (TV series)
The Silent Service was a 1957–1958 syndicated anthology television series based on actual events in the submarine section of the United States Navy. The Silent Service was narrated by Rear Admiral Thomas M. Dykers, who retired from the Navy in 1949 after twenty-two years of service...

, based on true stories of the submarine
Submarine
A submarine is a watercraft capable of independent operation below the surface of the water. It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability...

 section of the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

, and Sheriff of Cochise
Sheriff of Cochise
Sheriff of Cochise , renamed U.S. Marshal , is a 58-episode syndicated western-themed crime drama set in Arizona and starring John Bromfield as law enforcement officer Frank Morgan. In the first two seasons, Morgan was sheriff of Cochise County...

, set about Bisbee
Bisbee, Arizona
Bisbee is a city in Cochise County, Arizona, United States, 82 miles southeast of Tucson. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city was 6,177...

, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

. Connors also appeared in the episode of the TV Series One Step Beyond called "The Aerialist." In 1965, he co-starred in one of Robert Redford
Robert Redford
Charles Robert Redford, Jr. , better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime...

's earliest film roles, a WWII black comedy, Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious
Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious
Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious is a 1965 comedy film starring Alec Guinness, Mike Connors and Robert Redford. It is based on the novel The Hiding Place by Robert Shaw....

alongside Sir Alec Guinness.

Connors later took the starring roles in Tightrope (1959-1960), Mannix (1967-1975) and Today's F.B.I.
Today's F.B.I.
Today's F.B.I. is an American crime drama television series, an updated and revamped version of the earlier series The F.B.I.Like the original program, this series was based on actual cases from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the F.B.I. was involved in the making of the show...

(1981-1982). Due to the popularity of Tightrope in Mexico during the early 1960s, Discos Orfeon released a 45 rpm single of Connors singing in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...

. Mannix
Mannix
Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors...

 was originally produced by Desilu Productions (later absorbed by Paramount Television
Paramount Television
Paramount Television was an American television production/distribution company that was active from January 1, 1968 to August 27, 2006.Its successor is CBS Television Studios, formerly CBS Paramount Television...

) and it was then-President Lucille Ball
Lucille Ball
Lucille Désirée Ball was an American comedian, film, television, stage and radio actress, model, film and television executive, and star of the sitcoms I Love Lucy, The Lucy–Desi Comedy Hour, The Lucy Show, Here's Lucy and Life With Lucy...

 who pushed for CBS to keep the show on air after a lacklustre first season in the ratings. This move enabled the show to become a long-running hit for the network. Connors was able to work with his boss on-screen during a cross-promotion episode of Ball's Here's Lucy
Here's Lucy
Here's Lucy is Lucille Ball's third network television sitcom. It ran on CBS from 1968 to 1974.-Background:Though The Lucy Show was still hugely popular during the previous season, finishing in the top five of the Nielsen Ratings , Ball opted to end that series at the end of that season and create...

 series in 1971, showing how adept at comedy he was. The episode opened Lucy's fourth season of that entertainment product and was titled 'Lucy and Mannix are Held Hostage'. It was notable for being the first episode shot at Universal Studios, after Ball ceased producing her show at Paramount Studios.

Connors' long history of police and military roles very possibly was the reason he was chosen to play Air Force Colonel Harrison "Hack" Peters in Herman Wouk
Herman Wouk
Herman Wouk is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American author of novels including The Caine Mutiny, The Winds of War, and War and Remembrance.-Biography:...

's 1988 World War II-based miniseries War and Remembrance
War and Remembrance
War and Remembrance is a novel by Herman Wouk, published in 1978, which is the sequel to The Winds of War. It continues the story of the extended Henry family and the Jastrow family starting on 15 December 1941 and ending on 6 August 1945. This novel was adapted into a mini-series presented on...

.

Connors lives in Encino, California.

Filmography

  • 1952 : Sudden Fear
    Sudden Fear
    Sudden Fear is a 1952 RKO Radio Pictures feature film starring Joan Crawford and Jack Palance in a noir-ish tale about a successful woman who marries a murderous man. The screenplay by Lenore J. Coffee and Robert Smith was based upon the novel by Edna Sherry. Sudden Fear was directed by David...

    : Junior Kearney
  • 1953 : The 49th Man
    The 49th Man
    The 49th Man is a 1953 American thriller film released by Columbia Pictures, directed by Fred F. Sears and starring John Ireland, Richard Denning, Suzanne Dalbert, Peter Marshall, Robert Foulk and Mike Connors...

    : Lt. Magrew
  • 1953 : Sky Commando : Lt. Hobson Lee
  • 1953 : Island in the Sky
    Island in the Sky
    Island in the Sky or may refer to:*Island in the Sky , 1953 film starring John Wayne*Island in the Sky *Island in the Sky, the Ernest K...

    : Gainer
  • 1954 : Day of Triumph : Andrew
  • 1955 : Swamp Women
    Swamp Women
    Swamp Women was one of the first films directed by Roger Corman. This adventure/crime/horror film follows undercover police officer Lee Hampton who joins three female convicts and escapes from prison. The escape is part of a larger plot to uncover a cache of diamonds hidden deep within the swamps...

    : Bob Matthews
  • 1955 : Five Guns West
    Five Guns West
    Five Guns West is a 1955 Western film set during the American Civil War directed by Roger Corman....

    : Hale Clinton
  • 1955 : The Twinkle in God's Eye : Lou
  • 1955 : Day the World Ended
    Day the World Ended
    Day the World Ended was the fourth film directed by Roger Corman. Rick is a heroic scientist who, among others, must face off against a mutant monster after an atomic war destroys human civilization...

    : Tony Lamont
  • 1956 : Jaguar: Marty Lang
  • 1956 : The Oklahoma Woman
    The Oklahoma Woman
    -Copyright:Copyright[] in and to this motion picture is currently held by Susan Nicholson Hofheinz ....

    : Tom Blake
  • 1956 : The Ten Commandments : Amalekite herder
  • 1956 : Shake, Rattle & Rock!
    Shake, Rattle & Rock! (1956 film)
    Shake Rattle and Rock! is a 1956 musical/comedy-drama film directed by Edward L. Cahn for American International Pictures.-Cast:*Touch Connors as Garry Nelson*Lisa Gaye as June Fitzdingle*Sterling Holloway as Albert "Axe" McAllister...

    : Garry Nelson
  • 1957 : Flesh and the Spur
    Flesh and the Spur
    Flesh and the Spur is a 1957 Western film directed by Edward L. Cahn. The movie stars John Agar as Lucius Random, Marla English as Wild Willow, and future Mannix star Mike Connors as Stacy Tanner.-Plot:...

    : Stacy Tanner
  • 1957 : Voodoo Woman
    Voodoo Woman
    Voodoo Woman is a horror film directed by Edward L. Cahn and released by American International Pictures.-Synopsis:A pair of treasure hunters, which includes the beautiful but ruthless Marilyn Blanchard , discover gold in the voodoo idol of a tribe of the African jungle...

    : Ted Bronson
  • 1958 : Suicide Battalion
    Suicide Battalion
    Suicide Battalion is a 1958 World War II film starring Mike Connors and John Ashley who made the film while on leave from the US Army. It was remade for television by Larry Buchanan as Hell Raiders, which was the original working title of the film.American International Pictures originally...

    : Maj. Matt McCormack
  • 1958 : Live Fast, Die Young
    Live Fast, Die Young (film)
    Live Fast, Die Young is a 1958 film directed by Paul Henreid and written by Ib Melchior. The film stars Mary Murphy, Norma Eberhardt, Mike Connors and Sheridan Comerate...

    : Rick
  • 1960 : The Dalton That Got Away : Russ Dalton
  • 1964 : Panic Button
    Panic Button (1964 film)
    Panic Button is 1964 comedy film starring, Jayne Mansfield, Maurice Chevalier, Eleanor Parker, and Mike Connors....

    : Frank Pagano
  • 1964 : Good Neighbor Sam
    Good Neighbor Sam
    Good Neighbor Sam is a 1964 American comedy movie co-written and directed by David Swift and starring Jack Lemmon and Romy Schneider.It was based on the novel by Jack Finney. The screenplay was the motion picture debut of James Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum, who had written many American...

    : Howard Ebbets
  • 1964 : Where Love Has Gone
    Where Love Has Gone
    Where Love Has Gone is a 1962 novel by Harold Robbins.It was the basis for a film of the same name in 1964, with Robbins' work adapted for the screen by John Michael Hayes. It was produced by Joseph E...

    : Major Luke Miller
  • 1965 : Harlow : Jack Harrison
  • 1965 : Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious
    Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious
    Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious is a 1965 comedy film starring Alec Guinness, Mike Connors and Robert Redford. It is based on the novel The Hiding Place by Robert Shaw....

    : Sgt. Lucky Finder
  • 1966 : Stagecoach
    Stagecoach (1966 film)
    Stagecoach is a 1966 American film, a remake of the 1939 John Ford western Stagecoach. Slim Pickens replaced Andy Devine as the driver, Alex Cord played the Ringo Kid , Ann-Margret succeeded Claire Trevor as the prostitute Dallas, and Bing Crosby played Thomas Mitchell's Oscar-winning part as the...

    : Hatfield
  • 1966 : Se tutte le donne del mondo
    Se Tutte le Donne del Mondo
    Se Tutte le Donne del Mondo is a James Bond spoof movie released in 1966. Originally filmed under the title Operation Paradise from January to March 1966 in most of the world, the English title was If All the Women in the World. It was released in the U.S...

    , aka Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (US title): Kelly
  • 1979 : Avalanche Express
    Avalanche Express
    Avalanche Express is a cold war adventure thriller about a defecting Russian general, released in 1979. It starred Lee Marvin, Robert Shaw , Maximilian Schell, and Linda Evans, and was directed by Mark Robson and Monte Hellman...

    : Haller
  • 1979 : The Death of Oceanview Park : Sam Jackson
  • 1980 : Nightkill
    Nightkill
    Nightkill is a 1980 thriller film directed by Ted Post. It stars Robert Mitchum and Jaclyn Smith. It is about an adulteress who hatches a plot to murder her millionaire husband while her lover assumes his identity.-Cast:*Robert Mitchum ... Donner...

    : Wendell Atwell
  • 1985 : Too Scared to Scream
    Too Scared to Scream
    Too Scared to Scream is a 1985 Independent Film/Thriller/Horror movie. It was directed by Tony Lo Bianco. Starring Mike Connors , Anne Archer and Ian McShane, it revolves around a string of deaths that occur in a high rise apartment building in New York City...

    : Lt. Alex Dinardo
  • 1989 : Fist Fighter : Billy Vance
  • 1993 : Public Enemy #2
  • 1994 : Downtown Heat : Steve
  • 1999 : Gideon
    Gideon (film)
    -Plot:Gideon Oliver Dobbs is a man with a mental disability. He moves into a nursing home known as Lakeview, with many elderly inhabitants. They are all grumpy old men and women. Gideon is much younger than the other residents, which causes confusion when he first introduces himself...

    : Harland Greer
  • 2000 : The Extreme Adventures of Super Dave (video) : Osborne
  • 2003 : Nobody Knows Anything! : Joe Mannix


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External links

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