Career
His early film career started in the early 1950s. Among films he was cast in included a critically acclaimed John Wayne film, Island in the Sky (1953 film) in which he was a crewman on one of the search and rescue planes. In 1956, still billed as Touch Connors, he played an Amalekite herder in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston.
He appeared in numerous television series, including the co-starring role in the 1955 episode "Tomas and the Widow" of the NBC western anthology series Frontier. He guest starred on Jeannie Carson's unsuccessful 1956-1957 situation comedy Hey, Jeannie!. He guest starred in two Rod Cameron syndicated crime dramas, City Detective and the western-themed State Trooper, and played the villain in the first episode filmed (but second one aired) of ABC's smash hit Maverick opposite James Garner in 1957.
In 1958, Connors was cast as Miles Borden, a corrupt U.S. Army lieutenant bitter over his $54 per month pay, on NBC's Wagon Train in the episode "The Dora Gray Story", with Linda Darnell in the title role. Dan Blocker also appeared in this episode. About this time, he also appeared in NBC's Cimarron City western series starring George Montgomery and John Smith.
Connors appeared in two other syndicated series, The Silent Service, based on true stories of the submarine section of the United States Navy, and Sheriff of Cochise, set about Bisbee, Arizona.
Connors also appeared in the episode of the series One Step Beyond called "The Aerialist." In 1965, he co-starred in one of Robert Redford's earliest film roles, a WWII black comedy, Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious alongside Sir Alec Guinness.
Connors later took the starring roles in Tightrope (1959–1960), Mannix (1967–1975) and Today's F.B.I. (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. Mannix was originally produced by Desilu Productions (later absorbed by Paramount Television) and it was then-President Lucille Ball 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 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's 1988 World War II-based miniseries War and Remembrance.
Connors lives in Encino, California.
Read more about this topic: Mike Connors
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