Biographic - Sunday December 18, 2011 Comic Strip Licensing and Permissions

Transcript

Created by scriptwriter Bruce Geller, whose credits included a number of TV westerns, the iconic secret agent series "Mission: Impossible" debuted in 1966. Lalo Schifrin's staccato theme song set the pace for the show's fast-moving plots and rapid edits. Storylines featured like the covert missions undertaken by a team of agents, each of whom had a specialist skill. In season one, the team was led by Steven Hill as Dan Briggs, but he was subsequently replaced by Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, the brother of "Gunsmoke" star James Arness. Martin Landau had turned down the role of Mr. Spock on "Star Trek" before declining the specially created role of Martin Land on "Mission: Impossible" instead, he agreed to guest-star on episodes as master of disguise Rollin Hand, appearing alongside his real-life wife, Barbara Bain, who was cast as Femme Fatale, Cinnamon Carter. Landau ended up as a regular on the show, but by season four, his salary had escalated to the point where, the producers replaced him with Leonard Nimoy- who had just ended his three-year run as Mr. Spock on "Star Trek" Landau and Bain went on to star together on the british-made sci-fi tv series "Space: 1999." Greg Morris as electronics genius Barney Collier and Peter Lupus as strongman Willy Armitage were the only two team members to star in the entire seven-year series run. In 1988, 15 years after the original series ended, Peter Graves starred in a short-lived TV revival of the show. Starring Tom Cruise as Ethan Hunt "Mission: Impossible" hit the big screen in 1996, spawning three sequels to date, it has now become ne of the highest earning franchises in motion picture history!

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