Actor Peter Graves, aka Jim Phelps of Mission Impossible, died yesterday of natural causes at the age of 83.
Besides starring in the MI series for six years on television ( Variety notes he turned down the role opposite Tom Cruise in the 1996 movie—I suspect because the movie version of Phelps makes him a turncoat), Graves had other stints on TV from the early 1960s up until today ( Cold Case, American Dad). He also had a role in Billy Wilder's Stalag 17. But many will remember Graves for a part he almost turned down—that of Captain Oveur in Airplane! Graves read the most absurd lines with the straightest face, nonchalantly asking a boy, "Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?" A recent YouTube clip helpfully combines all of his scenes in the movie: