Mike Connors has passed away, reports HollywoodLife.com‘s sister site Deadline. The actor died, after a battle with leukemia, at a hospital in Tarzana, CA. He was 91. His career spans decades and includes titles like Murder, She Wrote, Diagnosis Murder, and The Love Boat… but he might be best known for his portrayal of a feisty private eye on the CBS hit Mannix.
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With legendary costars the likes of Angela Lansbury and Dick Van Dyke, it’s a sad day in Hollywood when someone of Mike’s caliber leaves us. While it was on the air, from 1967 through 1975, Mannix produced eight seasons and an astonishing number of episodes: 194. To put that in perspective, Star Trek ran from 1966 until 1969, for three seasons, and produced 79 episodes. And Trek didn’t even gain its cult status until it ran in reruns after NBC canceled it.
Mary Tyler Moore’s Life In Pictures — A Look Back
Connors was also lucky enough to star in an episode of the anthology series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. The Psycho director’s pet project would eventually be lauded as one of the “best tv shows of all time.” The news of his passing comes just one day after the industry lost another of its iconic stars, Mary Tyler Moore. Mike and his wife Mary Lou Willey were married in 1949. They had two children: Matthew Gunner Ohanian and Dana Lou Connors.
HollywoodLifers, how do you honor your favorite stars when they pass away?