Peter Graves Passes Away at 83

Peter Graves, a rugged actor who starred in the hit series Mission: Impossible, and whose career took a comic turn in Airplane!, has died. He was 83.

Graves was found dead Sunday in front of his Pacific Palisades home from apparent natural causes, said Officer Karen Rayner of the Los Angeles P.D.

He had just returned from brunch with family to celebrate his upcoming 84th birthday. He collapsed on the driveway before he could reach his house.

One of Graves' daughters administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation but was unable to revive him, his spokeswoman said. May the star rest in peace.

Peter Graves starred in more than 70 TV series and films.

Typically playing the straight-laced hero, one of Graves' first big roles was in the 1953 classic, Stalag 17, in which he played an undercover Nazi spy placed among American POWs in a German camp. But his most memorable role was Mission: Impossible.

In the 1960s CBS series, later made into Tom Cruise vehicles, he played James Phelps, leader of the elite Impossible Missions Force. The show ran from 1967-1973 on CBS and 1988-1990 on ABC. He won a Golden Globe in 1971 for his role.