Touch Connors aka Mike Connors aka Mannix is DEAD TO ME

Actor Mike Connors best remembered for playing Mannix on tv has died at the age of 91.

How was he not dead before this? How many people were aware that he was still alive? It makes you wonder how many other people are out there with their pre-written obituary file in the back of the drawer, yet unused.

He had a hot ass (when he was young) but he couldn't live forever

Touch me in the morning then just walk away..

He was one of the first Armenian celebrities (along with Cher).

I can recall liking the show when I was a little kid but I can't remember the first thing about it.

Where has he been for the last 50 yrs., for Christsakes!

I thought he died a long time ago.

Faux news that he just died?

Who remembers this melody?

Boy, is MY face red; I thought he was long dead. Then I remembered: I was thinking of Jack Lord. I'm old; I remember Mannix; formulaic, I suppose, but I found it exciting as a teen.

Has his perpetually squinting co-star from 1964's "Where Love Has Gone" -- MISS JOEY HEATHERTON -- issued a statement?

Damn, I thought he died years ago.

SUDDEN FEAR (1952)

Jack Palance, Joan Crawford, Gloria Grahame, (Mike) Touch Connors

He was always in my shadow

I assumed he was dead, too.

He's great in Where Love Has Gone - Susan Hayward scared him so badly in one scene he spilled coffee all over. RIP Mike

[quote]Susan Hayward scared him so badly in one scene he spilled coffee all over.

Well, she didn't scare me. I got even !

Everyone who worked with Bette Davis wishes they were dead.

clip from THE LOVE BOAT showing Mike with talented Elke Sommer

In the early 50s, he had the same agent as Rock Hudson, Tab Hunter, Guy Madison and Rory Calhoun.

Need I say more.

Diane Keaton gave him a shout-out in her book for being kind and patient with her when she guested on "Mannix". Considering how little she mentioned her film work or costars, it was a nice surprise.

I always found him to be hot. My mother used to watch Mannix back then and he would cause me to stop and stare even as a kid. I like the strong bridge of his nose. It's an ideal male beauty standard of mine.

Anybody remember how Mannix was always getting shot in the arm? 60s tv detectives survived gunshots the way real people survive stubbed toes.

R6, What am I, chopped basturma?

R23, Elke today. Not bad at all! Sweet Bird of Youth circles over her head.

Elke and Zsa Zsa were enemies!

If you know anything about the filming of Where Love Has Gone, Mike held his own against feuding stars Bette Davis and Susan Hayward.

He was gay and in a relationship with actor Joe E. Brown....who was much older. They were together from the early 50's to the late 60's, Brown died in 1973. They both were very closeted of course.

r32, are you serious? Joe E. Brown was president of the Pony League, a baseball league for teenage boys. Was Brown a chickenhawk? Btw, Jerry Sandusky's father was alos involved with the Pony League. See link.

[R26] - Me too, me too. He and another crush of mine from that era Rod Taylor did not age well...at ALL. The only Mannix episodes I remember is the one where Peggy is kidnapped but signals her whereabouts with her fingers holding the newspapers in the photos and the one with the creepy hidden stalker in the bushes hoarsely whispering "Pretty girl...pretty girl" and it ends up being pre-M.A.S.H. Loretta Swit.

The show Mannix is actually responsible for a phobia of mine. In one episode that I saw as a child, one of the characters was looking out a window in or next to a door and suddenly the face of a bad guy appears. It scared me enough that I still have a fear of looking out a window and having someone suddenly stand in front of it menacing me.

I had a crush on him when I was 5 years old......and on David Hedison too.

R13 I do!

R38 I still have a crush on Hedison.

Why did they call him Touch? Never mind.

touch is better than Grab

Tell us more, Gail/R11.

I thought that Mannix related to your character fairly well in the very early episodes - but, that didn't really last. It didn't seem to take long in the "Mannix" run for him to start speaking to you with a noticeably-rude, condescending undertone. I also noticed that Peggy was less involved in the plot-lines after awhile; in the early episodes, you were featured more and had more interesting things to do - but at a certain point, you were only seen confined to the office, dutifully doing deskwork.

Anyway - count me in with the people who somehow thought that Krekor Ohanian/Mike Connors was already deceased.

R29

That picture is a few years old. Here's another; this one is from 2015. She looks like an old Teutonic which is what she is.

Alright, Already - everyone stop dying and START living!

His real name was actually Krekor Ohanian - and yes, he was Armenian.

Krekor (Western Armenian) = Gregor (Eastern Armenian)

Lalo Schifrin's [italic]Mannix[/italic] theme at R45 is one of the coolest TV theme songs ever. Up there with [italic]Peter Gunn[/italic] and [italic]The Avengers.[/italic]

I was just watching him last week on one of those "Pioneers of Television" shows on PBS (the one about crime dramas.) I didn't realize that both "Mannix" and "Mission: Impossible" were created by the same guy, and both came from Desilu. (Bonus: the "Pioneers of Television" episode also featured extensive interviews with Miss Angie Dickinson!)

So any stories about how Mike was "discovered" by Henry Wilsson?

I'm sure Willson tapped that

[quote] Anybody remember how Mannix was always getting shot in the arm? 60s tv detectives survived gunshots the way real people survive stubbed toes.

"Over the eight seasons of the series, Mannix was knocked unconscious 55 times and shot 17 times". Fortunately 60s detectives were made of sponge.

"Mannix" is currently showing weeknights after midnight on the OTA ME-TV channel. Followed by "Cannon", "77 Sunset Strip" and "Highway Patrol" with Broderick Crawford (Ten Four).

Gail Fisher won an Emmy for her role in "Mannix" (the first black actress winner), beating out Susan St James and Barbara Anderson of "Ironside". After Mannix cancellation she had personal and according to imdb a major drug problem.

Decades ran some obscure shows a few weeks back. One was a 30 minute mystery/suspense anthology show called (if I remember correctly) One Step Beyond. One episode featured a youthful Cloris Leachman. Another had Mr. Connors as an Italian trapeze artist. On the plus side he wore a leotard through much of it. On the down side, he used an absolutely horrendous accent....which seemed to disappear every other line.

"One Step Beyond" usually was a pretty good show.

So he acted opposite Davis and also, in a small role, Crawford (Sudden Fear). Wonder if she put the moves on him, when not trying for Palance, who, IIRC, had a fling with costar Gloria Grahame.

I liked Mannix a lot. So cool.

I just can't see him with Joe E. Brown.

I can't see anyone with Joe E. Brown.

Well, R60, "Nobody's perfect."

r60 how about Jack E. Leonard

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