Martin Milner

Martin Sam Milner (December 28, 1931 – September 6, 2015) was an American actor. He was best known for his starring roles on two popular television series: as Tod Stiles on Route 66 (1960–64), and as Officer Pete Malloy on Adam-12 (1968–75).

Early years Milner was born on December 28, 1931, in Detroit, Michigan, the son of Mildred (née Martin), a Paramount Theater circuit dancer, and Sam Gordon Milner, who worked as a construction hand and later a film distributor. Sam was a Polish-Jewish immigrant. The family left Detroit when Milner was a young child, moved frequently, and settled in Seattle, Washington, by the time he was nine. There, he became involved in acting, first in school, and then in a children's theater group at the Cornish Playhouse.

When Milner was a teenager, he moved with his family to Los Angeles, where his parents hired an acting coach and later an agent for him.

Career In 1947, at the age of 14, Milner made his film debut in Life with Father starring William Powell. Milner played Powell’s middle son in the movie.

Milner attended the University of Southern California, where he studied theater. He dropped out after a year in the fall of 1950 to concentrate on acting. He made his first television appearance in 1950 as a guest star in episode 28, "Pay Dirt", of The Lone Ranger. The same year, he began a recurring role as Drexel Potter on the sitcom The Stu Erwin Show.

He had several more roles, both minor and major, in war films in the 1950s, including another John Wayne picture titled Operation Pacific (1951) and Mister Roberts (1955), with William Powell, Henry Fonda, James Cagney, and Jack Lemmon. On the set of Halls of Montezuma (1950), he met and befriended actor Jack Webb, and he began intermittent work on Webb's radio series Dragnet.

In 1952, Milner began a two-year stint in the United States Army. Assigned to Special Services at Fort Ord on California's Monterey Bay Peninsula, he directed training films and was both a master of ceremonies and performer in skits for a touring unit created to entertain soldiers. While in the Army, Milner continued working for Jack Webb, playing Officer Bill Lockwood (briefly the partner of Sgt. Friday) and other characters on the Dragnet radio series on weekends. He also appeared on six episodes of Webb's Dragnet television series between 1952 and 1955.

Adam-12 By the mid-1960s, Milner and Jack Webb had a long-established working relationship. Milner had appeared in numerous episodes of both the radio and television versions of the series Dragnet, and had worked with Webb in the films Halls of Montezuma (1950) and Pete Kelly's Blues (1955).

In 1968, Milner returned to television as seven-year Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) veteran uniform patrol Officer Pete Malloy in Adam-12, a Webb-produced police drama. Kent McCord played his partner, rookie Officer Jim Reed. The series ran from 1968 to 1975. Like Webb's Dragnet, it was based on real LAPD procedures and cases.

Milner was Webb's choice for Malloy in part because of his relative youth and prior acting credits and because of his on-camera driving experience from his days on Route 66. He guest-starred in three episodes of Emergency! between 1972 and 1976, during and after Adam-12s run on NBC, the first of which, and the best known, was the pilot movie The Wedsworth-Townsend Act.

Later career

In 1971, Milner portrayed the murder victim in the premiere episode of Columbo titled "Murder by the Book". After Adam-12, Milner starred as Karl Robinson in a television series version of The Swiss Family Robinson (1975–1976), produced by Irwin Allen.

In 1990, Milner teamed again with Kent McCord in the cable TV-movie Nashville Beat (1990) on The Nashville Network. The story was co-written by McCord, who played an LAPD detective who works with his former partner, played by Milner, in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1992, Milner guest-starred on five episodes of ABC's Life Goes On.

After retiring from acting, Milner co-hosted a radio show about fishing called Let's Talk Hook-Up on San Diego-area sports station XETRA AM 690 (now XEWW). They had four children together.

In February 2003, Milner's eldest daughter Amy, who appeared in an episode of Adam 12, was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia. She died in December 2004.

Death On September 6, 2015, Milner died of heart failure at his home in Carlsbad, California, at age 83. His remains were cremated.

In popular culture Milner was the visual inspiration for the DC Comics superhero Guy Gardner / Green Lantern.

Filmography Film Year Title Role Notes 1947 Life with Father John Day 1948 The Wreck of the Hesperus Nathaniel 1949 The Green Promise Joe Uncredited Sands of Iwo Jima Pvt. Mike McHugh 1950 Louisa Bob Stewart 1950 Our Very Own Bert 1951 Halls of Montezuma Whitney Operation Pacific Ens. Caldwell Fighting Coast Guard Al Prescott 1951 I Want You George Kress Jr. 1952 The Captive City Phil Harding Belles on Their Toes Al Lynch Uncredited My Wife's Best Friend Buddy Chamberlain Springfield Rifle Pvt. Olie Larsen Battle Zone Corp. Andy Sayer 1953 Last of the Comanches Billy Creel Destination Gobi Elwood Halsey 1954 Dial M for Murder Policeman Outside Wendice Flat Uncredited 1955 The Long Gray Line Jim O'Carberry Mister Roberts Shore Patrol Officer Francis in the Navy W.T. 'Rick' Rickson Pete Kelly's Blues Joey Firestone 1956 On the Threshold of Space Lt. Mort Glenn Navy Wife Screaming Eagles Pvt. Corliss Pillars of the Sky Waco 1957 Man Afraid Shep Hamilton Desk Set Bit Part Uncredited Gunfight at the O.K. Corral James Earp Sweet Smell of Success Steve Dallas Credited as 'Marty Milner' 1958 Too Much, Too Soon Lincoln Forrester 1958 Marjorie Morningstar Wally Wronkin 1959 Compulsion Sid Brooks 1960 The Private Lives of Adam and Eve Ad Simms / Adam 13 Ghosts Benjamen Rush Sex Kittens Go to College George Barton Also associate producer 1965 Zebra in the Kitchen Dr. Del Hartwood 1966 Ski Fever Brian Davis 1967 Sullivan's Empire John Sullivan Valley of the Dolls Mel Anderson 1968 Three Guns for Texas Const. Clendon MacMillan 1989 Nashville Beat Captain Brian O'Neal 1998 Route 66: Return to the Road with Martin Milner Himself Documentary

Television Year Title Role Notes 1950 The Lone Ranger Dick McHenry Episode: "Pay Dirt" 1950–1951 The Stu Erwin Show Drexel Potter 8 episodes 1951 The Bigelow Theatre T.K.O. Episode: "T.K.O." 1952–1955 Dragnet Stephen Banner 6 episodes 1953–1957 The Life of Riley BruceDon Marshall 4 episodes 1954–1955 Schlitz Playhouse of Stars Various roles 2 episodes 1955 The Great Gildersleeve Brick Episode: "Water Commissioner's Water Color" 1956 NBC Matinee Theater Various roles 2 episodes TV Reader's Digest US Army Recruit Episode: "The Old, Old Story" The Charles Farrell Show Episode: "Love and Kisses" Telephone Time Episode: "The Churchill Club" Science Fiction Theatre Britt Episode: "Three Minute Mile" Crossroads Charles Mitchell 2 episodes Navy Log Monk Jacob "Incident at Formosa" 1956–1957 The West Point Story Various roles 2 episodes 1958 Wagon Train Matt Trumbell Episode: "The Sally Potter Story" 1958–1959 Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse Various roles 2 episodes The Millionaire Various roles 2 episodes 1959 Rawhide Johnny Doan Episode: "Incident with an Executioner" Playhouse 90 Episode: "Judgment at Nuremberg" Steve Canyon Sgt. Ernest Bigelow Season 1/Episode 34: "Operation Firebee" Hotel de Paree Pat Williams Episode: "Vein of Ore" U.S. Marshal Deputy Bob Baxter Episode: "Trigger Happy" 1960 The Twilight Zone Paul Grinstead Episode: "Mirror Image" 1960–1964 Route 66 Tod Stiles 116 episodes 1965 Memorandum for a Spy Television film Starr, First Baseman Joe Starr Television film Slattery's People State Representative Scott Fleming Episode: "Question: What's a Requiem for a Loser?" Gidget Kahuna Episode: "The Great Kahuna" Laredo Clendon MacMillan Episode: "Yahoo" 1965–1966 Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre Various roles 3 episodes The Virginian Various roles 2 episodes 1966 A Man Called Shenandoah Neal Henderson Episode: "Requiem for the Second" 12 O'Clock High Maj. Dimscek Episode: "Six Feet Under" 1967 The Rat Patrol Sgt. Roberts Episode: "The Wild Goose Raid" Run for Your Life Colonel Mike Green 2 episodes The Felony Squad Thomas Glynn Episode: "Hit and Run, Run, Run" Insight Sherm Episode: "Fat Hands and a Diamond Ring" 1968 Land's End Eric Television film Dragnet Officer Pete Malloy Episode: "Internal Affairs: DR-20" 1968–1975 Adam-12 174 episodes 1970 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson self Episode: September 28, 1970 1971 Columbo Jim Ferris Episode: "Murder by the Book" The D.A. (1971 TV series) Officer Pete Malloy Episode: "The People vs. Saydo" 1972 Hollywood Squares Himself Celebrity Guest Star 1972–1976 Emergency! Officer Pete Malloy 3 episodes 1973 Runaway! John Shedd Television film 1974 Hurricane Maj. Hymie Stoddard Television film 1975–1976 The Swiss Family Robinson Karl Robinson 20 episodes 1976 Flood! Paul Burke Television film 1977 SST: Death Flight Lyle Kingman Television film Police Story Grady Dolin Episode: "Stigma" 1978 Black Beauty Tom Gray Miniseries Little Mo Wilbur Folsom Television film 1979 Crisis in Mid-Air Dr. Denvers Television film The Last Convertible Sergeant Dabric Miniseries Password Plus Himself Game Show Contestant / Celebrity Guest Star The Seekers Philip Kent Television film 1980 The Littlest Hobo Don Porter Episode: "Sailing Away" 1981 Fantasy Island Various roles 2 episodes The Ordeal of Bill Carney Peter Belton Television movie 1984 Masquerade Charlie Miller Episode: "Winnings" 1985 Airwolf Arthur Barnes Episode: "Severance Pay" 1985–1996 Murder, She Wrote Various roles 5 episodes 1988 MacGyver Coach Turk Donner Episode: "Thin Ice" 1989 Nashville Beat Captain Brian O'Neal Television movie 1990 MacGyver James MacGyver Episode: "Passages" 1992 Life Goes On Harris Cassidy 5 episodes 1994 RoboCop: The Series Russell Murphy 2 Episodes: "The Human Factor" / "Corporate Raiders" 1997 Diagnosis: Murder Detective Frank Halloran Episode: "Murder Blues", (final appearance) Hollywood Squares self Episode: February 25, 2004