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Oveur and out. Television and film actor Peter Graves died of a heart attack yesterday at the age of 83. He would have turned 84 this Thursday, and he was in fact celebrating his upcoming birthday with a special family brunch just prior to his death.

Reportedly, Graves collapsed in his driveway upon arriving home, and one of his daughters unsuccessfully attempted to revive him using CPR.

Graves will always be best remembered as the star of TV’s Mission: Impossible, long before Tom Cruise took over the franchise on the big screen. But for me — and many of my generation — the actor is first and foremost Clarence Oveur, captain of the troubled flight in the classic comedy Airplane! He also reprised his role for Airplane 2, but it’s the original film that gave us his most oft-quoted lines, such as the famous query to young Joey, “Have you ever been in a Turkish prison?...

Peter Graves who starred as Jim Phelps on the hit TV series "Mission Impossible," and more recently served as alternating host of the A&E series "Biography," has died.

The actor died Sunday of an apparent heart attack outside his Los Angeles home, a week away from his 84th birthday.

Graves was the younger brother of "Gunsmoke" star James Arness, a TV icon from the '50s. Graves is perhaps also best remembered by Baby Boomers as the ranch owner on the popular Saturday morning TV series, "Fury," the adventures of a boy and his horse. More recently, Graves was featured in the opening scene of "Men in Black II."

Playing against his image as a tall, silver-haired authority figure, Graves co-starred as Captain Oveur in the zany comedies "Airplane!" (1980) and "Airplane II: The Sequel" (1982). Along with such serious acting figures as Robert Stack and, at the time, Leslie Nielsen,...