A day after Mary Tyler Moore, we say goodbye to “Mannix” star Mike Connors. He was 91 t.co/lp58S3gItD
Mike Connors, the star of the television show, Mannix, has died.
Connors was 91-years-old. What was his cause of death?
According to Daily Variety, the actor died of leukemia. Connors’ son-in-law, Mike Condon told the Hollywood trade magazine that Connors “had been diagnosed a week ago with leukemia.”
On the popular television program, Connors played a detective turned private eye named Joe Mannix, who was assisted by his secretary Peggy, a role played by Gail Fisher. Connors won a Golden Globe for his acting on the show, which ran from 1968 to 1975, Variety reported.
Mike Connors, star of long-running TV series “Mannix,” has died at 91 from complications of leukemia, family says. t.co/kCsbyFDVjo
According to the New York Daily News, “Viewers were intrigued by the tall, smartly dressed, well-spoken detective who could mix it up with the burliest of thugs and leap on the hood of a racing car to prevent an escape.”
Connors’ death comes on the heels of the passing of Hollywood television icon, Mary Tyler Moore, who died earlier in the week after battling pneumonia. She was 80.
Connors, of Armenian descent and a World War II veteran, was born Krekor Ohanian in 1925, the New York Daily News reported. The Associated Press reported that Mannix starred in both television and film, in a career that “stretched from the 1950s to 2007, when he had a guest role on ‘Two and a Half Men.'”
The AP reported that Connors’ wife, Mary Lou, survived him. The couple, married in 1949, “had two children: a son, Matthew, and a daughter, Dana.” His son died before him after struggling with mental illness, the AP reported.
Mike Connors, “Mannix” star, died today at the age of 91 t.co/yZuS7r4aoz
According to a biography on Senior City, Connors got his break when he was spotted while playing basketball at UCLA: “Director William Wellman was in the audience for a UCLA basketball game and noticed how expressive Connor’s face was; Wellman asked the coach to see if Connors would be interested in acting and got an affirmative answer.”
The bio says that Connors met Mary Lou Wiley when he was a college undergrad.