Mike Connors was an Armenian-American actor best known for playing private detective Joe Mannix in the CBS television series Mannix from 1967 to 1975, a role which earned him a Golden Globe Award in ... Wikipedia
Of Armenian descent, Connors was born Krekor Ohanian in Fresno, California in 1925. His father was Krekor Ohanian(1881–1944)[2] and his mother was Alice (1898–1978).[3] They married in 1920 and had three children, Dorthy M., Arpesri A. and Krekor.[4][5] At school, he often got into fights due to the discrimination faced against Armenians,[6] who were looked upon as outsiders. He stated this made his family more close.[7]
He was an avid basketball player in high school, who was nicknamed "Touch" by his teammates. During World War II, he served in the United States Army Air Forces.[6] After the war, he attended the University of California at Los Angeles on a basketball scholarship, where he briefly played under coach John Wooden. He was a member of the Phi Delta Thetafraternity.[6] Director William A. Wellman got him into acting after noticing his expressive face while Connors was playing basketball. He appeared on the Los Angeles CBS station as Touch Connors in an episode of Jukebox Jury before the program went national via ABC in 1953. Connors is credited in his early films, such as Sudden Fear (1952), Island in the Sky (1953), Swamp Women (Swamp Diamonds), Five Guns West (1955), The Day the World Ended (1955), Shake, Rattle and Rock (1956), and Flesh and the Spur (1957) as "Touch Connors".
Connors recalled in an interview that he was renamed by Henry Willson, saying that "Ohanian" was too close to the actor George O'Hanlon and came up with "Touch Connors"
Connors married Mary Lou Willey in 1949; together they had a son, Matthew Gunner Ohanian, and a daughter, Dana Lou Connors.
Connors is the cousin of French singer Charles Aznavour
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Akkkh~ Krekor~