-= Krekor Ohanian -=- Mike Connors =-

[MosJan]

http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/Lobby/7508/m_connors.jpg

 

Real name : Krekor Ohanian

 

Date of birth (location) : 15 August 1925, Fresno, California, USA.

 

Sometimes Credited As: Michael Connors (I), Touch Connors

 

Mike Connors--whose real name is Krekor Ohanian--was born in Fresno, California, on August 15, 1925. While attending UCLA on a basketball scholarship, he was spotted by film director William Wellman, who encouraged him to pursue acting. Young Krekor readily agreed. In the process, he changed his name to Touch Connors, and then finally to Mike Connors.

His first film role, in 1952, was in "Sudden Fear" with Joan Crawford. But Mike's career blossomed in television, not films. Although he has made virtually hundreds of TV appearances, Mike is best known for the three shows on which he regularly appeared: "Tightrope" (CBS, 1959-60); "Mannix" (CBS, 1967-75); and "Today's FBI" (ABC, 1981-82).

Interestingly, all three were crime dramas, a television format well-suited to his macho acting style. In "Tightrope," Mike starred as an anonymous undercover agent--sometimes called "Nick"--assigned to infiltrate organized crime. He came close to repeating that role more than 20 years later in "Today's FBI," an update of the seminal ABC show, "The FBI," starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. In this newfangled version, Mike played Ben Slater, an FBI supervisor overseeing four agents, one of whom was named Nick.

However, it was as Joe Mannix that Mike got to shine. Whether employed by the computer-obsessed Intertect company in the first season (an advanced concept in 1967), or self-employed thereafter, Mannix knew how to solve crimes quickly. Some would also say violently: a grounds upon which "Mannix" was roundly criticized in its day.

Following its cancellation in 1975, Mike appeared as a talk-show guest on shows including "The Mike Douglas Show" and "The John Davidson Show." In 1984, he actively supported Ronald Reagan's re-election efforts. He made a guest appearance in a "Murder, She Wrote" episode in 1989, the same year he starred in the ABC miniseries "War and Remembrance." In between these stints, he worked in a St. Petersburg, Florida, dinner theater.

In 1991, he good-naturedly poked fun at his tough-guy image, by appearing with SCTV's Dave Thomas in Showtime's "Public Enemy #2," which People magazine labeled "a funny special . . . a perfect lampoon . . . ."

Looking back on his "Mannix" days, Mike defends the show. He told one interviewer, "There is hardly a show on television today in that genre that isn't more violent than "Mannix" was. We never really killed people; they were [just] shot and wounded . . . ." He has little respect for current crime programs, in which he thinks there are "explosions and shootings and knifings every time you turn around." Mike has two grown children from his longtime marriage to Mary Lou Riley. Neither child is an actor.

 

 

 

Actor filmography

Gideon's Webb (1998) .... Harland Greer

... aka Gideon's Web (1998) (USA)

James Dean: Race with Destiny (1997)

Wild Bill: A Hollywood Maverick (1995)

Ciudad Baja (Downtown Heat) (1994)

Hart to Hart Returns (1993) (TV) .... Bill McDowell

Public Enemy #2 (1993)

Armen and Bullik (1992) .... Joe "Uncle Do Do" Armen

"Crimes of the Century" (1989) TV Series .... Host

"War and Remembrance" (1989) (mini) TV Series .... Colonel Harrison "Hack" Peters

A puño limpio (1988)

Fist Fighter (1988) .... Billy Vance

Too Scared to Scream (1985) .... Lt. Dinardo

... aka Doorman, The (1985)

"Today's F.B.I." (1981) TV Series .... Ben Slater

Casino (1980) (TV) .... Nick

Nightkill (1980) .... Wendell Atwell

Avalanche Express (1979) .... Haller

Death of Ocean View Park, The (1979) (TV)

High Midnight (1979) (TV)

Long Journey Back (1978) (TV)

Joys (1976) (TV)

Killer Who Wouldn't Die, The (1976) (TV) .... Ohanian

... aka Ohanian (1976) (TV)

Revenge for a Rape (1976) (TV) .... Travis Green

Beg, Borrow, or Steal (1973) (TV) .... Vic Cummings

Mannix" (1967) TV Series .... Joe Mannix

Se tutte le donne del mondo (1966)

... aka If All the Women in the World (1966)

... aka Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die (1966) (USA)

... aka Operazione paradiso (1966) (Italy: alternative title)

Stagecoach (1966) (as Michael Connors) .... Hatfield

Harlow (1965/I) (as Michael Connors) .... Jack Harrison

Situation Hopeless -- But Not Serious (1965) (as Michael Connors) .... Sgt. Lucky Finder

Where Love Has Gone (1964) (as Michael Connors) .... Major Luke Miller

Good Neighbor Sam (1964) (as Michael Connors) .... Howard Ebbets

Panic Button (1964) (as Michael Connors)

"Tightrope" (1959) TV Series .... Undercover Agent

Live Fast, Die Young (1958) .... Rick

Voodoo Woman (1957) (as Touch Connors) .... Ted Bronson

Ten Commandments, The (1956) (as Touch Connors) .... Herder

Day the World Ended, The (1956) (as Touch Connors) .... Tony

Oklahoma Woman, The (1956) .... Tom Blake

Shake, Rattle and Rock (1956) (as Touch Connors)

Five Guns West (1955)

Swamp Women (1955) (as Michael Connors) .... Bob Matthews

... aka Cruel Swamp (1955)

... aka Swamp Diamonds (1966) (USA: TV title)

Twinkle in God's Eye, The (1955) .... Lou

Day of Triumph (1954) (as Touch Connors) .... Andrew

Island in the Sky (1953) (as Touch Connors) .... Gainer

Sudden Fear (1952) (as Touch Connors) .... Junior Kearney

 

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Notable TV guest appearances

"Alfred Hitchcock Presents" (1985)playing "Robert Logan" in episode: "Driving Under the Influence" (episode # 4.12) 2/25/1989

"Perry Mason" (1957) playing "Joe Kelly" in episode: "Case of the Bullied Bowler, The" (episode # 8.7) 11/5/1964

"Untouchables, The" (1959) playing "Eddie O'Gara"(as Michael Connors) in episode: "Eddie O'Gara Story, The" (episode # 4.7) 11/13/1962

"Walter Winchell File, The" (1957) (as Michael Connors (I) in episode: "Steep Hill, The" (episode # 1.13) 12/25/1957

"Maverick" (1957) in episode: "Naked Gallows" (episode # 1.13) 12/8/1957

"Maverick" (1957) playing "Ralph Jordan" in episode: "Point Blank" (episode # 1.2) 9/29/1957

"Gunsmoke" (1955) playing "Jim Bostick"(as Touch Connors) in episode: "Mistake, The" (episode # 2.9) 11/24/1956

"Diagnosis Murder" (1993) playing "Joe Mannix"

"Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour, The" (1971)

[baboyan]

I think we need more Armenian actors and actresses

[khodja]

There ARE many more, some much more famous that those you know. But they are under-cover Armenians, beknow only to themselves and their close family members.

[Kazza]

Your'e right. It's like Freddie Mercury-I saw on another forum that he was an azeri! I thought it was only rumour or wishful thinking at first, then I was looking at his bio on the TV. At his funeral it only showed his family breifly, and they were in traditional Azeri dress.

 

Mabye he felt he couldn't be openly gay and openly Azeri at the same time. Like many gay armenians, they feel like they have to "choose" one identity or the other, as they are often thrown out of the Arm community if they come out. It's like (greek) George Michael. He decided to come out when he was caught in the toilet!! In the sony interveiw: "i was caught, so I thiought it was a good opportunity to tell the truth about my life" and all his songs in the last ten years were about men.

 

I didn't know until he came out, honestly! I coudn't tell.

[Kazza]

That's off the point, though, isn't it! I just mentioned it about f Mercury because Khoja mentioned that there are many famous under-cover armenians. I was just saying that one reason is not because they are ashamed but some gay celebrities have to choose between their sexual and ethnic identity because their communities kick them out if they go with the gay.

 

But any way, I notice that a lot of Armenians make it big. Somebody, writing a report on an armenian poet said that the reason for this is that the Armenians had put up with so much, not just this century, but over the centuries as a threatened nation, so they had to fight that little bit harder to have what they've got. That's a veiwpoint I never heard and I actually agree. (But I think we got the they abillity as well) You don't get anywhere resting on no laurels though.

 

The main areas are often in the arts. Writing, and in the the "Fame" side of things (acting, singing, performing arts,film making, whatever). Also in business.

[Twilight Bark]

I thought he was a Parsi from India, and that his family had emigrated to another British colony in Africa before ending up in Britain. I am interested in knowing the real story.

Twilight Bark
P.S. Sorry for continuing the off-topic sidetrack

[MadArmo]

I think he was of Assyrian/Persian descent, Anyway he had very powerful lyrics and performed as all great artists do.

 

Queen

[Yervant1]

Mike Connors, ‘Mannix’ Star, Dies at 91

Mike Connors, best known for playing detective Joe Mannix on 1960s and ’70s show “Mannix,” died on Thursday in Tarzana, Calif. He was 91.

 

He had been diagnosed a week ago with leukemia, according to his son-in-law Mike Condon.

“Mannix” ran for eight seasons from 1968 to 1975 and was the last series from Desilu Productions. Connors won a Golden Globe for his performance as a tough, athletic investigator, who in quintessential detective show style, insisted on doing things his own way and often got beat up in the process. He drove an impressive series of muscle cars including a Dodge Dart and Chevrolet Camaro.

© Provided by Variety Desilu president Lucille Ball convinced CBS not to cancel the show despite initial poor ratings, and it caught on after being retooled into a somewhat more conventional detective series. Mannix’s secretary, played by Gail Fisher, was one of few African-American actresses on TV at the time. “Here’s Lucy” produced a crossover episode in 1971 with Connors and Ball, called “Lucy and Mannix Are Held Hostage.”

As recently as 2007, he made a guest appearance on “Two and a Half Men.” His other TV appearances included “Murder, She Wrote,” “Love Boat,” and “Walker, Texas Ranger.”

The handsome square-jawed actor also appeared in early ’60s TV series “Tightrope!” and “Today’s F.B.I.” in the early ’80s. He later played Colonel Hack Peters in Herman Wouk miniseries “War and Remembrance.”

Born Kreker J. Ohanian in Fresno, Calif., Connors was of Armenian descent. He played basketball at UCLA where he was nicknamed “Touch,” and was credited in his first few films as Touch Connors. In the 1950s, Connors appeared in the John Wayne film “Island in the Sky” and in Cecil B. DeMille’s “The Ten Commandments.”

Connors is survived by his wife Mary Lou, daughter Dena, and granddaughter Cooper.

[MosJan]

RIP
Astvats Hogin Lusavory