As hard as this might be to believe, Peter Graves has no star on the Walk of Fame. That unforgivable transgression will at last be corrected tomorrow, however, when the Mission: Impossible mastermind and enduring standard bearer of gravitas and cool finally earns his rightful place on Hollywood Blvd. The following week, he receives an equally deserved Lifetime Achievement Award at the Ojai-Ventura International Film Festival. He'll be there, answering your questions following a special screening of Airplane! -- the disaster spoof that opened him up to a new generation of fans, who to this day still pester him to, "Ask me if I've ever been to a Turkish prison!" Movieline talked to Graves about some of his classic early roles, his badge as geek totem to sci-fi B-movie fans everywhere, and his response to J.J. Abrams' invitation to return to the spy franchise from which he long ago parted ways. The incredible Mr. Graves, after the jump.
I'd like, if we might, to start by reaching backwards in your career. The Night of the Hunter is considered to be one of the very best American films of the 1950s, if not all time. What are your memories of that shoot?
It was way ahead of its time. I don't think the post-War world was quite ready for that yet. My memories of it are wonderful. We made that in '54. I do believe that was the only film Charles Laughton ever directed, but not because he didn't want to or wasn't splendid at it. He was just getting older by that time, and I don't think probably had the energy to do a lot of directing.
He was a great example of the way some actors could become marvelous directors. He had a trick that I hadn't seen before, of rolling the camera with a fresh, 1000-foot roll on it. When you finished the scene, he'd already notified the camera not to cut, and while it was still rolling, he would say to the actors,"Try so-and-so. Make this a little more pronounced, or less. Turn away for that line. Soften it a bit." He'd talk it through. And then, very quietly, he'd say, "All right, let's do it again -- action." And he might do it three or four times, or for however long it would take to fill up that first reel. Nine minute or ten. It was a wonderful way to work.
Of course, working with [Robert] Mitchum -- that was my first time working with him. And he was marvelous, very professional. A bright, bright guy. And a pretty independent fella!
Prior to that, you had also worked with Billy Wilder on Stalag 17.
I made that in '52. That's getting pretty far away, now. It was terrific. It was a great time working for Billy Wilder. He wrote it.
But it was based on a play, right?
Yeah. It was written by these two guys who had been in one of the Stalags. Paramount hired one of those writers to work on the screenplay and be a part of the barracks. But Billy didn't like him or think he could screenwrite worth a damn. So he never did anything involving writing.
Since it had been a play, and took place primarily in the barracks, it lent itself to be photographed from the beginning to the end, which we did. We started with about 20 pages. When we finished those, Billy would come striding onto the set with his new pages. And he'd say, "C'mon -- sit around the table, let's read this through and see if it's going to work for us." And we did the rest of the picture that way, which was a wonderful way to work. Again, creative stuff. He was a pressure writer. He had to be under pressure.
There are only a couple of us left. But it's a memory that will endure, and a picture surely that has endured.
That's for sure. You also starred in a series of a sci-fi films in the '50s, including one directed by Billy Wilder's brother, I believe.
Geez, that's right, of course! Of course! W. Lee Wilder, was it?
That's right.
Which one was that? I made three or four of those.
Killers From Space.
Killers From Space! I did three or four of them. That was a wonderful way to learn your craft. We didn't waste any time -- we made most of those in ten days.
Wow.
Yeah. I did one for Roger Corman. He's still with us. He was brilliant -- he knew story and character very well. I think he made as good sci-fi pictures as anyone, no matter what their budget. The only thing that we were missing in those days were the special effects, of course. But his screenplays were certainly as good as anything like Jurassic Park, which cost what, $100 million?
They'd later go on to have a second life on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Are you familiar with that show?
Yeah, right. I've caught some of those.
You have?
Yeah. With the idiots sitting in the front row and commenting on what they see on the screen.
You weren't too pleased with those?
No, I wasn't too pleased with those.
OK. But that brings us to Airplane!, and the fact that you were willing to spoof your own image.
Mm-hm.
I had read that when you first read the script, you called it "the worst piece of junk you had ever seen." Is that true?
[Laughs] I don't know if I really said that. When I read it, I knew it was the craziest thing I had ever read, surely.
Don't call me Shirley.
[Laughs] Right, right. Of course. But more than that, I was concerned about playing this pilot who would say things like, "You ever see a grown man naked?" to a 12-year-old boy.
That was a concern to you?
My career had been built really on the solid, straightforward, honest, hardworking guy. I played the iron-bound father in Fury and the impervious genius in Mission: Impossible. My whole career had been pretty good guys, and I saw danger in Cpt. Oveur. That I could have been spoofing myself, and maybe lose a twenty year buildup that I had made by that time. So I did call my agent and said, "I don't think I can do this." And he said, "OK, I'll tell them." And about ten minutes later, I got a call from Howard Koch, who was the executive producer overseeing the three young guys who were making this thing. And he said, "Why don't you come in and talk to the guys, and let them explain to you what they're looking for."
And I did so, and I really went in with the thing in mind that they should have Harvey Korman play this pilot. And they smiled at each other, and said, "No -- you don't get what we're talking about yet." They explained to me that they wanted all these characters to play it as real as anything we'd ever played on the screen, and straight. Never thinking that we were making a joke or saying a funny line. And that appealed to me. I thought man, I'm onto something, crossed my fingers and said, "Sure. I'll do it." And it's become a happy experience.
Had Robert Stack, Leslie Nielsen and Lloyd Bridges joined that cast at that point? Did that influence your decision at all?
I don't know that they had. I can't remember discussing that. They might have. We were all cast around the same time. But we never worked together. I worked with Leslie once or twice in the film, but I never worked with Bob or Lloyd. When you don't have that kind of continuity, or share the some stories or feelings, it's difficult. We were off in our own solitary confinement -- me with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Did it change your career significantly?
When it became a success, I got scripts from all over the place, all playing the same character. People without taste, utterly, and I turned them all down. I went from that directly into Winds of War -- another straight character -- so no, it didn't have a big effect, except to widen an audience for me. People said, "Hey -- Graves can do more than one thing." Because believe me -- there is truth in Hollywood typecasting. Oh man.
Let's talk about that "impervious genius" you played on Mission: Impossible -- Jim Phelps. Recently, the director J.J. Abrams, who did Mission: Impossible III and the new Star Trek film, had said that he heard you're in great shape, and he wants to "seriousize" you. In other words, bring you back to bridge the gap in the fourth installment, the way he did with Leonard Nimoy in Star Trek. What would be your response if he approached you with that?
It would be good. It would be good. When the first film was made with Tom [Cruise], I certainly objected to Jon Voight playing a character named Phelps who turns out to be the rat and the spy and the killer who destroys his whole team of people -- and he himself is killed in that film. I didn't like that much. And certainly the approach to Mission: Impossible, which had been a sort of intellectual game, rather than shoot 'em up, car crash, plane crash, bang bang stuff.
And when I read something in the trade papers here about the possibility of making a number four, I thought, geez, what a great chance that might for them to bring back Peter Graves's Jim Phelps. It might lead to some interesting things. You could then bring in a whole new team of younger people. There are a million story possibilities to that -- that Phelps did not really die in that first film, and has been in hiding, or on secret missions for whatever reasons. But chronologically he is that many years older. I think there's a good bunch of possibilities in there. I hope they keep trying to develop that.
So you heard it here first. You're open to Mission: Impossible IV.
Well, yeah. Sure. [Laughs] Pictures are so hard to make, and they're so expensive. The market is changing. So I don't want to stand behind a headline that shouts, "GRAVES FOR PHELPS IN '4.'" You know. I'm lower-key than that.
Well that's exciting. I think the world is ready for it.
That's true. And I'm lucky, because tomorrow, I'm getting my star on Hollywood Boulevard, which I think is a nice thing. It's taken me 60 years to get it, but what the heck! It's an honor.
What took so long?
Darned if I know. I guess I'm a slow mover. And it sort of cuts into you when they take some young rocker or hip-hop star who makes a record and sells a million copies and immediately they put his star on the Boulevard. But, Hollywood has to survive, and Hollywood wants to attract people, younger people. So god bless the rest of them if they get them when they're 12, if it helps the motion picture business. But I'm happy with the way I've gotten mine.
Well, you're definitely overdue.
Thank you for that.