Legendary actor Peter Graves died on Sunday of a heart attack at his home in Pacific Palisades, Calif. said Fred Barman, his business manager. The Los Angeles times reported that Graves had just returned from brunch with his family to celebrate his upcoming 84th birthday before collapsing on the driveway.

Graves starred in more than 70 television series and feature films, typically playing the straight-laced hero. One of his first major roles was in the 1953 classic, “Stalag 17,” in which he played an undercover Nazi spy placed among American POWs in a German camp.

His most memorable role was in “Mission: Impossible,” the 1960s CBS series in which he played intelligence agent James Phelps, leader of the elite Impossible Missions Force. The show ran from 1967 to 1973 on CBS and 1988 to 1990 on ABC.

Graves also signed on to become the spokesperson for American Advisors Group, a reverse mortgage lender based in Irvine, CA. The company issued the following statement earlier today:

American Advisors Group is deeply saddened by the loss of Peter Graves. Our thoughts go out to his family and friends at this time and with them in mind, AAG has decided to remove Peter’s image from the national television campaign. We will talk with his family and representatives at a later date about the future.

Peter Graves was selected as AAG’s spokesperson because of the man he was on and off the camera. He represented everything AAG aspires to be – trustworthy, respectful, intelligent and positive. We felt his values reflected ours, and our professional relationship was always positive for both parties – he will be sadly missed by the AAG family.

Our thoughts and prayers are with his family at this very sad time.

Reza Jahangiri
CEO, AAG