Obituaries

Actor Peter Graves, best known for being host of the Biography series and shows like Mission Impossible, has been found dead at the age of 83.

He is the younger brother of actor James Arness.

Graves also had some roles in films. One that immediately comes to mind is the minor role of the father of the two kids tormented by madman Robert Mitchum in the 1955 classic, Night of the Hunter.

Actor Peter Graves was found dead Sunday at his home in Pacific Palisades, according to law enforcement sources. Graves, who stared in "Mission: Impossible," "Airplane!" and Billy Wilder's "Stalag 17"--apparently died of natural causes, the sources said.

Graves was 83, according to a biography on the website IMDB.com.

In a Times story late last year, Graves said he initially turned down the role for "Airplane!" because he thought it was in poor taste--until actors Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges and Leslie Nielsen signed on to the cast. "They say you are supposed to stretch as an actor, so let's go stretch it," he told The Times' Susan King.