Martin Milner of 'Adam-12' Has Died: A Strong Yet Sensitive Actor
Martin Milner, best known as the star of two long-running TV series, Adam-12 and Route 66, has died at age 83. It’s almost impossible to think of Milner in old age — he was throughout most of his career known for his boyish, wholesome good looks.
In Route 66 (1960-64), Milner co-starred with George Maharis as two young men who criss-crossed the country in a Chevy Corvette, having adventures. Milner was the yin to Maharis’s yang — Milner, blond and cheerful; Maharis, dark and brooding. They were a terrific team in an unusual show that had no regular locale — it was filmed all over America — and which subtly dramatized the restlessness of the Beat Generation. You could say Milner was the TV version of a Jack Kerouac character.
In Adam-12, Milner played a man of greater experience: police officer Pete Malloy, who was partnered with a rookie, played by Kent McCord. Adam-12 was producer Jack Webb’s follow-up to his immensely successful series Dragnet, and like Dragnet, it placed Milner against sunny Los Angeles back-drops as he helped citizens and fought crime.
Before his TV stardom, Milner had a crucial supporting role in one of the great film noirs, The Sweet Smell of Success, playing a cool-jazz guitarist, Steve Dallas, who becomes a victim of the smear-longer gossip columnist JJ Hunsecker (Burt Lancaster).
Throughout his career, which began when he was a child, Milner specialized in roles that portrayed him as a decent young fellow, the kind of person with whom TV audiences could identify. A skilled actor, he excelled at making ordinary people seem interesting.
