... And Another 81 for Mike Connors

Finally, since we’re very in to celebrating birthdays here at The Rap Sheet (the simple fact is, we’re addicted to cake icing), it would be a lapse not to mention that yesterday was the 81st birthday of Mike Connors, the actor who appeared on television for eight years (1967-1975) as Joe Mannix, a self-described “hard-boiled private eye ... in the classical tradition.” I was a bit young to appreciate Mannix, though it was one of my father’s favorite shows. However, Kevin Burton Smith notes the significance of that series and its protagonist at the Thrilling Detective Web Site. Mannix was cancelled just as American TV airwaves began to run over with private dicks, including Jim Rockford, Frank Cannon, and Barnaby Jones. Yet, “Mannix’s very success revived the genre,” Smith writes. “By humanizing the private eye, and bringing him into the seventies, Mannix paved the way for all who would replace him.”

(Hat tip to Gerald So.)