Martin Milner

Martin Sam Milner was born December 28, 1931 in Detroit, Michigan. His mother, Jerre Martin, originally from Oregon, was a dancer with the Paramount Theater circuit. His father, Sam Gordon Milner, a Polish Jewish immigrant, was a film distributor. The Milners moved to Seattle when Martin was a baby and to Los Angeles soon after.

At age 15, Martin's father got him an agent and he was chosen to play the role of "John Day" in Life with Father (1947), Warner Bros. ' version of Clarence Day, Jr. 's popular Broadway play. Milner contracted polio shortly after filming was completed and his career was put on hold for a year as he recovered from the illness.

After graduating from North Hollywood High School and studying for one year at the University of Southern California, Milner worked steadily in films during the years 1949-1960.

He appeared in films such as Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), Gunfight at the O. K.

Milner met Jack Webb during the filming of Halls of Montezuma (1951) and later worked with him on his "Dragnet" radio show as well as the TV series Dragnet (1951).

He put his career on hold again when he was inducted into the Army in 1952 for two years. Shortly after joining the Army, he was assigned to the Human Research Division, where he directed military training films and served as Master of Ceremonies for a touring show based at Fort Ord, California.

Milner appeared as 17-year-old high school student "Stephen Banner" in the episode "The Big Producer" in 1952. According to Webb's biography "Just the Facts, Ma'am", Webb owed Milner money from a card game. When Webb called him to the studio to pay him back, he offered Milner a role in the "Dragnet" radio show.

Corral (1957), Marjorie Morningstar (1958) and Sweet Smell of Success (1957).

Milner married television actress and singer Judy Jones in 1957 and they have four children--Amy, Molly, Stuart, and Andrew.

According to his audio commentary on a The Twilight Zone (1959) DVD, he initially turned down Adam-12 (1968) to appear in a play he thought would be more successful, but the play flopped.

Two television shows in which he starred and for which he is probably most famous, Route 66 (1960) and Adam-12 (1968), are both renowned for filming primarily on location as opposed to on a Hollywood sound stage.

Has played the same character (Officer Peter Malloy) in four different series: Dragnet 1967 (1967), Adam-12 (1968), The D.A. (1971) and Emergency! (1972).

After that, Webb continued to find roles for Milner until he offered him the role of "Pete Malloy" on Adam-12 (1968).

Milner continued to appear in films throughout the 1970s and 1980s and made many guest appearances on television shows such as Murder, She Wrote (1984), the "Columbo" made-for-TV movies, MacGyver (1985), and Diagnosis Murder (1993).

Milner is an avid fisherman and has been co-host of the syndicated radio talk show "Let's Talk Hook-up" since 1993. He also hosts fishing trips through "Let's Talk Hook-Up.

His passions were "family and fishing, in that order" as he told People Magazine during an interview in 1995.

His role as veteran patrol officer Pete Malloy in Adam-12 (1968) inspired generations of kids to become cops. He got letters from policemen thanking him for "Adam-12". On Sept. 7, 2015, Los Angeles Chief of Police Charlie Beck said that the show and Milner "embodied the spirit of the LAPD to millions of viewers. His depiction of a professional and tough yet compassionate cop led to thousands of men and women applying to become LAPD officers, including me." [2015/09/07].