Young Peter

I have finally become one of those silly people who bid for things on ebay that they don't need. I am rather gutted that due to a stressful evening I missed out on some clippings of Peter Graves with his baby (I really wanted to see them :-() but I did get a little three page article from a TV guide with pictures from his and James Arness's childhood. So here they are, the article and the extracted photos.

'On the stage, it was the Booths and the Barrymores; in the movies, Olivia de Havilland and her sister Joan Fontaine. Television's first family is undoubtedly James Arness of Gunsmoke and his brother, Peter Graves of Mission: Impossible. Here are some snapshots from their family album. Above, 5-year-old Jim and a 2-year-old Pete with their paternal grandparents, Dr. and Mrs. Peter Aurness. For more pictures, turn the page.'

'During the summer of 1928, the Aurness family went to Lake Minnetonka in Minnesota, where Jim and Pete had their picture taken on the beach (center). Usually, though, their parents rented a cottage on an island in Ox Lake, 130 miles north of their Minneapolis home, where 12-year-old Pete practiced with his .22 rifle (far left). The dock at Ox Lake was taken away by the ice every winter and had to be collected and reassembled. Here (bottom, far left) 16 year old Jim, already tall, stands at the center of the dock with 13-year-old Pete, their dog Lucky and their cousin Patsy.'

 'By the following summer, Pete had done some growing too (bottom, this page). In later 1944, Pete enlisted in the Army Air Corps and Jim was home on leave after being wounded at Anzio. Here (left, above) they tower over their proud mother.'

Just to keep them all in the same place, here are some of the other pictures I have found of young Peter in the past.

James Aurness age 2, and his mother Ruth Aurness, possibly pregnant with Peter.

James Aurness, Peter Aurness and family. 1936.

Supposedly Peter performing in Dreamplay in 1948 at the University of Minnesota 

Apparently this is Peter performing in The Wild Duck in 1947-8 at the University of Minnesota.

Peter Graves and James Arness.

Picspam Time!

Well, I have been spending a lot of time on tumblr and a lot of time trawling ebay for pretty pictures. I've also been revising my Peter Graves-inspired novel (no, that's not as creepy as it sounds) for self-publication, which has plunged me fast and hard back into obsession. So here are some pictures that I recently found on the internet.

Court Martial, with Peter Graves and Bradford Dillman. I want so, so much to see this series. I could weep.

More from Court Martial. Again, I could weep.

Peter Graves (and Julie Sommars, in 1971), surrounded by balloons, to advertise a Thanksgiving Parade? Why, yes, I give thanks for that!

Bethel Leslie throws her drink in Peter Graves' face in A Rage To Live. I am grateful for the high resolution of this image.

With Inger Stevens in The Farmer's Daughter episode, 'The Playboy of Capitol Hill.'

Peter Graves and Dick Van Dyke together for Diagnosis Murder! I may swoon. Not that I fancy Dick Van Dyke, but he is awesome!

Fort Yuma. Yes, he plays a bit of an idiot, but a beautiful idiot nonetheless.

Some rather lovely early Mission: Impossible, I believe.

A little more Mission: Impossible.

Peter Graves in Fury. *incoherent slobber*. No, it's not highbrow entertainment, but yes he's still gorgeous.

Peter Graves in Hold Back The Night. This was marked as being 'of gay interest' on ebay. I don't know. You'd have to be made of stone for it not to excite you in some way.

I don't know what this is from, unless it's a scene I don't remember from The Naked Street. Someone tell me!!

Nice, stern looking Peter Graves from The Long Gray Line. Yum.

Oh, the prize! The first image I've seen from Rogue River. He's all of 25, in his first film. *Squeal*

Mission: Impossible S5E23 - The Merchant

Well, is it June already? I'm sorry. I've been caught up on Route 66, but that doesn't mean I don't still love Peter Graves :-)

Here are some screencaps from Mission: Impossible, Season 5, Episode 23: The Merchant, picked mostly because they show Jim looking pretty/under duress. That's it. That's the sole purpose for this post. There isn't even any out-there Jim-fashion - just Dana in a headscarf.

Jim. He does concentration so well.

Concentration and plotting.

Forming dastardly plans....

All in the time it takes the tape to roll and enter self-destruct mode.

Daring-Jim can climb out of windows at the drop of a hat...

...and look damn fine in the process.

And he can arrange to be caught by a man with a rottweiler, and make the man with the dog think it was all his cleverness. 

Dana and her headscarf. Barney looks like he's serenading her, but he's actually showing off his wonderful computer.

Paris knows he looks fine in his ruffled shirt.

Aww, he looks little with the lights on him.

Chastened, under-interrogation-Jim.

And we've got to have a picture of Willy (and George Sanders, who will commit suicide in a year's time.)

Jim is stoical, though, giving nothing away.

Stoical and pretty.

Stoical and pretty and superior.

And that's when Armand Anderssarian walks in. What a name!

Jim has a fake scar. Plus I love his face here.

And here.

And here.

And especially here, when he's smiling.

It's Red Cross Jim!

And putting-one-over-on-the-bad-guys-Jim.

He's a dab hand with remote controls. This one may not even be real.

Exit, stage left, victorious.