Martin Milner was an actor best known for his roles on the television series Route 66 and Adam-12, and in the Burt Lancaster movies Gunfight at the O.K. Corral and Sweet Smell of Success. In the former film he played the younger brother of Wyatt Earp (Lancaster), and in the latter he was a jazz guitarist engaged to the daughter of gossip columnist J.J. Hunsecker (also played by Lancaster). Both films were released in 1957 through Lancaster’s production company, Hecht-Lancaster, where Milner was under contract.
On Adam-12 he played Officer Pete Malloy, the grounded and practical counterbalance to Kent McCord’s hot-tempered Officer Jim Reed. Produced by Jack Webb, the realistic, docu-drama-style series was set in Los Angeles and ran from 1968 to ’75. Prior to Adam-12, from 1960 to ’64, Milner played Tod Stiles on Route 66. Inspired by the Jack Kerouac novel On the Road, the series (which was filmed in cities across the country) followed a clean-cut Yale graduate who goes on an extended road trip with his friend, played by George Maharis.
Milner’s work in television also included appearances on the series The Lone Ranger, Dragnet, The Life of Riley, Playhouse 90, The Millionaire, The Twilight Zone, The Virginian, Dragnet 1967, Columbo, Emergency!, Fantasy Island, MacGyver, Life Goes On, RoboCop, Diagnosis Murder and Murder, She Wrote.
The son of a film distributor fathwer and dancer mother, Milner settled in Hollywood with his parents when he was in his early teens. He studied with an acting coach, landed an agent, and then attended USC.
He got his start in entertainment in 1947, at age 14, when he was cast as John Day, the second-oldest son in the film Life with Father, starring William Powell, Irene Dunne and Elizabeth Taylor.
His other films included The Long Gray Line, Dial M for Murder, Valley of the Dolls, The Swiss Family Robinson, Sands of Iwo Jima, Operation Pacific, The Captive City, The Saber and the Arrow, Francis in the Navy, Pillars of the Sky, Marjorie Morningstar and Compulsion.
Beginning in 1952 he served in the Army for two years; during that time he directed training films and served as master of ceremonies for a touring-show unit. While still in the service he performed voice work for the radio version of Dragnet.
Milner died September 6, 2015, in Carlsbad, California. He was 83.
