Steven Hill as Dan Briggs in Season One of MISSION..Steven Hill (born February 24, 1922) is an American film and television actor. His two better-known roles are District Attorney Adam Schiff on the NBC TV drama series Law & Order, whom he portrayed for ten seasons (1990–2000), and Dan Briggs, the original team leader of the Impossible Missions Force on CBSs television series Mission: Impossible, whom he portrayed only in the initial season of the show (1966–1967). Mission: Impossible Hill was the original leader of the Impossible Missions Force, Dan Briggs in the series Mission: Impossible beginning in 1966. The phrase Good morning, Mr. Briggs... was a fixture early in each episode as it began a tape recording he retrieved which detailed the task he must accomplish, however he left the show in 1967 after the end of the first season. As one of the few Orthodox Jewish actors working in Hollywood, he made it clear in advance of production that he was not able to work on the Sabbath (i.e., sundown Friday to dusk Saturday), and that he would be leaving the set every Friday before sundown. However, despite Hills advance warnings, the shows producers were unprepared for his rigid adherence to the Sabbath, and on at least one occasion Hill left the set while an episode was still in the midst of filming. According to Desilu executive Herb Solow, once William Shatner burst into his office, claiming Steve asked me how many Jews worked on Star Trek. He was recruiting a prayer group of ten guys to worship together on top of the studios highest building and only had six Jews as far from Mission. He asked if I would come and bring Nimoy and Justman and you. Hill was briefly suspended from the show near the end of the season, during the production of episode no. 23 (entitled Action!). The suspension was imposed after he refused to climb the rafters via a soundstage staircase, as was called for in the script.[9] (This incident was unrelated to any religious observances of Hills.) Consequently, Hill was written out of that episode, and when he returned to Mission: Impossible for the five remaining episodes of the season, his role was severely reduced. Hill was not asked to return for season 2, and was replaced as the shows star by Peter Graves.
Posted on: Wed, 03 Sep 2014 13:41:23 +0000
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