Route 66 star Martin Milner dies at 83

[roadman65]

For those of you who remember the old 60's drama Route 66, with two guys traveling the country in an old Corvette, will remember lead character Todd Stiles played by Martin Milner.  Well I just heard today on facebook that the actor just passed away.  One who was not only the driver of the Corvette, but of a police cruiser in Adam 12 in the late 60's and early 70's as well.
http://variety.com/2015/film/news/martin-milner-dead-adam-12-route-66-1201587461

[US71]

[PHLBOS]

He also played Officer Pete Malloy in Adam-12.

[roadman65]

He also played Officer Pete Malloy in Adam-12.

Also driving a car.

He will be missed.

[PHLBOS]

He also played Officer Pete Malloy in Adam-12.

Also driving a car.

Either a Dodge Coronet or an AMC Ambassador depending on the episode or season.

[cpzilliacus]

The Route 66 show aired when I was a toddler, but I distinctly remember two things about it - the great theme song (sounded good to my ears then, and still sounds good) and the Corvette that they drove around in (I have always regarded about the first ten years of the Vette's run as being extremely cool).

I associate Martin Milner much more with Adam-12.

[cpzilliacus]

He also played Officer Pete Malloy in Adam-12.

Also driving a car.

Either a Dodge Coronet or an AMC Ambassador depending on the episode or season.

I believe the earlier years of the show, the Adam-12 car was a 1968 Plymouth Belvedere (a corporate cousin of the Coronet), and the later years an AMC Matador. They may have had a Plymouth Satellite for a year or two.

In the pilot of Adam-12, a 1967 Belvedere was used.

All of the Adam-12 cars were from the same factory run, with the same factory options as the real LAPD cars - producer Jack Webb insisted on this for the sake of giving the show added authenticity.

[Pete from Boston]

I was just recently trying to explain Adam-12 as kind of the foundation for cop shows that dealt with what it was like for the cops. 

I know Jack Webb did a lot of research into the day-to-day of regular police life, and this was clearly a big part of what they tried to work into Adam-12. 

"Emergency" was the final act in the Jack Webb series, and it went whole hog into the subjects' personal lives.  After that it all bled into CHiPs and Hill Street Blues.  But in my opinion, Adam-12 started it all.

[SidS1045]

I was just recently trying to explain Adam-12 as kind of the foundation for cop shows that dealt with what it was like for the cops. 

I know Jack Webb did a lot of research into the day-to-day of regular police life, and this was clearly a big part of what they tried to work into Adam-12. 

"Emergency" was the final act in the Jack Webb series, and it went whole hog into the subjects' personal lives.  After that it all bled into CHiPs and Hill Street Blues.  But in my opinion, Adam-12 started it all.

The LA police lionized Jack Webb, mostly because he showed police work as it really was, especially on "Dragnet"...long hours at a desk, working the phones, interviewing witnesses and suspects, and very few of the overly dramatic car chases and shootouts that populated other cop shows.  (IIRC, Webb's character only fired his service revolver once or twice during the entire run of both "Dragnet" series.)  After Dragnet went off the air, the LAPD "retired" Sgt. Joe Friday's badge number (714) and set up a tribute display to Webb in the lobby of their HQ building.

[ARMOURERERIC]

As a side note, as I am shopping for vehicles, a local listing that comes up as a project car for way too much $$ Jack Webb's 1970 Eldorado Convertible.