# Farewell Steven Hill **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2016, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farewell-steven-hill/763754 "2016-08-23T19:32:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farewell-steven-hill/763754/21 "2016-08-24T02:10:46Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > Hill has the advantage of only being in the series while they still had fresh material to work with. A few seasons in and they seemed to be recycling the same plots/tricks pretty heavily. … Yes, the show got rather cartoonish as the years went by, but that first season everyone seemed to be taking it fairly seriously as a caper/thriller, rather than as camp. I never saw the show at all until four or five years ago when one of the cable ‘nostalgia’ stations started airing it; after Hill’s episodes I was spoiled and couldn’t enjoy Peter Graves’ more wooden delivery. (I will always feel affection for Peter Graves for his _Airplane_ turn, but not even his most ardent fans will claim he was a master thespian.) (Fans of _Star Trek_ will find it worthwhile to watch those first episodes, as of course both shows were filmed on the same lot and had not only many guest stars in common, but also sets (!) and incidental music.) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farewell-steven-hill/763754/22 "2016-08-24T02:14:58Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Fans of _Star Trek_ will find it worthwhile to watch those first episodes, as of course both shows were filmed on the same lot and had not only many guest stars in common, but also sets (!) and incidental music. They were both sold to the networks on the same trip to NYC in early 1966. \*\*\*Mannix \*\*\*followed the next year … and then Lucille Ball sold Desilu to Paramount. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![eenerms](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/cdc98d/32.png) [@eenerms](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eenerms)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farewell-steven-hill/763754/23 "2016-08-24T18:12:54Z")
Damn…but knew it was a matter of time. RIP ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farewell-steven-hill/763754/24 "2016-08-24T18:47:49Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > They were both sold to the networks on the same trip to NYC in early 1966. \*\*\*Mannix \*\*\*followed the next year … and then Lucille Ball sold Desilu to Paramount. ☹ I hadn’t known about the NYC sales pitch. Most fans of MI know that Steven Hill got together a prayer group with (as I recall) Leonard Nimoy and at least two other guys from _Trek_, during that year. On Hill’s performances: sometime in the past year, TCM showed the 1959 _Kiss Her Goodbye_, one of Hill’s few leading-man roles in feature films. It features Elaine Stritch as his romantic interest (a rarity for her, too). It’s well worth a viewing. The thing about Steven Hill as an actor, is: he was never not interesting, and he was never not-real. Not for an instant. ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farewell-steven-hill/763754/25 "2016-08-24T19:07:35Z")
> [@Fair\_Rarity](#): > > I’m watching an Orbach/Hill era L&O episode right this second and it’s making me sad. Two of my favorite characters in the history of television. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farewell-steven-hill/763754/26 "2016-08-24T19:13:23Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > I never saw the show at all until four or five years ago when one of the cable ‘nostalgia’ stations started airing it;… I’ve caught a few episodes recently. One of them was seriously messed up; the team had kidnapped someone and was keeping him in a fake prison set that they’d built. They convinced him that he was going to be executed. I don’t remember why, exactly. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farewell-steven-hill/763754/27 "2016-08-24T19:13:57Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > I hadn’t known about the NYC sales pitch. Solow talks about it in _ **Star Trek: The Real Story** _, published in 1996. Desilu at the time had very little money, so _ **MI** _ was largely bankrolled by CBS, thanks to Ball’s close relationship with the network. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farewell-steven-hill/763754/28 "2016-08-24T19:18:37Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I’ve caught a few episodes recently. One of them was seriously messed up; the team had kidnapped someone and was keeping him in a fake prison set that they’d built. They convinced him that he was going to be executed. I don’t remember why, exactly. He was a professional hit man. They wanted to get his confession on tape, so they could nail the guy he worked for. The best thing about that episode was that they showed in great detail how to make a rifle grenade using stuff from your local hardware and sporting goods stores. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farewell-steven-hill/763754/29 "2016-08-24T19:33:59Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > He was a professional hit man. They wanted to get his confession on tape, so they could nail the guy he worked for. > > The best thing about that episode was that they showed in great detail how to make a rifle grenade using stuff from your local hardware and sporting goods stores. 🆒 And then they have the weightlifter kayo him in the most low-tech way possible. _No, if we inject the guy with a hypodermic, it’ll leave a mark and he’ll realize he’s been drugged; how fast can you choke him out by wrapping him up in a judo hold?_ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farewell-steven-hill/763754/30 "2016-08-24T19:45:21Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > And then they have the weightlifter kayo him in the most low-tech way possible. _No, if we inject the guy with a hypodermic, it’ll leave a mark and he’ll realize he’s been drugged; how fast can you choke him out by wrapping him up in a judo hold?_ I always liked the one where they tricked the old Nazi into killing the young neo-Nazi before he could launch a Fourth Reich. That and the one where they faked a nuclear attack are my all-time favorite episodes! The first-season episode where they found Hitler’s lost gold was a really good one too! The cemetery where they found the Braun crypt was actually next door to Desilu’s Gower Street studio. And the water tower Barney climbed in the episode with the mind control drug was right in the middle of the studio compound. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farewell-steven-hill/763754/31 "2016-08-24T19:51:08Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > Most fans of MI know that Steven Hill got together a prayer group with (as I recall) Leonard Nimoy and at least two other guys from _Trek_, during that year. In the book, Solow talks about this as well. He needed ten men, as per Talmudic law. It’s never revealed if he succeeded in finding them. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farewell-steven-hill/763754/32 "2016-08-24T21:59:25Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > _ **Mission: Impossible** _ debuted in September 1966. That was the season all three networks switched to full color. So no, Hill’s episodes were not in B&W. Hm…I’ll have to load up my DVDs. I could have sworn that they started B&W. If not…then I guess I don’t know why Hill’s episodes wouldn’t be in rotation. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farewell-steven-hill/763754/33 "2016-08-24T22:13:22Z")
> [@Fair\_Rarity](#): > > I’m watching an Orbach/Hill era L&O episode right this second and it’s making me sad. The best of L&O there. Doesn’t really matter who the asst. DA is or who Lenny’s partner is. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2016, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farewell-steven-hill/763754/34 "2016-08-24T22:28:02Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#): > > I’m so sorry to hear this. I found out during a really short phone call. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2016, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farewell-steven-hill/763754/35 "2016-08-25T15:26:06Z")
So as not to derail this memorial thread. [What are your favorite MI moments?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=19580972#post19580972) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farewell-steven-hill/763754.md?page=1)