page_title: Mike Connors
section_title: Mannix
hierarchical_section_title: Mike Connors / Career / Mannix
caption_attribution_description: Photo of Mike Connors as Joe Mannix and Gail Fisher as Peggy Fair, his assistant, from the television program Mannix.
context_page_description: Krekor Ohanian, known professionally as Mike Connors, was an American actor best known for playing private detective Joe Mannix in the CBS television series Mannix from 1967–1975, a role which earned him a Golden Globe Award in 1970, the first of six straight nominations, as well as four consecutive Emmy nominations from 1970–1973. He starred in the short-lived series Tightrope! and Today's FBI. Connors' acting career spanned six decades. In addition to his work on television, he appeared in numerous films, including Sudden Fear, Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious, Stagecoach, Kiss the Girls and Make Them Die, and Too Scared to Scream, which he also produced.
context_section_description: Connors became best known for playing the private investigator Joe Mannix in the detective series Mannix. The series ran for eight seasons from 1967 to 1975. During the first season of the series, Joe Mannix works for Intertect, a large Los Angeles detective agency run by his superior Lew Wickersham (Joseph Campanella). From the second season onward, Mannix opens his own detective agency and is assisted by his secretary Peggy Fair (Gail Fisher).
  Mannix was originally produced by Desilu Productions (later absorbed by Paramount Television). Then-president Lucille Ball pushed for CBS to keep the show on air by removing the high-tech computers and making Mannix an independent detective. This move enabled the show to become a long-running hit for the network.
  Connors performed his own stunts on the series. During the filming of the pilot episode, he broke his wrist and dislocated his shoulder.
  Joe Mannix was an Armenian-American, like Connors. He spoke Armenian in a number of episodes and often quoted Armenian proverbs.
  In 1970, Connors won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Television Series Drama. He was nominated for the Golden Globe Award six times from 1970–1975 and was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series four times from 1970–1973.
  When discussing the success of the series in an interview, Connors stated: "The show itself started a whole new era of detective shows, because this wasn’t the usual cynical private eye à la Humphrey Bogart. It was more a show about an all-round normal human being. The character of Joe Mannix could be taken advantage of by a pretty face, he could shed a tear on an emotional level, he was very close to his father and his family, so he was more a normal personality with normal behaviour."
  Connors was able to work with his boss Lucille Ball on-screen during a cross-promotion episode of her Here's Lucy series in 1971. The episode, which opened Lucy's fourth season, is titled "Lucy and Mannix are Held Hostage". This was notable as the first episode shot at Universal Studios, after Ball ceased producing her program at Paramount Studios.
  Mannix remained a hit show through its final season and was not cancelled due to low ratings. The show was taken off the air due to a dispute between CBS and Paramount. Paramount had sold the rights to air Mannix reruns to rival network ABC without informing CBS. When CBS discovered the deal, the executives quickly decided to cancel Mannix  to avoid losing viewership for new episodes to the reruns.
  He  later reprised the role of Joe Mannix in a 1997 episode of Diagnosis: Murder and in the 2003 comedy film Nobody Knows Anything!.
caption: Connors with Gail Fisher in a publicity photo for Mannix, 1970
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