Martin Milner (left) and George Maharis starred in “Route 66“, which ran for four seasons on CBS. That series, with the familiar radio dispatcher catchphrase “1-Adam-12”, ran from 1968 to 1975.
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“Milner played the role of Sergeant Friday’s partner, Officer Bill Lockwood, as well as other characters on the radio series”, according to the site Together We Served.
Milner was under contract at Lancaster’s production company, HechtLancaster.
Writes Mark Alvey on the website of the Museum of Broadcast Communcations, “Its 1960 premiere launched two young drifters in a Corvette on an existential odyssey in which they encountered a myriad of loners, dreamers and outcasts in the small towns and big cities along U.S. Highway 66 and beyond”.
Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck said that Milner’s role on “Adam-12” inspired him and countless others to join the force.
Martin got his start in acting at the age of 15, when he was cast as the second of three sons in 1946’s Life With Father. He grew up in Seattle, were he worked as a child actor in local plays. He studied with an acting coach and landed an agent, then attended USC. After the film, Milner was diagnosed with polio, but recovered a year later and continued to work in Hollywood.
Milner moved between film and TV throughout the 1950s. The show’s plotlines were reportedly based on actual LAPD cases.
After his discharge, he appeared in movies such as “Francis in the Navy“, Webb’s “Pete Kelly’s Blues”, “Sweet Smell of Success” and “Marjorie Morning Star”.
“We traveled with kids and a housekeeper”, Milner said in a 2001 interview. It was a circus. “I was lucky to have him in my life”. In 1967, he appeared in Valley of the Dolls. Mr. Milner played a jazz musician who is also the romantic interest of the columnist’s sister.
“Adam-12” co-star Kent McCord confirmed the death but gave no further details.
A few years later, Milner returned to TV screens weekly as LAPD officer Pete Malloy in “Adam-12”, about two patrol cops who grapple with a range of incidents – from the murderous to the mundane – while cruising the streets of Los Angeles.
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He also had stints as a regular on the 1950s situation comedies “The Stu Erwin Show” and “The Life of Riley”, as well as TV guest appearances on series such as “Navy Log”, “Playhouse 90” and “The Twilight Zone“.
