Martin Milner, the actor propelled to stardom by his leading role in two 1960s TV series, Route 66 and Adam-12, died Sunday. He was 83, the Associated Press reports.
Milner began his career as a teen actor, but it wasn’t until he co-starred with George Maharis as part of a pair of travelers crisscrossing America in Route 66 that Milner became a star. Milner’s character, Tod Stiles, was a formerly rich kid whose dad left him nothing but a Corvette—which he used to travel Route 66.
After contract issues on Route 66, Milner worked on Adam-12, where he acted as a veteran cop mentoring a rookie in the Los Angeles Police Department.
“I had a long, long friendship with Marty and we remained friends up till the end,” Adam-12 co-star Kent McCord said on Monday. “He was one of the really true great people of our industry with a long, distinguished career … He was one of the great guys. I was lucky to have him in my life.”
