Martin Milner Biography

Martin Milner was an American actor whose long screen career included starring roles on the popular TV series Route 66 and Adam-12. He grew up in Seattle and Los Angeles, and by the time he was 15, Milner had an agent and a role in the 1947 film Life With Father. His early career was made up of small parts in films, including Mister Roberts (1955, starring Henry Fonda), Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1957) and The Sweet Smell of Success (1957, starring Burt Lancaster). He worked with Jack Webb on the 1950s radio version of Dragnet, but when it came to the television version, Milner’s youthful appearance kept him out of the role as partner — he was a guest star as a juvenile delinquent instead. A few years later, he hit it big as an itinerant interloper on the TV series Route 66 (1960-64), then again as a veteran Los Angeles cop on Adam-12 (1968-75). Milner continued to appear in TV shows, and, later in his career, he hosted the syndicated radio shows, Let’s Talk Hook-Up and Let’s Talk Fishing.