It's been a bad couple of days to be 94 as Toots Thielemans shuffled off with his harmonica only yesterday.
That Hill attained TV stardom in his 70's is all the more remarkable considering he had only returned to acting a few years earlier after a prolonged absence. Hill was cast in the lead role of Dan Briggs during the first season of Mission: Impossible (next month marks the 50th anniversary of the show's premiere). However, Hill's observant Orthodox Judaism did not sit well with the show's producers due to his refusal to work during Shabbat from sundown Friday to Saturday. Hill would be replaced by Peter Graves and the rest was TV history.
After appearing in '80's films like Yentl with Barbra Streisand, Teachers (directed by Arthur Hiller who passed away last week) and Legal Eagles, Hill would be cast as TV series regular in Law & Order for the first time since departing Mission: Impossible nearly 25 years earlier. Loosely based on former New York D.A. Robert Morgenthau (who just turned 97 last month), Steven Hill portrayed Adam Schiff as a cynical curmudgeon who never thought any of his ADAs had a case even if they had physical evidence and a confession. How often in the course of 10 years did Schiff tell either Benjamin Stone or Jack McCoy, "Make a deal!!!"?
Hill never made any other acting appearances after leaving Law & Order in 2000. It's probably just as well. Some characters are impossible to follow.
But there is more to life than the stage. There is life which itself is a blessing and something for which to be thankful as Steven Hill describes in the video below.
No comments:
Post a Comment