Steven Hill of Mission:Impossible (1st Season) and Law & Order dies...*

He was a very strict Chassidic Jew and had a successful run (although he got fired from Mission:Impossible for refusing to work on the Sabbath)... He was on some other show later on in his life, but I forget what it was called... In any event, Rest In Peace!!!

 

Law & Order. He was on there for over a decade. TNT just happened to show his last episode yesterday morning. R.I.P.

 

A 51 year career, not too shabby. I liked recognizing him on an Untouchables episode, recently. Rest In Peace Sir.

 

his was incredible in that first season of Mission:Impossible still he had a long a successful career ! Rip

 

I agree, he was excellent in those first year MI episodes. Rip Mr. Hill.

 

One of Steven Hill's earliest motion picture roles (he gets an "Introducing" credit) is as a 2-bit hood in the Cornell Wilde film, STORM FEAR (1955).

Promotional photo showing Steven Hill and Lee Grant from STORM FEAR.

I discovered STORM FEAR as a kid one rainy Sunday afternoon. It was that or nothing else and I found it memorable. It rarely was shown after that but I DID manage to catch it on a LATE, LATE SHOW one night in the '90s. It was as obscure as obscure can be and even well into the Internet age it had very little meaningful information published.

Incredibly, last year, Kino Lorber actually released the movie on Blu-ray and DVD. It was truly one of the films I never expected to see on Blu-ray, but there it is:
https://www.amazon.com/Storm-Fear-Blu-ray-Cornel-Wilde/dp/B00YQTCOHI

RIP, Mr. Hill. I also loved his MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE work as his bland manner made him perfect for the role of a spy.

 

RIP.
He will always be District Attorney Adam Schiff. That was perfect casting, I can't imagine anyone else in that role.

 

A different perspective on Mr. Hill's death. The Hebrew word "petira" means "absolution" (from further performance of the Jewish commandments)...

Petira of R’ Shlomo (Steven) Hill Z’L [UPDATED] »

It's interesting to read the comments following the article. He was very well thought of in the Orthodox Jewish world.


Other terms used in this article:
Mesiras Nefesh -- self-sacrifice
Frum -- orthodox (as in "being an Orthodox Jew")
Halachic -- rules by which an Orthodox Jew lives.
Skver -- an ultra-Orthodox group who have a community (called "New Skver") in upstate New York. New Square, New York - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia »
Rebbe -- the leader of the group whose word is law...
Torah -- rules by which an Orthodox Jew lives (not to be confused with "The Torah" which is the Five books of Moses).
Hakafos -- the influence
Z"L -- of blessed memory -- said after the name of prominent Orthodox Jews when speaking of them.
Ribonno Shel Olam -- Master of the World (i.e. "God")
Levaya -- the funeral
Baruch Da'yan Ha'Emes -- Blessed be the True Judge

 

Sad news. Great classic guy. Very talented. RIP.

 

The secretary has disavowed any knowledge of his actions.

(Too soon?)

 

Ohhhhh the Law and Order guy. I didn't make the connection with the old photo and the Mission Impossible reference. RIP.

 

What Scooter said
None of the other Law & Order DA's held a candle to Adam Schiff, and Steven Hill was perfect in the role.

"Just make the deal."

 

Hill was very much agent Dan Briggs in the first season of Mission: Impossible...



It's no coincidence that the character who replaced his was named Jim Phelps -- similar names, same number of syllables, essentially the same character. Hill was basically let go (by mutual decision) because he was a devout Orthodox Jew who would not work late on Fridays, which interfered with the show's production schedule.

I actually think Peter Graves was better for the show because he could do foreign accents better and could do fight scenes better. But Steven Hill was also a very fine actor and had a great history with the Actors' Studio and all kinds of work over the past 50 years.

 

yea buts its Briggs murky past that drives that first season unlike the rest of the seasons that followed.