Steven Hill, best remembered as the often exasperated District Attorney Adam Schiff on Law & Order, dies at 94 of unspecified causes, reports Variety and others.
From Variety: "Steven Hill, D.A. Adam Schiff on ‘Law & Order,’ Dies at 94"
From The New York Times: "Steven Hill, Who Starred on ‘Law & Order’ and ‘Mission: Impossible,’ Dies at 94"
From USA TODAY: "'Law & Order' star Steven Hill dies at 94"
From The Hollywood Reporter: "Steven Hill, District Attorney Adam Schiff on 'Law & Order,' Dies at 94"
From Wikipedia: "Steven Hill"
Hill spent 10 years on Law & Order, although he wasn't in the pilot episode that CBS didn't pick up. In fact, his last acting credit was in the 10th season finale in 2000.
Those of us with long memories remember him from the first season of Mission: Impossible, as team leader Dan Briggs. He was replaced in the second season by Peter Graves as Jim Phelps, who became the face of the show. Hill had been a character actor on stage, movies and TV dramas before taking on a regular series, but the experience became frustrating for everyone involved.
Hill had become an observant Orthodox Jew, and made the Mission: Impossible producers aware he would be unavailable on the Sabbath -- indeed, he had it in his contract that he must leave the set at 4 p.m. on Fridays to allow him time to return home. Although this was agreed to up front, it became a problem when he dared to live up to it, once even leaving the set in the middle of a scene. The show wrote around his absences, offloading some of his scenes to "special guest star" Martin Landau. But after Hill balked at doing a lot of stunt work in one episode -- after having done so the previous week -- the producers cut his workload to a minimum and hired Graves.
After that, Hill didn't work as an actor for 10 years. He got back into it with character roles in various movies before he joined Law & Order, where they made his schedule work.
Rest in peace.
Replies
I always enjoyed his work on Law & Order.
In Southern California we have a Congressman Adam Schiff. People being how they are, somebody will think HE died.
Woof, this one means a lot to me. I absolutely loved him in Law & Order, He was so darn good in that role. L&O that is one of my all-time favorite shows. There isn't a show I've watched more.
He was the grand statesman on that show but he never got pompous because of it. That took skill.
Great actor. Very memorable as Adam Schiff.