Without a doubt, the Impossible Mission Force could not have gotten off the ground without their leader, Daniel Briggs (Steven Hill). Fortunately when he left, Peter Graves (nee Aurness) as IMF leader Jim Phelps was able to take up the slack. In 1955 he directed Gunsmoke in which his brother James Arness (nee Aurness) starred in the main lead. As another side note, he played Martin Davis in Bayou, retitled POOR WHITE TRASH in 1957. In 2003 he played Noah Poole a former Nazi officer who passed himself off as a Swedish Jew in COLD CASE, he still looked in good form and turned in an excellent performance at age 77 too! Steven Hill looks quite different now on LAW AND ORDER as District Attorney Adam Schiff, but also quite distinguished at age 84! Martin Landau (1966-1969)was Rollin Hand and in 1969 Leonard Nimoy as Paris until 1971, both actors added a lot to the series as did Peter Lupus who played Willy Armitage did well with the limited parts given him. Greg Morris as Barney Collier was great with gadgets and made using them look very professionally done and quite believable too! Barbara Bain as Cinnamon Carter was more memorable than Lynda Day George as Lisa Casey or Lesley Ann Warren as Dana Lambert or Barbara Anderson as Mimi Davis. Sam Elliott as Doug Robert seemed forgettable and appeared to myself as playing a very limited role. Poor old Bob Johnson who was the voice on the tape never appeared before the camera and I wondered to this day what he looked like? Sad to say, the recent crop of MISSION IMPOSSIBLE motion pictures just do not seem to cut it, this is definitely a series that cannot be replaced nor more than I LOVE LUCY, SERGEANT BILKO, CAR-54, and a host of other great t.v. series! I am looking forward to the day they release the Mission Impossible series on either video-tape, DVD, or both formats! Steven Hill was and is a great actor! Sarge Booker of Tujunga, California