Biography

Martin Sam Milner was born December 28, 1931 in Detroit, Michigan, the only child of Sam Gordon Milner and Jerry Martin. His father was a construction worker and advertising agent who later became a film distributor. His mother was a dancer with the Paramount Theater circuit. The Milners moved to Seattle when Martin was a child and then later to Los Angeles when he was in his early teens.

In Seattle, Milner had acted with the Cornish Players theater troupe. At age 14, after Sam Milner's job took the family to Hollywood, Martin's father got him an agent and he was chosen to play the role of "John Day", the second eldest red-headed son, in the Warner Brothers' film version of Clarence Day, Jr.'s popular Broadway play "Life With Father." Milner contracted polio shortly after filming was completed and his career was put on hold for a year as he recovered from the illness. His next major role was as "Private Mike McHugh" in John Wayne film "Sands of Iwo Jima".

Milner graduated from North Hollywood High School. He then studied briefly at San Fernando Valley State College and attended the University of Southern California for one year before dropping out to devote more time to his career. Milner worked steadily in film during the years 1949-1960, with a two-year interruption when he was drafted into the Army in 1952. He appeared in films such as "Sands of Iwo Jima", "Gunfight at the OK Corral, "Marjorie Morningstar", and "Sweet Smell of Success"

Shortly after joining the Army, he was assigned to the Human Research Division where he directed military training films and served as Master of Ceremonies for a touring show based a Fort Ord. While at Fort Ord, Milner met actors David Janssen and Clint Eastwood, who were also assigned to that division. Milner appeared with Clint Eastwood in the Rawhide episode "Incident with the Executioner", with Janssen in the Route 66 episode "One Tiger to a Hill", and with both Eastwood and Janssen in the film Francis in the Navy

Milner is married to former television actress and singer Judith Bess "Judy" Jones. They met at a dinner party and married in February of 1957. They have 4 children--Amy, Molly, Stuart, and Andrew. Both Andrew and Amy appeared in episodes of "Adam-12." Andrew served as a mini-bike stunt rider for Johnny Whitaker in the episode "Northeast Division"(1973) and Amy appeared in the episode "Victim of the Crime" (1975).

Milner appeared on TV's "Route 66" on CBS from 1960-1964. He played the role of "Tod Stiles", a young man who takes to the road in his cool Corvette with his buddy Buz Murdock (played by George Maharis) looking for adventure. During the years he was filming Route 66, Milner traveled to film locations with his wife and children, packing them all into a station wagon and setting up house wherever they happened to be filming at the time.

In 1968 Milner was chosen by actor/producer Jack Webb (of "Dragnet" fame) to play the role of Officer Pete Malloy on NBC TV's "Adam-12" in 1968. At first, Milner declined Webb's offer for the role of "Pete Malloy"; at the time he was starring in the Broadway Play "90 Day Mistress" with Dyan Cannon and was under contract to finish the play's run. Webb convinced Milner to film the pilot and, when the play ended, Milner readily accepted the role. Milner co-starred with Kent McCord ("Officer Jim Reed")on "Adam-12" during the years 1968-1975.

Milner had met Jack Webb during the filming of "Halls of Montezuma"(1950) and had worked with Webb on his "Dragnet" radio show as well as on the early "Dragnet" TV show. Milner appeared in several episodes of the 1950s Dragnet TV series. He appeared as 17-year-old high school student "Stephen Banner" in the 1952 episode "The Big Producer". Milner has said that he was the "house male juvenile delinquent" for the early Dragnet television series. Milner had read the part of Joe Friday's partner in some of the early radio shows but, because he looked too young, he could not play that part in the TV series. Instead, Webb let him play teenaged characters in the early TV shows. According to the Jack Webb biography "Just the Facts, Ma'am", Webb owed Milner money from a card game, a debt Webb had incurred during the filming of "Halls of Montezuma". When Webb called him to the studio to pay him back, he offered Milner a role in the "Dragnet" radio show.

"Jack really saved my sanity then. The Army drove me crazy and Jack knew it. Every weekend he'd have me come down to work on Dragnet, which by now was on television as well as radio. On Saturday, because I looked so young, I was the house male juvenile delinquent for the TV series. Carolyn Jones was the house female juvenile delinquent. On Sundays, I played old guys again in the radio version. Not only did the work keep me from flipping out, but I needed the money. The Army was paying me a fast $104 a month."

Milner continued to appear in films throughout the 1970s and 1980s and made many guest appearances on television shows such as "Murder, She Wrote," "Columbo", "MacGyver". He most recently appeared in the "Murder Blues" episode of "Diagnosis Murder" (1997) and on October 5, 2000 was interviewed for A & E's Biography on Jack Webb.