Mike Connors, born Kreker Ohanian, is an American actor best known for paying detective Joe Mannix in the CBS television series, Mannix and the crime-fighting investigator, Nick, in the 1960 CBS series, Tightrope.

In high school Connors was an avid basketball player, nicknamed “Touch” by his teammates. During World War II, he served in the United Stated Army Air Corps, then attended the University of California at Los Angeles on a Basketball scholarship. Director William A. Wellman noticed his expressive face while playing basketball and got him into acting. At the time, he changed his last name because “Ohanian” was too close to the actor George O’Hanlon. He then appeared as “Touch Connors” in a few television episodes and in his early films, such as Island in the Sky (1953) and as an Amalekite herder in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments starring Charlton Heston.

Connors later renamed himself “Mike.” Connor’s acting career spans six decades in which he has appeared in many television series, and numerous films. In 1969, he won a Golden Globe for his role as Joe Mannix on Mannix.