1. He was the only natural redhead in his film debut.

 

The Milner family moved to Los Angeles when Martin was a teenager. It did not take long for him to start an acting career. In 1947, at the age of 15, he appeared in the comedy Life with Father, about a family of redheads called the Days. Milner was the only natural redhead — the other actors had to dye their hair. There was nearly a mishap during the hair-coloring process when the beauticians discovered the water had been turned off in the salon. The dyes might have burned through the hair if someone had not thought to rinse the chemicals with cold cream. Milner missed out on that behind-the-scenes drama.

Image: The Everett Collection

2. He contracted polio just after finishing that film.

 

Mere weeks after wrapping Life with Father, Milner contracted poliomyelitis. It took him about a year to recover. Jonas Salk's polio vaccine was not introduced until 1955.

Image: The Everett Collection

3. He met Jack Webb as a teenager in a war movie.

 

Before he joined the Army, he played a Marine. In 1950, the teenage Milner portrayed Whitney in Halls of Montezuma. Also in the cast was one Jack Webb, who was working on his Dragnet radio program at the time. Milner meeting Webb would prove to be quite fortuitous, as Webb would later cast Milner to star in his police series Adam-12.

Image: 20th Century Fox

4. He served in the Army with Clint Eastwood.

 

Milner joined the United States Army in 1952. He spent much of his two-year service at Fort Ord, California, in the Special Services, the sort-of arts section of the Army. Milner directed training films and acted in plays for the troops. He also befriended another future star at Fort Ord, Clint Eastwood, who was working as a lifeguard on the base.

Image: The Everett Collection

5. His wife and kids traveled with him on Route 66.

 

Milner landed his first major starring role in 1960 when he hopped into a Corvette with George Maharis on Route 66. Milner played Tod Stiles, a recent Yale graduate drifting across the United States with the tough and cool Buz Murdock (Maharis). The brooding Maharis received far more fan mail, but that likely did not bother the young family man Milner. Because Route 66 filmed on location all around the country, the production traveled just like the characters. Milner's wife, Judith Beth Jones (pictured), came along for the ride — and brought their young children.

Image: AP Photo

6. His daughter guest-starred in an episode of Adam-12.

 

Milner's family contributed to his next major role, as well. As mentioned above, Milner joined his old castmate Jack Webb as a co-lead on Adam-12, playing Pete Malloy. Webb cast Milner as a cop behind the wheel in part due to his experience driving the Corvette on Route 66. In the season seven episode "Victim of the Crime," Milner's daughter Amy played the daughter of a shopkeeper who is robbed. It was Amy's only screen credit.

7. His young son was a stunt driver on Adam-12.

 

Amy and Martin were not the only Milners seen onscreen in Adam-12. In a season six story, "Northwest Division," the officers chase a minor who tears across the city on a minibike. Johnny Whitaker (Family Affair, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters) played the character of the juvenile speed devil. However, he did not do the riding. The boy doing the stunt driving? That was none other than Andrew Milner, Martin's son!

8. He played Helen Hunt's dad.

 

On a fictional family note, Milner played a famous patriarch on the 1975 television version of The Swiss Family Robinson. Series producer Irvin Allen had essentially told the same story before with his sci-fi smash Lost in Space, so he adapted the original source material more faithfully a decade later. This lost family, however, only stayed together for a season. But, it did give Milner the chance to play the father of future Oscar-winner Helen Hunt, in her first major recurring role.

Image: The Everett Collection

9. He was the victim in the first episode of Columbo.

 

Steven Spielberg was the brilliant mind behind the camera for "Murder by the Book," the first episode of the Columbo series. In the early scenes, we see Milner pecking away at a typewriter. His character is one half of a mystery writing duo — until his partner kills him.

10. He was Macgyver's dad.

 

In the episode "Passages," MacGyver slips into a coma, where he dreams of meeting his deceased parents and the grandfather who raised him, Harry. Unlike Harry, MacGyver's mom and dad were rarely seen on the show. That's Milner in the middle as James MacGyver. Oddly, it was not Milner's first time on the action series. Two seasons earlier, he had played a hockey coach named Turk Donner in "Thin Ice."

11. His final screen role was an Adam-12 reunion.

 

Milner's final screen credit came on "Murder Blues," the season-five premiere of Diagnosis Murder. The episode was a nostalgic affair for lovers of cop dramas. Angie Dickinson (Police Woman), Fred Dryer (Hunter) and James Darren (T.J. Hooker) all guested. Oh, and we got to once again see Martin Milner with his former Adam-12 partner, Kent McCord.

12. The LAPD honored Milner after his death.

 

Los Angeles Police Department paid tribute to Martin Milner with a special ceremony following his death. Milner died on September 6, 2015, at the age of 83. Milner's family was in attendance, as was his Adam-12 costar Kent McCord. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck delivered a moving speech, saying, "As you watch any of the Adam-12 episodes, you see professional, compassionate, internally driven, hardworking, clean-cut, impeccably tailored, fit Los Angeles police officers — those police officers that have no dark side, that do the right things for the right reasons every time. And that is the image that drew us all to this place."