Milner ‘Goes On’

Serious guy Martin Milner is letting his hair down for his latest role as Harris, a socialist bookshop owner on the ABC series “Life Goes On.� Literally.

“My hair is halfway down my back,� Milner said, laughing. “I am not doing the next three shows so I am getting my hair cut. My hair has taken on a life of its own.�

The veteran actor, who has appeared in such film classics as “Life With Father,� “The Sands of Iwo Jima� and “Sweet Smell of Success,� as well as the long-running 1960s TV series, “Route 66� and “Adam 12,� is enjoying his recurring role on “Life.�

“I have always played such strait-laced conservatives,� he said. “Even on ‘Route 66,’ (in which he co-starred with George Maharis), I was the more conservative of the two characters. (On “Life�) I am kind of this mad socialist, really kind of a wild man who owns this bookstore-coffee shop where Becca (Kelli Martin) works.�

These days, Milner doesn’t enjoy working on “a run-of-the-mill everyday basis. But with this particular character, it’s a lot of fun because I haven’t done him before. It’s kind of a wonderful character for a guy who is kind of lazy and lives in San Diego. I drive into town and work one or two days.�

Milner was just 14 when he made his film debut as the middle son of William Powell and Irene Dunne in the 1947 comedy “Life With Father.� “I was never a child star,� he said. “I was just somebody who got two or three jobs before I was a young adult.�

He even stopped working at 16 because he was nearly 6 feet tall.

“No one wanted to hire me,� he said. “They could hire an 18-year-old and not have all the child-labor regulations.� At 17, Milner started lying about his age and began working steadily until he was drafted into the Army in 1952.

Six months before he was drafted, he became friends with actor-producer-writer Jack Webb of “Dragnet� fame when they made “The Halls of Montezuma.� During his two-year stint in the Army, Webb would give him work on the radio version of “Dragnet.�

“Whenever I could get a three-day pass and get home, even if he didn’t have a part for me, he would write one so I could make $75,� Milner recalled. Fourteen years later, Milner teamed up with Webb again as the star of the Webb-produced NBC police series “Adam 12,� which aired from 1968 to 1975.

Milner is best remembered on the small screen for “Route 66,� which aired on CBS from 1960 to ’64. He said he had no idea “Route� would become a cult series. “We knew it was a quality piece of work,� Milner said. “We didn’t know this sort of cult thing would happen. I guess if you live long enough, you become nostalgia.�

He said a lot of fans still recognize him from those two series.

“The older people stop me for ‘Route 66’ and the younger, yuppie-types stop me for ‘Adam 12,’ � he said.

Milner recently saw some of the old episodes of “Route 66.� A fan from Kentucky sent him all 116 episodes on tape for him to copy. “Some of them

“Life Goes On� airs Sundays at 7 p.m. on ABC . Repeats of the series air Mondays-Thursdays at 7 p.m. and Sundays at 1 p.m. on the Family Channel.