Asbarez – A month prior to his passing, famed Armenian-American actor Mike Connors—born Krikor Ohanian—attended the “Ex-Fresnotzi” luncheon on December 11, 2016.
During the lunch, Connors met with Armenian American community leader Walter Karabian, the benefactor of the Armenian National Committee of America-Western Region’s Walter and Laurel Karabian Fellowship in Sacramento.
Connors gained stardom for his lead role as detective Joe Mannix on the show Mannix, a decade-long series acclaimed to be “the most popular crime show on television during the time.”
In addition to films he appeared in, he narrated the 1975 J. Michael Hagopian documentary The Forgotten Genocide, and Ararat Beckons.
Connors also narrated a 1994 documentary film titled William Saroyan: The Man, The Writer, directed by Paul Kalinian.
Connors passed away on January 26 after being diagnosed with leukemia a week earlier at 91 years old.
Connors was born in 1925 in Fresno, California to Armenian parents Krekor and Alice Ohanian, and survived by his wife of 67 years Mary Lou Wells, his daughter Dena and granddaughter.