George Maharis, one of the stars of the 1960s TV series Route 66, has died at the age of 94.
Maharis co-starred on the CBS show for three years, from 1960 until 1963, alongside Martin Milner, as two friends who drove across America in a Corvette convertible and encounter a new adventure in every episode. (Milner died in 2015.)
Maharis, who was gay, left the show due to tension with producers over his sexuality, according to his obituary in The New York Times. He also battled hepatitis, another cause of his eventual departure from the series.
Born in Queens on Sept. 1, 1928, Maharis entered the Marines after completing school and had a short-lived singing career before turning to the theater. He appeared in numerous Off-Broadway plays before landing the role on Route 66, for which he was nominated for an Emmy in 1962.
Maharis spent much of the 1980s and early ’90s appearing in guest roles on shows like Fantasy Island, Murder, She Wrote, and The Bionic Woman. His final screen appearance was in 1993 where she starred opposite Drew Barrymore in the horror movie Doppelganger.
Maharis also gained fame for a 1973 appearance as a nude centerfold in the second issue of the newly-created Playgirl magazine.
“A lot of guys came up to me with [my centerfold] and asked me to sign it for their ‘wives,'” Maharis said in 2007.
Maharis’s death was first confirmed by his friend and caregiver Mark Bahan, and he is survived by his brother and sister.
