Craig Stevens

By DOUG GALLOWAY

Craig Stevens, best remembered for portraying the suave private eye in "Peter Gunn," the 1950s television series created by Blake Edwards, died May 10 of cancer at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He was 81.

Born Gail Shikles Jr. in Liberty, Mo., Stevens was planning a career in dentistry when he began acting at the U of Kansas.

He was signed in 1941 at Warner Bros., where he met his future wife, actress Alexis Smith. He and Smith were married in 1944. She died of cancer in 1993 at the age of 72.

Stevens played many second lead roles throughout the 1940s and 1950s in such films as "Humoresque," "Since You Went Away," "Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" and "Gunn."

In 1956, he performed his first musical play, "Plain and Fancy," co-starring with his wife in the national touring company for over a year. The couple then co-starred in the Palm Beach production "King of Hearts."

He gained stardom when he moved into TV with "Gunn" and later appeared as a regular guest on various shows such as "Dallas" and "Man of the World."

Following his "Thin Man" stint, he returned to the stage in the hit comedy "Critic's Choice" and followed that by spending two years in England starring in the British TV series "Man of the World."

He returned to the U.S. and subsequently appeared on Broadway in "Here's Love" and later co-starred with Smith in "Mary, Mary" and "The Owl and the Pussycat" as well as toured with Jane Powell in "My Fair Lady."

His last role in a major film was in Blake Edwards' Hollywood satire "S.O.B." in 1981.