List of Mission: Impossible characters

Several episodes, such as "Shock", revealed that Briggs had acting, voice mimicry, and disguise abilities similar to those of one of his agents, Rollin Hand.

The real-life reason was that actor Steven Hill's Orthodox Jewish religious beliefs often conflicted with the shooting schedule, making it difficult for the production crew to meet deadlines.

[21] He also successfully impersonated well-known public figures, such as the dictator of a fictitious Latin American country, rumored Nazi fugitive Martin Bormann, and indeed even Adolf Hitler.

To achieve many of Rollin's acts of mimicry, several of the characters he imitated were either dubbed by Landau or played by him in a double role under heavy make-up.

Carter rarely adopted elaborate disguises, as did practically everyone else on the program, because Barbara Bain, the actress playing her, suffered from claustrophobia, and could not abide being hemmed in by heavy makeup.

In episodes where someone was needed to get into tight spaces, another female agent was brought in, but in "The Slave", Cinnamon, in spite of her claustrophobia, is seen being placed into and later coming out of the false bottom of a food carriage as part of the IMF plan.

[31] Cinnamon's claustrophobia was used against her in a devastating way in the third-season mission, "The Exchange", when an enemy intelligence service discovers her phobia after capturing her and uses it in an attempt to break her.

[32] While Carter was rarely called upon to defend herself in hand-to-hand combat, she was shown to have at least the basic skills to disable a single adversary as evidenced in missions such as "Odds On Evil" and "The Town", and she was confident handling a gun.

[38] He also had the strength and agility to penetrate denied areas going hand-over-hand using grappling lines without any assistance, shimmying up drainpipes, and rapelling down elevator shafts.

[39] He demonstrated incredible fortitude even when injured, continuing with missions even after being shot in the back, the knee, or the head, temporarily blinded by a concussion, or poisoned.

Barney Collier, along with Willy Armitage, was one of only two IMF agents who were regulars on the team for the entire seven-season run of the original Mission: Impossible TV series.

In later years of the series, that stayed in the United States and dealt with organized crime, Barney, although still supplying gadgets and devices, did less of the physical duties, and began to be a character more in line of the mimic and master of disguise roles played by Hand and Paris in earlier seasons.

Barney returned to the IMF as an agent to work with another team apart from Jim's group as the inside man investigating a drug cartel.

On a regular basis, his split-second timing taking down a sniper or other gunman saved the mission, as well as the life of the IMF team member in the crosshairs.

However, notably, in season five, Willy demonstrated a strength level that bordered on the super-human in tearing a vault door off its hinges to save Barney Collier from certain death in a fire trap.

[50] Willy was often called upon to carry or wear extremely heavy objects without visible signs of exertion to betray their weight, often as a way of smuggling teammates in and out of secure locations.

Although the phrase "This tape will self-destruct..." has become synonymous with Mission: Impossible, in several episodes, the IMF leader was responsible for destroying the recordings themselves, either in a nearby incinerator or in a container of acid.

Having become disillusioned with the effect that the end of the Cold War has had on his espionage work, he secretly betrays the IMF and makes a deal to sell a list of CIA agents' identities to an arms dealer.

[58] Greg Morris, who played Barney Collier in both television series, walked out of the film premiere halfway through, citing displeasure with the turning of the Jim Phelps character and the overall production, calling it "an abomination.

Like Rollin, the Great Paris was a master of role play, languages, and disguises, capable even of successfully impersonating an ethnic Japanese citizen in Japan.

Examples of the roles the companies played were a submarine crew, prison guards, a surgical team, and the staff of an atomic research facility.

Although the company was selected in the dossier scene when they were included in missions, they almost never participated in the pre-mission briefing and planning session in Jim Phelps’ apartment.

Although very young, she was able to portray a number of roles, including an international jet-setter, a bag woman, a college activist, a nurse, and an up-and-coming singer in a band.

In addition to her role-playing capabilities, she had a particular talent for cosmetology, partially filling the gap left in that area by the departure of the Great Paris at the end of season five.

In the four season-seven episodes in which she did appear (all filmed immediately before she went on maternity leave), the actress has a greatly reduced role, with her body generally hidden.

As a result of that successful mission, she was released from parole and offered a recurring role with the IMF to fill in for Casey, who was on a long-term assignment in Europe.

[73] Significantly, Barbara Anderson, the actress who played Mimi Davis in the seventh season, never gained the name-in-the-title-sequence prominence that her castmates enjoyed.

Jim recruited her initially to catch Tom Copperfield's murderer and served on her team until she was sent in alone to surveil the home of Luis and Amelia Berezan Dictators who left their country after robbing their treasury.

Notable missions he was involved with included rescuing his father Barney, and finding the evidence to convict the Berezan's for Casey Randall's murder.

During the mission against the Golden Serpent Triad Organization, Grant had to struggle to hold his professionalism when it was believed that Barney was killed on the assignment to take them down.