A singer and actor best known for playing Steve Elliott on the CBS sitcom “Petticoat Junction” died in 2016 after a career that spanned television, music, and the character whose on-screen romance mirrored his own real-life marriage. Mike Minor, born Michael Fedderson on December 7th, 1940, in San Francisco, was the son of Don Fedderson, an newspaper advertising man who later became a leading television producer, and Helen Miner.. While still a teenager, Miner began voice lessons in 1953, at age 13, and landed his first singing job at Ye Little Club in Beverly Hills.. He attended University High School in Los Angeles and Brown Military Academy in San Diego before breaking into television with appearances on shows hosted by Donald O’Connor and Joey Bishop..
His early career included an episode of “My Three Sons” in 1961, a series produced by his own father, where he played the character Ray.. Later that decade, he was cast as Steve Elliott on “PPetticoat Junction,”” a pilot who crashes his airplane in the fictional town of Hooterville and eventually marries local character Betty Jo Bradley, played by Linda K.. Henning.. The on-screen wedding was followed by a real-life one:.
Miner and Henning married in 1968, about a year after their characters tied the knot on the show.. He stayed with “Petticoat Junction” until it ended in 1970, occasionally singing on the series, including a rendition of the Beatles song “When I’m Sixty-Four”.. . During his career, Miner released two albums, including“This Is Mike Minor” in 1966, and scored two hit singles:“Silver Dollar” and“One Day at a Time.
”After the sitcom ended, he continued working steadily in television, with credits included“Chips,”“”Another World,””“”Vegas,””and““LA Law. ””He was married three times:. first to Marilyn Ray Martini in 1961, with whom he had a son; the couple divorced in 1966.. His second marriage, to Linda K..
Henning, ended in divorce in 1973.. His third and final marriage, to Marilyn Minor, began in 1981.. Minor died of cancer on January 28th, 2016, at age 75.. He was survived by his wife Marilyn and his son Michael..
He was cremated, and his ashes were given to his family..
