Steven Hill

LOS ANGELES — Steven Hill, a versatile character actor in theater, films and television who achieved his greatest success late in life as grumpy District Attorney Adam Schiff on TV’s long-running “Law & Order,” has died. He was 94.

He died Tuesday morning at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, his wife, Rachel, said. The cause of death was not immediately available.

Hill, who also starred for a season in the 1960s series “Mission Impossible,” was remembered warmly by “Law & Order” producer Dick Wolf.

“Steven was not only one of the truly great actors of his generation, he was one of the most intelligent people I have ever met. He is also the only actor I’ve known who consistently tried to cut his own lines,” Wolf said in a statement.

Hill, whose more than two dozen films included “Billy Bathgate,” “White Palace” and “Yentl,” recalled in 1999 how his presence as “Law & Order’s” grouchy legal stickler developed gradually during his 10 years with the show.

“It was like a very pleasant back-and-forth kind of thing,” he said. “I’d come up with these ideas, give suggestions on (Schiff’s) kind of thinking, and the writers used that as a kind of springboard.”

He also studied up on the law to make his character more believable.

“I believe the audience needs to feel you understand what the heck you’re talking about and they can tell if you don’t,” he said.

After he left the show in 2000, Hill remained visible on TV for a time as the no-nonsense pitchman in commercials for TD Waterhouse Investor Services.

He honed his craft after World War II, taking classes at the Actors Studio in New York with Marlon Brando and Montgomery Clift.

When “Mission Impossible” debuted in 1966, he landed a starring role, as undercover team leader Daniel Briggs. But he left after one season when the show’s shooting schedule interfered with his observation of the Jewish Sabbath. He was replaced by Peter Graves.