Robert Conrad(1935-2020)
- Actor
- Director
- Writer
Robert Conrad was a graduate of Northwestern University, spending his
first few years out of school supporting himself and his family by
driving a milk truck and singing in a Chicago cabaret. Conrad
befriended up-and-coming actor Nick Adams during this period, and it
was Adams who helped Conrad get his first Hollywood work in 1957. A few
movie bit parts later, Conrad was signed for a comparative pittance by
Warner Bros. studios, and in 1959 was cast as detective Tom Lopaka on
the weekly adventure series Hawaiian Eye. Upon the 1963 cancellation of
this series, Conrad made a handful of Spanish and American films and
toured with a nightclub act in Australia and Mexico City. Cast as
frontier secret agent James West in The Wild Wild West (1965) in 1965, Conrad
brought home $5000 a week during the series' first season and enjoyed
increasing remunerations as West remained on the air until 1969. There
are those who insist that Wild Wild West would have been colorless
without the co-starring presence of Ross Martin, an opinion with which
Conrad has always agreed. The actor's bid to star in a 1970 series
based on the venerable Nick Carter pulp stories got no further than a
pilot episode, while the Jack Webb-produced 1971 Robert Conrad series
The D.A. was canceled after 13 episodes. When Roy Scheider pulled out
of the 1972 adventure weekly Assignment: Vienna, Conrad stepped in--and
was out, along with the rest of Assignment: Vienna, by June of 1973.
Conrad had better luck with 1976's Baa Baa Black Sheep, aka Black Sheep
Squadron, a popular series based on the World War II exploits of Major
"Pappy" Boyington. Cast as a nurse on this series was Conrad's daughter
Nancy, setting a precedent for nepotism that the actor practiced as
late as his tenth TV series, 1989's Jesse Hawkes, wherein Conrad
co-starred with his sons Christian and Shane.
Though few of his series have survived past season one, Conrad has enjoyed success as a commercial spokesman and in the role of G. Gordon Liddy (whom the actor admired) in the 1982 TV movie Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy (1982). As can be gathered from the Liddy assignment, Conrad's politics veered towards conservatism; in 1981, he and Charlton Heston were instrumental in toppling Ed Asner and his liberal contingent from power in the Screen Actors Guild.
As virile and athletic as ever in the 1990s, Robert Conrad continued to appear in action roles both on TV and in films; he also maintained strong ties with his hometown of Chicago, and could be counted on to show up at a moment's notice as a guest on the various all-night programs of Chicago radio personality Eddie Schwartz.
Though few of his series have survived past season one, Conrad has enjoyed success as a commercial spokesman and in the role of G. Gordon Liddy (whom the actor admired) in the 1982 TV movie Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy (1982). As can be gathered from the Liddy assignment, Conrad's politics veered towards conservatism; in 1981, he and Charlton Heston were instrumental in toppling Ed Asner and his liberal contingent from power in the Screen Actors Guild.
As virile and athletic as ever in the 1990s, Robert Conrad continued to appear in action roles both on TV and in films; he also maintained strong ties with his hometown of Chicago, and could be counted on to show up at a moment's notice as a guest on the various all-night programs of Chicago radio personality Eddie Schwartz.
