Robert Conrad, Star of TV’s’The Wild Wild West,’ Dies at 84
Actor Robert Conrad, the star of television series such as”Hawaiian Eye,””The Wild Wild West” and”Baa Baa Black Sheep” through an virtually five-decade career which also contained the occasional feature film, has died at Malibu, Calif.. He had been 84.
Conrad toplined at least one show at the 1950therefore,’60therefore,’70therefore,’80s and’90therefore, a rare accomplishment of endurance for a TV celebrity.
He even made his debut playing with a pilot at the 1958 movie”Thundering Jets” and goes on to create credited appearances in certain 15 attributes, which makes the greatest impression in 1975 heist pic”Murph the Surf” and enjoying John Dillinger at 1979’s”The Woman in Red.” However, Conrad was a much larger presence in tv.
In 1959 Conrad signed a contract with Warner Bros., as well as also the studio cast the young actor, together with Anthony Eisley, at the Honolulu-set detective series”Hawaiian Eye,” that ran from 1959-63. Conrad played with the half-Hawaiian P.I. Tom Lopaka and guested because personality on three incidents of”77 Sunset Strip.”
The actor didn’t have to wait until he discovered himself the star of the following powerful show, Michael Garrison’s”The Wild Wild West,” which ran for four seasons on CBS beginning in 1965. Within this revolutionary blend of the sci-fi and Western genres — that which could be known as steampunk today — Conrad surfaced as magical Secret Service agent James T. West, who, together with partner Artemus Gordon (Ross Martin), rode a gadget-ridden private train round the Old West, fighting supervillains in 19th century James Bond style. The series was also famous for its well-choreographed battle sequences where Conrad’s West almost always outlasted that a high number of foes.
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In 1969the exact same season”Wild Wild West” came to a conclusion — cancelled as it was too violent — Conrad starred at the telepic”D.A.: Murder One,” which resulted in some followup movie and a short 1971-72 series known as”The D.A.” The actor played with a spy in a different short series series, ABC’s”Assignment Vienna,” through the 1972-73 season.
Conrad had greater success with NBC’s”Baa Baa Black Sheep” (later called”Black Sheep Squadron”), that communicates the adventures of WWII ace Major Gregory”Pappy” Boyington (whom Conrad played) and the fighter squadron he led from the South Pacific. The interesting series made by Stephen J. Cannell took many liberties with the realities of war in the Pacific Theater: Following pressure from the community to improve from the evaluations, manufacturers introduced a bunch of alluring but literary nurses across the island in which the Black Sheep Squadron was established.
The show ran for 2 years from 1976-78 but has flown repeatedly in syndication and on sockets like the History Channel.
Conrad played with a French-Canadian fur dealer in NBC’s epic 1978 miniseries”Centennial” and starred at the short lived, spy-themed series”A Man named Sloane” to the community 1979. The actor returned to the function of James West for 2 telepics,”The Wild Wild West Revisited” and”More Wild Wild West,” at 1979 and 1980, respectively.
Conrad formed his own production company in the first 1980therefore, and nearly all of his own smallscreen function from that point on was in string or other attempts made by A. Shane Co.. First up was that the publication adaptation”Will: The Autobiography of G. Gordon Liddy.”
The 1982 NBC telepic, exec made by Conrad’s daughter, Joan Conrad, attracted controversy as Liddy’s novel needed. “Robert Conrad’s performance in the title character is remarkable and uncompromising” stated the New York Times, but the reviewer found fault with the fact that”a great deal of this tv portrait could be translated as admiring. Mr. Liddy is portrayed as an outspoken patriot, a staunch defender of law and order. He won’t compromise his principles”
Some observed an embarrassing connection between the Watergate felon and the actor portraying him. The Rovi overview of this movie declares,”Robert Conrad matches the part of G. Gordon Liddy like the proverbial glove within this macho-driven biopic”; backwards 1982, People magazine stated,”Robert Conrad, at a little inspired typecasting, describes to steely-eyed perfection the haughty Watergate hard man G. Gordon Liddy.”
Conrad frequently appeared to be about a lifelong mission to show he was demanding, and that he was demanding. He did a short, undefeated stint as a professional fighter in the first 1960s concurrent with his acting profession. About”The Wild Wild West,” Conrad did all but the very dangerous stunts himself until a serious injury during the filming of the incident near the end of this third year put him at the hospital.
(For his work on”The Wild Wild West,” Conrad was created an honorary inductee at the Hollywood Stuntmen’s Hall of Fame, one of only six performers to make that honor)
Throughout the 1970therefore that he had been arguably most well known for a series of advertisements for Eveready Batteries where he appeared: At the very first ad, which started airing in 1977, Conrad was revealed in boxing gloves hitting a punch bag; he subsequently introduced using a battery onto his shoulder and said,”I dare ya to knock off this! I dare ya to compare anyone’s battery anybody’s — using Alkaline Power Cells” Although the advertisements were mocked on”Saturday Night Live” and the twinkle in his eye in the conclusion of this commercial indicated Conrad had been having fun with his picture.
Pride in his sporting skill was a very clear element in Conrad’s positive and charismatic performances, and he also turned up to take part in such shows of art as”Battle of the Network Stars” (he had been the NBC team captain),”Superstunt,””Celebrity Challenge of the Sexes” and”Circus of the Stars #2.”
His confrontation with Gabe Kaplan, star of”Welcome Back, Kotter” and the ABC team captain, on the 1976 variant of”Battle of the Network Stars” led into some famous moment of embarrassment to get Conrad: The latter insisted to a one-on-one 100 yard dash with Kaplan following a call that went against the NBC group, however Kaplan blew past Conrad through the improvised race to win handily.
Describing a meeting with Jimmy Hoffa within a proposed film where he’d portray the labour leader, Conrad remembered to the Chicago Tribune which Hoffa”wasn’t unlike me and had an equally aggressive, materialistic mindset.”
Konrad Robert Falkowski was created in Chicago. His mum has been Jackie Smith, the first marketing director for Mercury Records.
He graduated from high school, going to work first as a Teamster and temporarily singing in a nightclub, but spent annually in Northwestern U., where he became fascinating in acting. Conrad spent annually in New York and finally found his way to Los Angeles in 1957.
Conrad’s later show attempts were 1987’s”High Mountain Rangers,” temporarily resurrected in 1989 as”Jesse Hawkes,” and 1995’s”High Sierra Search and Rescue,” from his manufacturing company, which also generated telepics such as”Two Fathers’ Justice,””Charley Hannah,””Glory Days,””Mario and the Mob” and”Sworn to Vengeance.”
Conrad had a supportive role as Officer Hummell at the 1996 Arnold Schwarzenegger attribute”Jingle All the Way”
He was an occasional manager and author, helming three episodes of”Black Sheep Squadron,” among other show attempts; earning narrative credits on an incident of”Hawaiian Eye” and the 1984 telepic”Hard Knox”; and co-directing and co-scripting 1967 Western attribute”The Bandits.”
In 2003 Conrad was convicted of DUI following an automobile crash which left him partly paralyzed and severely hurt another motorist. He had been sentenced to six months of home arrest at a plea arrangement.
Conrad ran unsuccessfully for the presidency of the Screen Actors Guild in 2005.
He started hosting a series on CRN Digital Talk Radio 2007.
Conrad had been married and divorced twice, the next time to LaVelda Fann, who seemed in many of Conrad productions. He’s survived by eight children, such as manufacturer daughter Joan, sons Christian and Shane and daughter Nancy, all celebrities, and 19 grandchildren.
