The Wild Wild West was an American sci-fi, espionage, Western series that ran on CBS
for four seasons between September 1965 and April 1969.
If that mash-up of genres sounds 'wild' to you, that's because the series was truly one
of a kind.
The show was developed during a period in television history when the Western was finally
beginning to lose ground to the spy-thriller genre.
It was conceived by producer Michael Garrison as a sort of '007 on Horseback' kind of show.
It was set during the Ulysses S. Grant administration and revolved around Secret Service Agents
Artemus Gordon and James West, played by Ross Martin and Robert Conrad, respectively.
Gordon and West went around solving crimes, protecting the president, and squashing diabolical
plans dreamed up by megalomaniacal bad guys who had their sights set on taking over the
United States.
If you're wondering where the sci-fi elemental came in, the agents and villains frequently
had access to technology that was absurdly beyond their time.
Steampunk fans often cite The Wild Wild West as being an early pioneer of the genre, owing
to the way the show combined Victorian era aesthetics with Jules Verne-inspired tech.
Even though the series performed well in the ratings, it was abruptly canceled nearing
the end of its fourth season.
Some episodes came under fire for being too violent for their time.
After the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, President
Lyndon B. Johnson created a committee called the National Commission on the Causes and
Prevention of Violence.
One of the issues that the commission investigated was television violence and its potential
correlation with mounting violence in America.
Anticipating that the commission was going to take aim at the television industry, networks
made moves to curtail the levels of violence featured in their programs by canceling a
number of programs that had already received negative media coverage for their violent
content.
As such, The Wild Wild West was one of the series to be given the ax for its perceived
overtly violent themes.
It's been more than 50 years since The Wild Wild West wrapped up its four-season run.
It was later adapted into two satirical comedy television films in 1979 and 1980 and was
rebooted for a full-length theatrical release that hit theaters in 1999, but fans of the
series still lament the fact that it was canceled so prematurely.
What made the show so great, besides its novel themes and stylized action, was its phenomenal
cast of characters.
Sadly every cast member of the series has since passed away.
Join Facts verse as we discover how all of the principal cast members of The Wild Wild
West died.
Robert Conrad
Born on March 1, 1935, Conrad grew up in a family of German descent in his birth town
of Chicago.
His father, Leonard Falk, was 17 when he was born while his mother, Alice Jacqueline Hartman,
was just 15.
After dropping out of New Trier High School at the age of 15 to work full-time at the
loading docks of Consolidated Freightways, Conrad started studying theater at Northwestern
University.
In 1957, Conrad met Actor Nick Adams at James Dean's Gravesite in Indiana.
They quickly became close friends, and Adams eventually invited him out to California to
pursue his dream of becoming an actor.
One of his first acting roles was in the 1958 film Juvenile Jungle.
His next role was in Thundering Jets which hit theaters later that same year.
Around this same time, Conrad signed a recording contract with Warner Brothers and proceeded
to release several records.
His biggest song, Bye Bye Baby, reached number 113 on the Billboard charts in 1961.
From 1959 to 1963, Conrad starred as Detective Tom Lopaka on the 77 Sunset Strip spin-off
series Hawaiian Eye.
In 1965, he was cast as government agent James West on The Wild Wild West.
That role would prove to be the biggest of his career, but he would later find success
once again playing World War II ace Pappy Boyington on the NBC series Baa Baa Black
Sheep from 1976 to 1978.
For the remainder of his acting career, he made numerous guest-starring appearances on
dozens of TV shows and beginning in 2008, he hosted a weekly two-hour national radio
program called The PM Show With Robert Conrad on CRN Digital Talk Radio.
Conrad died of heart failure at a hospital in Malibu on the 8th of February, 2020, at
the age of 84.
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Keep watching to learn how the remainder of The Wild Wild West cast died.
Ross Martin
Born Martin Rosenblatt on the 22nd of March, 1920 in Grodek, Poland, Martin migrated to
the United States, settling in the Big Apple when he was just an infant.
He later attended City College in New York City before earning a law degree at the National
University School of Law in DC.
Even though he was formally trained in law and business, Martin chose to pursue an acting
career.
He got his start in show business as part of a comedy team with Bernie West before appearing
on many radio and live television broadcasts.
He made his Broadway debut in 1953 and his film debut in 1955s Conquest of Space.
Martin would be best remembered, however, for his role as Artemus Gordon on The Wild
Wild West.
Other notable roles included that of Doctor Paul Williams in the 1972 animated series
Sealab 2020, several characters in 1973s Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids, and various
voices in 1978s Jana of the Jungle.
In early July, 1981, Martin had a fatal heart attack after playing a game of tennis at the
San Diego County Club in Ramona, California.
He was 61 when he died.
Michael Dunn
Born Gary Neil Miller in Oklahoma in 1934, Dunn and his parents moved to Detroit when
he was 4.
A year later, he realized that he had dwarfism but became determined not to let the condition
hold him back from being independent.
After graduating from Redford High School in 1951, where he had been actively involved
in the school's student council and was captain of the cheerleading team, Dunn enrolled at
the University of Michigan.
He was forced to leave the school, however, after getting knocked down a flight of stairs
and sustaining a leg injury because of that incident.
He would later transfer to the University of Miami where he began acting while also
cheerleading and serving as the editor of the school's paper.
To support himself during college, Dunn would sing at local bars.
By the time he graduated in 1956, he knew for certain that he wanted to be an actor.
Before landing his big break, he worked as a sports reporter, hotel detective, and missionary.
After moving to New York, he started landing parts in off-Broadway plays.
In '63, he was nominated for a Tony Award for his role in Ballad of a Sad Cafe.
He then appeared in the 1965 film Ship of Fools, which earned him an Oscar nomination.
Dunn would be best remembered for his recurring role as the mad scientist Dr. Miguelito Lovelass
on The Wild Wild West.
A few of his other noteworthy credits included roles in Star Trek, Tarzan, Get Smart, and
House of the Damned.
Sadly, since he suffered from spinal deformities, his rib cage was also distorted.
This restricted his lung growth and function and resulted in heart problems.
Dunn tragically died in his sleep in his hotel room in London on August 30, 1973, at the
age of 38.
At the time, he was on location filming the British historical drama film The Abdication.
Douglas Henderson
Best known for his role as Colonel Milt in John Frankenheimer's 1962 film The Manchurian
Candidate, Henderson, who was born in Montclair, New Jersey in 1919, got his start performing
in stock theater on the Eastern Seaboard.
He made his film debut in 1952, appearing in Stanley Kramer's film Eight Iron Man.
He followed that up with a notable appearance in 1955s King Dinosaur.
From 1966 to 1969, Henderson played Colonel James Richmond on The Wild Wild West.
Henderson continued to act until 1971, appearing in films and television shows like Stay Away
Joe, Mannix, and The FBI.
He died of non-communicable disease on April 5, 1978, at the age of 59.
Richard Kiel
Kiel was born in Detroit, Michigan, on September 13, 1939.
He was known for his large stature which was a result of the condition called gigantism.
When he was 9, his family moved to LA.
After graduating from Baldwin Park High School, Kiel worked several odd jobs, including that
of a vacuum cleaner salesman, nightclub bouncer, and cemetery plot salesman.
In the early to mid-60s, he worked as a night-school math teacher at William B. Ogden Radio Operational
School in Burbank.
Around this same time, he started landing minor roles in television shows like The Twilight
Zone, Laramie, I Dream of Jeannie, and Gilligan's Island, to name a few.
Given his size and uncharacteristic appearance, Kiel was often cast as a villain.
On The Wild Wild West, he played Dr Miguelito Lovelass's towering yet mute assistant Voltaire.
Kiel played similar villainous roles in shows like The Man from UNCLE and The Monkees.
Kiel would later make another appearance in an episode of The Wild Wild West, playing
the character Dimas, a son of a wealthy family who was banished because of birth defects
that damaged his body and mind.
In 1977, Kiel beat out Arnold Schwarzenegger for the role of the Hulk in The Incredible
Hulk.
Unfortunately, after filming the pilot, the producers of the show decided that they wanted
someone more muscular for the role.
He was subsequently replaced by Lou Ferrigno.
As far as films go, Kiel appeared in movies like 1962s Eegah, 1963s The Nutty Professor,
1977s The Spy Who Loved Me, and 1991s The Giant of Thunder Mountain.
Kiel retired after appearing in 1996s Happy Gilmore.
In 2010, he left retirement briefly to record the voice for the character Vlad in Disney's
Tangled.
Three days shy of his 75th birthday, on September 10, 2014, Kiel died at the St. Agnes Medical
Center in Fresno, California, after having a heart attack.
Well, that about wraps up this video, but now we'd love to hear from you.
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And what do you think about it being canceled for supposedly being too violent?
Let us know in the comments.
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