Robert Conrad is an American film and television actor, best known for his role in the 1965–1969
CBS television series The Wild Wild West, playing the sophisticated Secret Service agent
James T. West.
He also portrayed World War II ace Pappy Boyington in the television series Black Sheep Squadron.
He was a recording artist of pop/rock songs in the early 1960s as Bob Conrad before he
began his acting career.
He has hosted a weekly two hour national radio show on CRN Digital Talk Radio.
Early years/age discrepancy Conrad was born Conrad Robert Norton Falk
in Chicago, Illinois.
His father, born Leonard Henry Falkowski, was then 16 years old; Leonard was of Polish
ancestry.
His mother, Alice Jacqueline Hartman, was 15 years old when she gave birth, and named
her son after her own father.
She would go on to become first publicity director of Mercury Records, known as Jackie
Smith.
She would marry several times, including once to Chicago radio personality Eddie Hubbard
in 1948.
Eddie Hubbard and Jackie Smith reportedly had a child together before splitting up in
1958.
Conrad's year of birth has been cited as 1929, however there is no evidence to support this.
1935 appears to be the correct year per his 1940 census profile; this indicates that he
was a week shy of his 17th birthday when he eloped with his first wife, Joan.
Career Signed to Warner Bros. as an actor, Conrad
took advantage of Warner's recording division.
He eventually released several recordings issued on a variety of LPs, EPs, and SPs 33
and a third and 45 rpm records during the late 1950s and early 1960s.
He had a minor Billboard hit song in "Bye Bye Baby" which reached #113.
In 1959, he played Billy the Kid in the episode "Amnesty" of the ABC/Warner Brothers western
series, Colt .45, starring Wayde Preston.
Willis Bouchey appears in this episode as Governor Lew Wallace of the New Mexico Territory,
who offers The Kid amnesty.
Before The Wild Wild West, Conrad played Tom Lopaka on the ABC/WB series Hawaiian Eye,
opposite Anthony Eisley and Connie Stevens.
The show was a hit and lasted from 1959 to 1963.
The show was also a big hit overseas.
In Mexico he signed a recording contract with the Orfeon label where he released two albums,
a few singles sung in Spanish, and was introduced as Tom Lopaka himself.
He played "Eric Dean" in the 1963 spring break film Palm Springs Weekend.
Then, from 1965 to 1970, The Wild Wild West ran: joining Conrad were other stars including
Michael Dunn, Robert Duvall, and co-star Ross Martin as Artemus Gordon, James West's partner.
In the 1970s, he played such roles as prosecuting attorney Paul Ryan in a short-lived 1971 NBC
series, The D.A., and American spy Jake Webster in the series Assignment Vienna.
He also starred in a third season episode of Mannix called "The Playground" and an episode
of Columbo, An Exercise in Fatality.
Conrad was a special guest star in an episode of "Adam 12" The Radical S4/Ep04 1971.
With his muscular build and cigarette-induced gravelly voice, Conrad found ratings success
from 1976 to 1978 playing legendary tough-guy World War II fighter ace Pappy Boyington in
Baa Baa Black Sheep on NBC, retitled for its second season and in later syndication as
Black Sheep Squadron.
In 1978 he starred in the short lived TV series "The Duke" as boxer turned private eye Duke
Ramsey.
In 1980, he played a paraplegic coach in the film Coach of the Year which also featured
a then-sixteen year old Richard Marx as a high school football player.
In the late 1970s, he served as the captain of the NBC team for six editions of Battle
of the Network Stars.
He played a modern-day variation of James West in the short-lived series A Man Called
Sloane in 1979, which was around the same time that he reprised the role of West in
a pair of made-for-TV films.
He also starred in the 1978 TV miniseries Centennial on NBC.
Conrad was widely identified in the late 1970s for his television commercials for Eveready
batteries, particularly his placing of the battery on his shoulder and prompting the
viewer to challenge its long-lasting power: "Come on, I dare ya".
The commercial was frequently parodied on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show and The Carol
Burnett Show.
In 1986 Conrad was special guest referee for the main event at Wrestlemania II featuring
Hulk Hogan v King Kong Bundy inside a steel cage.
In 1988, Conrad starred in a short-lived television series, High Mountain Rangers, with two of
his sons.
High Mountain Rangers, known for its spectacular scenery and stunts, had a one-season spinoff,
Jesse Hawkes.
In 1990, Conrad starred in the made-for-television adventure film Anything to Survive alongside
Matt LeBlanc and Emily Perkins.
In 1992, Conrad played the role of the sheriff in Richard Marx's "Hazard" music video.
In 1996, he played the part of a Police Officer in the Christmas Film "Jingle all the Way".
He took over hosting The History Channel's Weapons At War in 2000, succeeding George
C. Scott.
In 2006, Conrad recorded audio introductions for every episode of the first season of The
Wild Wild West for its North American DVD release on June 6.
The DVD set also included one of Conrad's Eveready battery commercials; in his introduction,
Conrad stated that he was flattered to be parodied by Carson.
He was inducted into the Stuntman's Hall of Fame for his work on The Wild, Wild West series.
He appeared in the documentary film, Pappy Boyington Field, where he recounted his personal
insights about the legendary Marine Corps Aviator that he portrayed in the television
series.
Conrad hosts a weekly radio talk show on CRN Digital Talk Radio.
Personal life Conrad was married to Joan Kenlay from February
23, 1952 until their divorce in 1977; the couple had five children.
His second marriage, to LaVelda Ione Fann, produced three children.
After living in Bear Valley in the High Sierra, Conrad and Fann relocated to Thousand Oaks,
California in 2006.
Conrad and Fann divorced in 2010.
Conrad would be joined on a few of his TV shows by his sons, Shane and Christian, and
his daughter Nancy.
Another daughter, Joan, became a television producer.
In a 2008 interview, Conrad described the late Chicago "made man" and burglar Michael
Spilotro as his "best friend."
Spilotro's slaying was featured in the movie Casino.
Conrad was involved with a volunteer organization in Bear Valley known as Bear Valley Search
and Rescue, which later formed the basis for High Mountain Rangers.
On March 31, 2003, while on Highway 4 in the California Sierra foothills near his Alpine
County home, Conrad drove his Jaguar over the center median and slammed head-on into
a Subaru being driven by 26-year-old Kevin Burnett.
Both men suffered serious injuries.
Tried on felony charges, Conrad pleaded no contest, and he was convicted of drunk driving.
He was sentenced to six months of house confinement, alcohol counseling, and five years probation.
A civil suit filed by Kevin Burnett against Conrad was settled the following year for
an undisclosed amount.
In 2005, Burnett died at age 28 from perforated ulcers, which his family attributed to his
difficult recovery from the crash.
Conrad himself suffered severe nerve injuries from the crash, which left his right side
partially paralyzed.
In February 2013, Conrad gave $500 to a British couple on holiday in Los Angeles after they
were interviewed on KFI Radio, recounting that their hotel was closed after a corpse
was found in the Cecil Hotel's water cistern.
References
External links Robert Conrad at the Internet Movie Database
Robert Conrad interview video at the Archive of American Television