Line #38 Creator/WilliamConrad


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/william_conrad.jpg]]
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3	William Conrad (born John William Cann, September 27, 1920, in Louisville, Kentucky; died February 11, 1994 in North Hollywood, UsefulNotes/LosAngeles, UsefulNotes/{{California}}) was a radio actor, producer, director, voice-over artist and television actor.
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5	Conrad served in the U.S. Army Air Forces as a fighter pilot during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. Upon his discharge, he headed to Hollywood with a fellow soldier, Creator/JackWebb, to make it as an actor. He landed roles in classic film noir movies like ''Film/TheKillers'' (1946) and ''Body and Soul'' (1947), but eventually stopped pursuing movie roles as his weight seemed to typecast him as a 'heavy' (no pun intended).
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7	Instead, Conrad turned his attention to radio, appearing in an estimated 7,000 radio shows. He originated the role of Marshal Matt Dillon on ''Radio/{{Gunsmoke}}'', but while his magnificent voice was certainly befitting of a Western hero, his appearance was not, and he opted not to try out for the subsequent [[Series/{{Gunsmoke}} television series]] adaptation. Creator/JamesArness landed the part of Marshal Dillon for TV.
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9	While Conrad would make occasional on-screen acting appearances on series such as ''Series/{{Bat Masterson\|1958}}'' and ''Target! The Corruptors'', his weight tended to work against him, as he would often be cast in villain roles when he appeared on-screen. One exception: his old friend Jack Webb hired him to play his newspaper editor boss in the 1959 newspaper drama ''-30-''.
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11	Bill decided to work behind the scenes to keep his name active. He played the role of the frantic narrator in the ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'' cartoons, and his voice could also be heard in the narration of the short-lived series ''This Man Dawson'', which he also produced for Ziv Television. As a director, Conrad oversaw episodes of ''Series/{{Gunsmoke}}'', ''Series/TheRifleman'' and ''Series/Route66'', among other shows.
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13	1963 proved to be a banner year for Conrad. Webb, who was hired to head Creator/WarnerBros Television, hired him to produce one of their flagship series, ''Series/SeventySevenSunsetStrip'', as well as a new series, ''Temple Houston''. When Webb was fired from his post, Conrad temporarily took over for him at Warner Bros. In addition, Conrad was hired by producer Creator/QuinnMartin to be the narrator for his new series, ''Series/TheFugitive''. Conrad's mellifluous baritone could also be heard in a number of commercials, including those for Toys/HotWheels and Chrysler.
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15	Conrad continued his stellar voice work on ''The Fugitive'' and also directed feature films like ''Brainstorm''. By the end of the 1960's, he had become less self-conscious and began appearing more often on camera. He made guest appearances on shows like ''The Name of the Game'' and ''The High Chaparral'', as well as TV-movie appearances. He co-starred in two pilots for Jack Webb that became series, ''The D.A.: Conspiracy to Kill'' (which led to Webb's short-lived series with Creator/RobertConrad -no relation-, ''The D.A.'') and ''Operation: Cobra'' (the pilot for Creator/DavidJanssen's series ''O'Hara: United States Treasury''), but it was another pilot he did for Quinn Martin, one in which he had the starring role, that led to a series and a StarMakingRole.
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17	The pilot for ''Series/{{Cannon}}'' aired on Creator/{{CBS}} in the Spring of 1971, with the subsequent series debuting that fall. Frank Cannon was a cop who quit the force following the deaths of his wife and son and set up shop as a private investigator. His love of fine food and wine led to his hefty appearance. Despite his girth, Cannon proved to be a serviceable private detective, using his weight to his advantage when it came to outwitting and fighting the bad guys. The series earned Conrad UsefulNotes/{{Emmy\|Award}} and UsefulNotes/{{Golden Globe\|Award}} nominations and led him from being one of Hollywood's best-kept secrets to major stardom.
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19	Conrad and Quinn Martin decided to end the series after five seasons. A few months later, they teamed up again for the series ''Quinn Martin's Tales of the Unexpected'', a short-lived Creator/{{NBC}} anthology series. When that series ended, Conrad found himself to be a hot property for series pilots, including ''Keefer'' (a David Gerber production that cast him as a spy in World War II), ''Battles: The Murder That Wouldn't Die'' (a Glen A. Larson production in which he played a private detective and high-school football coach in UsefulNotes/{{Hawaii}}) and ''Turnover Smith'', where he played a portly criminologist. None of those pilots sold, but the ''Battles'' film led to Conrad's relationship with producer Larson, who hired the actor to narrate his series ''Series/BuckRogersInThe25thCentury''.
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21	Conrad soon wound up playing another overweight sleuth, this time in the NBC series ''Literature/NeroWolfe'', based on the famous detective novels by Rex Stout. The pilot film, which aired a season or two earlier, in 1979, starred another corpulent actor, Thayer David, but a new actor was needed for the series when David unexpectedly passed away. The series ran for 13 episodes in 1981.
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23	For most of the 1980's, Conrad was heard more than seen, as he became the voice for Glen Larson's production company, mainly doing the announcements ("[name of series] will continue in a moment", "Next on [name of series]"), but occasionally doing narrator work as well (the intros to both ''Series/{{Manimal}}'' and ''The Highwayman''). Occasionally, he did commercials (his voice could be heard extolling the virtues of First Alert smoke detectors, and he appeared on-camera for No-Sal salt substitute), he voiced the U.S. Air Force's "High Flight" short film used by many U.S. TV stations as part of their sign-off sequence, and he also made occasional guest appearances on series such as ''Series/MurderSheWrote'', ''Series/Hotel1983'' and ''Series/{{Matlock}}''. It was that latter appearance, as Prosecutor James L. [=McShane=], that led to him being cast in another series from the same producers.
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25	Conrad landed another series on CBS in the Fall of 1987. In ''Series/JakeAndTheFatman''[[note]]produced by [[Creator/ParamountGlobal Viacom]], which held the syndication rights to ''Cannon'' at the time, and would later acquire Creator/{{Paramount}}, the production company behind ''Nero Wolfe''[[/note]], he played a wily prosecutor, Jason Lochinvar 'J.L.' [=McCabe=], affectionately nicknamed 'The Fatman' by those who worked closely with him. Joe Penny, who played the son of the defendant in the ''Matlock'' episode, co-starred as Jake Styles, a private detective who worked as [=McCabe=]'s legman. Rounding out the cast was Alan Campbell, who also appeared in the ''Matlock'' episode, as [=McCabe=]'s assistant, Derek Mitchell.
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27	The ratings for ''Jake and the Fatman'' were less than stellar and the series was headed for cancellation, but the network intervened. One of their top-rated action series, ''Series/MagnumPI'', was ending, which left CBS with a very expensive studio facility in Hawaii that would be vacant. While ''Jake and the Fatman''[='=]s ratings stunk, their demographics were similar to those of ''Magnum'''s, so the network approached the producers and cast with an offer... would they be willing to move the show's locale from L.A. to Hawaii? Everyone involved said yes, and so the production moved to Hawaii. The ratings went up as well with the move, and the series continued for two seasons in Hawaii. Eventually, they moved production back to California for a couple of reasons, one being that CBS lost the lease on the Hawaiian set, the other being that Hawaii was not a suitable locale for the film-noirish scripts that the writers were developing. ''Jake and the Fatman'' was set in L.A. for most of the fourth and all of the fifth (and final) season.
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29	Once the series ended, Conrad decided to retire. He passed away, aged 73, of heart failure on February 11, 1994, less than two years after the series ended.
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31	!! Films featuring William Conrad with Website/TVTropes pages:
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33	* ''Film/TheKillers'' (as Max, 1946)
34	* ''Film/SorryWrongNumber'' (as Moreno, 1948)
35	* ''Film/TheNakedJungle'' (as Commissioner, 1954)
36	* ''Film/HudsonHawk'' (as Narrator, 1991)
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38	!! Television series featuring William Conrad with Website/TVTropes pages:
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40	* ''Series/{{Bat Masterson\|1958}}'' (2 appearances, 1958-61, as well as directing four episodes, 1959-61)
41	* ''Series/HighwayPatrol'' (director, 1 episode, 1959)
42	* ''Series/TheRifleman'' (director, 1 episode, 1959)
43	* ''WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle'' (Narrator, 163 episodes, 1959-63)
44	* ''Series/Route66'' (director, 1 episode, 1961)
45	* ''Series/HaveGunWillTravel'' (2 appearances, 1962, as well as directing six episodes, 1962-63)
46	* ''Series/TheAlfredHitchcockHour'' (as Sgt. Cresse, 1963)
47	* ''Series/SeventySevenSunsetStrip'' (4 appearances, 1963-64, as well as directing six episodes and producing the final season)
48	* ''Series/TheFugitive'' (Narrator, 120 episodes, 1963-67)
49	* ''Series/ItTakesAThief1968'' (voice of Strategy Room Announcer, 1970)
50	* ''Series/{{Cannon}}'' (as Frank Cannon, 120 episodes, 1971-76)
51	* ''Series/BarnabyJones'' (as Frank Cannon in 2 {{crossover}} episodes, 1973-75)
52	* ''Series/{{Gunsmoke}}'' (as Narrator, 2 episodes, 1973, as well as directing two episodes, 1963-71)
53	* ''Series/BuckRogersInThe25thCentury'' (as Narrator, 1979-80)
54	* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoneRanger1980'' (voice of the Lone Ranger, 1980, credited as 'J. Darnoc')
55	* ''Literature/NeroWolfe'' (as Nero Wolfe, 13 episodes, 1981)
56	* ''Series/PoliceSquad'' (as Stabbed Man, 1982)
57	* ''Series/TheFallGuy'' (as himself, one episode, 1984)
58	* ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' (as Major Anatole Karzov, 1984)
59	* ''Series/Hotel1983'' (as Art Patterson, 2 episodes, 1986)
60	* ''Series/{{Matlock}}'' (as Prosecutor James L. [=McShane=], 1986)
61	* ''Series/JakeAndTheFatman'' (as Jason Lochinvar 'J.L.' [=McCabe=], 103 episodes, 1987-92)

Context Creator / WilliamConrad