William Conrad - Wikipedia

Thank you, my friend Maj Marty Hogan for making us aware that September 27 is the anniversary of the birth of American World War II fighter pilot, actor, producer, and director William Conrad [born as John William Cann] "whose career spanned five decades in radio, film, and television, peaking in popularity when he starred in the detective series Cannon (1971–1976)."

Dean Martin Celebrity Roast ~ William Conrad 1973
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLxOmZ-Ztxk

Images:
1. William Conrad sailing
2. William Conrad as Frank Cannon.
3. 56th Fighter Group pilot William Conn in WWII who changed his name to William Conrad.jpg

Biographies from imdb.com/name/nm0002016/bio

1. IMDB and
2. Together We Served

1. Background from
Overview
Born September 27, 1920 in Louisville, Kentucky, USA
Died February 11, 1994 in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA (heart failure)
Birth Name John William Cannon
Nickname Bill
Height 5' 7½" (1.71 m)

Mini Bio
William Conrad became a television star relatively late in his career. In fact, the former Army Air Corps World War II fighter pilot began his screen career playing heavies. He was Max, one of The Killers (1946) hired to finish off Burt Lancaster in his dingy lodgings. He was the corrupt state inspector Turck working for the syndicate in The Racket (1951). He was a mobster in Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), the murderous gunslinger Tallman in Johnny Concho (1956) and sleazy nightclub owner Louie Castro who claimed to be 60% legitimate in Cry Danger (1951).

When not essaying outright villainy Bill played characters like the tough fight promoter Quinn in Body and Soul (1947) or the doom-laden province commissioner in The Naked Jungle (1954). The portly, balding, crumple-faced, self-confessed gourmand had an ever-present weight problem (at one time 118 kg) which proved to be a natural obstacle to progressing to more substantial leading film roles. That, however, didn't hinder a very successful career in radio. In fact, Bill himself estimated that he had played in excess of 7,000 radio parts. Even if that was an exaggeration, his gravelly, resonant voice was certainly heard on countless broadcasts from "Buck Rogers" to "The Bullwinkle Show", from impersonating Marshall Matt Dillon on "Gunsmoke" (before James Arness got the part on screen) to narrating the adventures of Richard Kimball in the television program The Fugitive (1963). In one episode of the anthology series Suspense (1949) in 1956, he voiced each and every part.

Since his corpulence effectively precluded playing strapping characters like Matt Dillon, Bill began to concentrate on directing and producing by the early 1960's. This, ironically, included episodes of "Gunsmoke". In 1963 he contributed to saving 77 Sunset Strip (1958) for yet another season. Later in the decade he produced and directed several films for Warner Brothers, including the thriller Brainstorm (1965) with Jeffrey Hunter and Anne Francis. In 1971 he returned to acting and became the unlikely star of the Quinn Martin production Cannon (1971), for which he is chiefly remembered. Bill imbued the tough-talking, no-nonsense character of Frank Cannon with enough humanity and wit to make the series compelling but, despite the show's popularity, he made his views clear in a 1976 Times interview that he found himself poorly served by the scripts he had been given. A planned sequel, The Return of Frank Cannon (1980) failed to get beyond the movie-length pilot, but the actor's popularity resulted in another starring role in Jake and the Fatman (1987) as District Attorney McCabe, co-starring with Joe Penny) and a brief run as eccentric detective Nero Wolfe (1981). A self-effacing man with a good sense of humor and never afraid to speak his mind, Bill Conrad died of heart failure in February 1994. He was elected to the Broadcasting and Cable Hall of Fame and (posthumously) to the Radio Hall of Fame in 1997.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: I.S.Mowis
Spouse (3)
Lewis Tipton Stringer (1 May 1980 - 11 February 1994) ( his death)
Susan Randall Conrad (1957 - 13 April 1979) ( her death) ( 1 child)
June Nelson (12 April 1943 - 1957)

Trade Mark (2)
Gravelly, resonant voice
Large girth

Trivia (6)
1. Inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1997.
2. Buried at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills in the Lincoln Terrace Plot # 4448. He is surrounded by his fellow TV detectives at this cemetery who are either in the same section or within very close proximity. They include Telly Savalas and George Savalas from Kojak (1973) and William Talman, Wesley Lau, and Ray Collins of Perry Mason (1957) fame and Dragnet (1951)'s Jack Webb.
3. There were several 11-1/2"-tall falcon props made for use in The Maltese Falcon (1941). Some were cast of plastic resin, some of lead. Only two 45-lb. lead falcons and two 5-lb., 5.4-oz resin falcons are verified to be in existence. One lead Falcon has been displayed for years at various venues. The second, which was marred at the end of the movie by Sydney Greenstreet, was a gift to Conrad by studio chief Jack L. Warner. It was auctioned in December 1994, nine months after Conrad's death, for $398,500 to Ronald Winston of Harry Winston, Inc. At that time it was the highest price ever paid for a movie prop. It was used to model a 10-lb. gold replica displayed at the 69th Academy Awards. The replica has Burmese ruby eyes, interchangeable claws (one set of gold, one set of coral) and holds a platinum chain in its beak with a 42.98 flawless diamond at the end. It's valued at over $8 million. The lead and resin falcons are valued in excess of $2 million - coincidentally the value placed on the "real" Maltese Falcon by Kasper Gutman, Greenstreet's character in the 1941 classic movie.
4. His third wife was the widow of newscaster Chet Huntley.
5. One of the true superstars of the "Golden Age of Radio", he appeared in more than 7,500 radio programs.
6. In World War II, he flew a P-39 under the Golden Gate Bridge twice."

Background from airforce.togetherweserved.com/usaf/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApps?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=171481
"William Conrad, actor, producer and director: born Louisville, Kentucky 27 September 1920; married (one son); died California 11 February 1994.

AS THE PRIVATE eye Frank Cannon in the Seventies, William Conrad proved that you do not have to be young, slim and fit to make it as a television detective. It was the portly American actor's biggest role, although his booming voice had previously been heard as the narrator of other international successes such as The Fugitive and The Invaders.

Born in Kentucky in 1920, Conrad was the son of a theatre-owner who moved to southern California, where he excelled at drama and literature while at school.

He began his career as an announcer, writer and director for the Los Angeles radio station KMPC, before becoming a Second World War fighter-pilot in 1943. Two years later, he left the US Air Force with the rank of captain, having finished his time in it as producer-director of the Armed Forces Radio Service.

Back in civvy street, Conrad acted in radio dramas and was the original Marshal Matt Dillon in the so-called adult western Gunsmoke, which ran for 11 years on CBS, before it switched to television, with James Arness taking over the lead role.

Conrad entered films in 1946 with The Killers and followed it with pictures such as Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), East Side, West Side (1949), Lone Star (1952), The Desert Song (1953), The Naked Jungle (1954) and -30- (1959, retitled Deadline Midnight in Britain), playing the newspaper city editor.

As a producer for Warner Brothers, he made a string of feature films, including An American Dream (1966, retitled See You in Hell, Darling for British release), A Covenant With Death (1966), First to Fight (1967) and The Cool Ones (1967), and also directed My Blood Runs Cold, Brainstorm and Two On a Guillotine (all 1965).

On television, he produced and directed Klondike and This Man Dawson, produced the popular private eye series 77 Sunset Strip (starring Efrem Zimbalist Jnr and Edd Byrnes), and directed 35 episodes of the series True.

His voice was one of those heard in the classic Fifties American animated children's series Rocky and His Friends, whose sophisticated comedy made it appeal just as much to adults, and he narrated the hit Sixties series The Fugitive (1963-67, starring David Janssen) and The Invaders (1966-67, starring Roy Thinnes), as well as the 1976 television movie The Macahans: How the West Was Won (starring James Arness and a pilot for the series).

But it was as the fat, balding detective Frank Cannon that Conrad found small-screen fame. Cannon, which started in 1970 with a television movie of the same name, was turned into a series the following year and ran for five years, becoming one of the most successful programmes of its genre.

'For 15 years before Cannon,' said Conrad in the middle of the programme's run, 'I couldn't get much work as an actor because I was too fat and unattractive. I'm 53 years old, 5ft 9in tall, look like an overfed walrus, and I'm bald to boot.'

Ten years after the programme began, Conrad revived the character in the television movie The Return of Frank Cannon (1980). There was no room for another series, but Conrad bounced back with a new character, the tough policeman- turned-district-attorney Jason 'Fatman' McCabe, in Jake and the Fatman, first in a 1987 television movie, then in a moderately successful series (1987-92).

An animal-lover and conservationist, Conrad was also known in the US as narrator of The Wild, Wild World of Animals (1973-78). "

FYI COL Mikel J. Burroughs LTC Orlando Illi Maj Bill Smith, Ph.D. Maj William W. "Bill" Price CPT Jack Durish CMSgt (Join to see) MSG Andrew White SFC William Farrell SGT (Join to see) Sgt Albert Castro SSgt Boyd Herrst SGT Charles H. Hawes SSG Martin Byrne PO1 William "Chip" Nagel CPT Gabe SnellLTC Greg Henning Maj Kim Patterson Maj Robert Thornton

Great actor, thank you for the excellent bio share sir.

A patriot, actor, producer, director in multiple medias