Robert Conrad

I just read an interview in True West magazine with Robert Conrad, star of the Wild, Wild West and Baa Baa Blacksheep. Hard to believe he's 81 years old! In the interview, he talks about doing his own stunts, fracturing his skull, his dislike of the Wild, Wild West movie, and his blessing on the up coming new Wild, Wild West series.

You can read the interview here:
http://www.truewestmagazine.com/stories/robert_conrad_dares_ya/1761/

Hey Tinhorn,

I have always liked Robert Conrad.

The Wild Wild West is a fun show. Mike bought the series and they did a beautiful job on remastering them. The black & white are so crisp and very detailed. Robert Conrad, Ross Martin make a great team. Ross is Hilarious throughout the shows. Both of them pulls of this show. We haven't finished it yet. We kind of got side tracked into watching movies every night ( I love it) but we need to get back to finishing the series.

Not sure if I ever seen any of the Baa Baa Blacksheep series. Wouldn't mind someday getting the complete set.

I didn't know anything about the coming new Wild, Wild West series. Will have to check out this article you posted.
Thanks for that bit of info.

Your so right, hard to believe he is 81!

Howdy Pards!!

Yeah, that fractured skull thing probably happened, when Conrad was doing one of his own stunts on the show and tried to jump a pit by swinging from a beam above the middle of the pit. He slipped and fell about 10 feet and landed on his head and was hospitalized for several months, while the production crew was put in limbo, awaiting his return. I'm not sure how much longer the series lasted after that, but you can rest assured Conrad didn't do too much stunt work after that.

Ed

Ed, he tells the story in the interview. He was supposed to drop from a chandelier uring a fight scene, and the other stunt man miscued. He slipped, hit his head on the concrete floor, got a concusion and a 6 in. fracture on his skull, and was off work for 3 months. When he came back, they finished filming the fight scene.

A new version of Wild Wild West, huh? As long as it isn't in the same vein as that sucky Will Smith atrocity it could be good. I find that---done right----with appropriate respect to the original----re-makes can be good. Hawaii Five-O is. And, though the NEW "Defenders" is nothing like the original of that show, this new one is likably entertaining as well.

I was embarassed by the Smith version of WWW. The whole black thing was wrong and the rest of the movie was so over the top, it didn't have any of the charm that the series had. Even Kevin Kline couldn't save it. I cringe when I see it mentioned or available for viewing. Even Elmer Bernstein's score didn't help. What a mess!

From what I gather from the interview, Bobby Conrad is a consultant for the new series. He said he won't play a character in the series, but may do a cameo. But he said he didn't have anything to do with the movie because he had a personal beef with Jon Peters, the movie's producer. If you haven't read the interview, please do so. I don't want to give too much away!

Howdy Pards!!

As I recollect, the movie Wild Wild West, with Will Smith and Kevin Kline received a Razzie award er sumpthin like that as being one of the worst films of the year. I think I read that Robert Conrad attended to accept the award. Although I was not a fan of the series, I liked the series better than the film.

Ed

Nightlinger...

Like you, compadre, I was utterly mystified by the whole "black thing" in the Will Smith movie; couldn't figure out where that came from and what it had to do with the classic old tv series. Kept thinking "What is the point of this and why does it seem to have such an agenda-like presence in this film?" Never did "get" that and thought the entire movie was just an over-the-top exercise in
pretentious buffoonery. And you're spot-on right when you say the big, clumsy thing completely lacked the clever, playful charm of the tv series. Almost seemed like perhaps it was just an exercise by Jon Peters to p*** Robert Conrad off !!!!

I hope this supposed new series "gets it right" this time. Maybe they should do a movie pilot to test the waters and see how the public responds before they commit to an entire series. CBS has done alright with the Hawaii Five-O
re-vamp, so, hopefully, they could do the same with Wild, Wild West.

Got my fingers crossed.

Cole

The series may not stand a chance thanks to the movie screwing up the nostalgia of the original. I think its highly possible that the movie was so bad that nobody will tune in a series of the same title. Much like the Clinton Spilsbury (what happened to him!) "Lone Ranger" has forever damaged that franchise. If they want to bring back a classic western series there are many many more logical choices. And please, no more bad "Bonanza" attempts!

I hope the new series succeeds. It's being produced by Ron Moore (who produced the new version of Battlestar Galactica, which was hugely successful), and the producer of CSI.

Howdy Pards!!

Here's hoping they stick to the original series and don't venture too far away from that. I too, hope that it succeeds, at least that would give us a foot in the door for more western series.

Ed

If Robert Conrad would not play U.S. Grant on a regular basis, but might do a cameo in some episode (the pilot?), it makes one chuckle at the thought that he might do a "Hitchcock" and pop past us as a "passer-by" or some other such "background" extra---perhaps disguised---from time to time. I'd find that amusing. Might be said he was pulling an "Artemus Gordon", LOL!!!

Just a thought.


Cole

Robert Conrad did play a good part in the Wild Wild West but I thought he was outstanding as Pasquinel in the Mini Series "Centennial."
Rory

Howdy Pards!!

Thought I'd better take the time to try to explain a few questions about The Legend Of The Lone Ranger starring Klinton Spillsbury. The original budget for the film was 18,000,000(18 million dollars), it grossed 2,945.000. in the theaters(2.9 million dollars). It was a miserable flop and was the 1st and last role for Klinton Spillsbury. The reason behind this is simple!! Although Clayton Moore's last acting job was on Lassie in 1959, he continued to appear as the Lone Ranger through the years, until 1975, when the Wrather company, who owned the rights to the Lone Ranger character, had a restraining order issued against Clayton Moore, saying he was too old and had too many wrinkles to properly portray the character any longer. They also had plans to make a new motion picture about the Ranger(The Legend Of The Lone Ranger). I'm sure most of you remember the news headlines and the public hew and cry about this dirty rotten underhanded, no good, no count, low down tactic of the Wrather company. Over the next few years, we continued to see commercials with Clayton Moore wearing sunglasses, since he was prohibited by the courts from wearing the mask. By the time the movie came out in 1981(with the voice of James Keach,brother of Stacy, dubbed in as the voice of Klinton Spillsbury) the stage for this film being boycotted was already set!!!! The folks stayed away by the millions!! Afterward, the Wrather company relented and gave in to the public's demand that Clayton Moore be allowed to wear the mask and Ranger get up again. If there is a moral to this story, I guess it must be"don't be messin with the Lone Ranger"!! Which reminds me of a childhood saying about the series.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Tonto, unaware that the Lone Ranger was disguised as a door, up and shot his knocker off!!

Ed

I've always found it amusing that, in the first full-length theatrical Lone Ranger outing in 1956 (Warner Bros.), the scene at the mission with Clayton Moore and the "territorial governor" sports background music by composer David Buttolph and the piece is EXTREMELY recognizable to western aficionados. Within a year or so it becomes the theme for Maverick, LOL !!!


Cole

Chain Lightning wrote:

Howdy Pards!!

Thought I'd better take the time to try to explain a few questions about The Legend Of The Lone Ranger starring Klinton Spillsbury. The original budget for the film was 18,000,000(18 million dollars), it grossed 2,945.000. in the theaters(2.9 million dollars). It was a miserable flop and was the 1st and last role for Klinton Spillsbury. The reason behind this is simple!! Although Clayton Moore's last acting job was on Lassie in 1959, he continued to appear as the Lone Ranger through the years, until 1975, when the Wrather company, who owned the rights to the Lone Ranger character, had a restraining order issued against Clayton Moore, saying he was too old and had too many wrinkles to properly portray the character any longer. They also had plans to make a new motion picture about the Ranger(The Legend Of The Lone Ranger). I'm sure most of you remember the news headlines and the public hew and cry about this dirty rotten underhanded, no good, no count, low down tactic of the Wrather company. Over the next few years, we continued to see commercials with Clayton Moore wearing sunglasses, since he was prohibited by the courts from wearing the mask. By the time the movie came out in 1981(with the voice of James Keach,brother of Stacy, dubbed in as the voice of Klinton Spillsbury) the stage for this film being boycotted was already set!!!! The folks stayed away by the millions!! Afterward, the Wrather company relented and gave in to the public's demand that Clayton Moore be allowed to wear the mask and Ranger get up again. If there is a moral to this story, I guess it must be"don't be messin with the Lone Ranger"!! Which reminds me of a childhood saying about the series.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Tonto, unaware that the Lone Ranger was disguised as a door, up and shot his knocker off!!

Ed

I just watched this one thirty minutes ago on tubi.
It was entertaining but left a lot of questions. One being.how did the Calvary know to be there when gate blew up at end in capturing Cavendish gang?

Miss you Ed

Robert Conrad I learned died February 8 2020
Are there any of the great legends still with us today? So sad.
Those that are gone left us with great memories. And still live on our screens.

here are some good old ones left like Earl Holliman and H.M. Wynant and Robert Fuller...but, yes, most of the old legends are now gone but they live forever on celluloid like the old song "Celluloid Heroes Never Really Die.

I didn't know Conrad was a singer until just recently I saw an old interview with Dick Cavett. He was making albums then and was talking about his first role in tv as Jim West. But I remember him in Hiwaiian Eye before Wild Wild West series.
I must say though...he was a good singer.

Hm - I also didn't know Conrad was a singer.  It's not that surprising that he made some recordings, though; he was a contract player with Warner Brothers and that company (not known for fairness to employees) made some of their TV performers launch careers as recording artists - with Warner Brothers Records, of course. Tab Hunter, Clint Walker, Edd Byrnes and Connie Stevens also cut records for WB.  Maverick stars James Garner and Jack Kelly were, for one reason or another, spared.  Garner, who called Jack Warner "the most vulgar man I've ever met," despised the boss, and probably wasn't alone.

Hi Art, Clint Walker singing! ? That is a surprise to me. I will have to try and find him somewhere. I can't imagine. Although i do remember him singing in an episode of Cheyenne. When he doubled for an actor/spy that looked like him.
But yes,Conrad had a good voice. Wouldn't know it was him if didn't know it. I found an old American Bandstand clip on youtube.