![]() Rush drummer Neil Peart was one of the most accomplished instrumentalists in rock history. The show, about a group of law enforcement officers, was filmed in the High Sierra near Lake Tahoe.Ĭonrad’s later film credits included 1996’s “Jingle All The Way” with Arnold Schwarzenegger and 2002’s “Dead Above Ground.” His first wife handled financial matters. He hired sons Shane and Christian as co-stars, daughter Joan as producer and daughter Nancy as caterer. ![]() He frequently employed his family in his movies and TV shows.Īn example was the 1988 television series “High Mountain Rangers,” which Conrad had proposed, bankrolled with his own money and directed. It takes a while to patiently take him aside and show him why things might not be going well.” If people drag their feet, he gets impatient. His daughter Nancy Conrad, who appeared in some of his pictures, explained it this way: “Dad is a hard worker. “If you’re rude to me, put your headgear on. “If you treat me nicely, I’ll treat you nicer,” he added. “I’m only about 5-feet-8 and only weigh 165 pounds as of this morning, so I’m not the world’s meanest guy,” he told an interviewer in 2008. He was also featured in 1970s commercials for Eveready Batteries, with a battery on his shoulder, a menacing stare and a popular catchphrase, “I dare you to knock this off.” Playing himself in a 1999 episode of the TV series “Just Shoot Me,” he lampooned his threatening, tough-guy persona. Throughout Hollywood, Conrad had a reputation as a tough customer and was sued more than a half-dozen times as a result of fist fights. Other films included “Murph the Surf,” “The Bandits” (which he also directed), “The Lady in Red” (this time as John Dillinger) and “Wrong Is Right.”Īt the same time, he found plenty of time for arguments. After a couple of small parts, his TV fame elevated him to stardom, starting in 1966 with “Young Dillinger,” in which he played Pretty Boy Floyd. It continued on for another season.Ĭonrad, meanwhile, interspersed his long, successful TV career with numerous roles in films. It was revived in December 1977 as “Black Sheep Squadron,” after the network’s new shows failed to find audiences. The CBS series was enjoyed by male viewers but not so much by women and it was dropped after its first season. Bringing his customary intensity to the role, he even learned to fly. The series “Baa Baa Black Sheep” followed in 1976 and was roughly based on an autobiography by Marine Corps ace and Medal of Honor recipient Gregory “Pappy” Boyington, who wrote of the raucous fliers he commanded during World War II.Ĭonrad played Pappy Boyington, so nicknamed because he often rescued his pilots from severe punishment. He was ably assisted by Ross Martin’s Artemus Gordon, a master of disguise. West, a James Bond-like agent who used innovative tactics and futuristic gadgets (futuristic for the 1800s anyway) to battle bizarre villains. In “The Wild, Wild West,” which debuted in 1965, he was James T. ![]() The two private eyes alternated on simple investigations with help from the island’s colorful characters, including a singer named Cricket Blake (Connie Stevens) and a ukulele-strumming taxi driver named Kazuo (Poncie Ponce).Īfter five seasons with the show, Conrad went on to embrace the television craze of the time, period Westerns, but with a decidedly different twist.
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