Robert Conrad Has Died

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/8/20 at 9:24pm

He died at the age of 84. Best known as James West secret Agent in the spy series The Wild Wild West. It was cleverly set in the old West. The movie reboot bombed. The series ran for 4 seasons. The suits at CBS tried to tone down the violence and this led to its demise. Other reasons were spy craze dying out and the the toll the physical.stunts took on Conrad and the rest of the cast. Once the series went to color in Season 2 it exploded on the screen

Conrad starred in a short lived series Baa Baa Black Sheep.where he portrayed the leader of WW 2 fighter pilots . He appeared in a hit series Hawaiian Eye  about detectives in Hawaii. The series played around the same time as 77 Sunset Strip.

Updated On: 2/8/20 at 09:24 PM

[ArtMan]

Posted: 2/9/20 at 9:00am

I would always enjoy when Michael Dunn's Dr.Loveless would appear as the episode's villain.

Updated On: 2/9/20 at 09:00 AM

[javero]

Posted: 2/9/20 at 11:42am

I caught the Wild Wild West in syndication as a kid.  And the hullabaloo over the violence is coming back to me now.  I'm going to order the box set @ Amazon shortly.  RIP R.C.

[UncleCharlie]

Posted: 2/9/20 at 1:55pm

Very sad to hear although I heard he had been in poor health the last few years. The Wild Wild West was more than 50 years ago but many, many years ahead of its time and Robert Conrad and Ross Martin were the perfect team together. I remember running home from school in the early 70's to watch reruns on Channel 9 in New York. Could never understand how some of the other kids at school would instead watch reruns of Star Trek on Channel 11 which ran at the same time. Whatever happened to that show anyway? When all 4 seasons of TWWW finally came out on DVD 12 or 13 years ago, it was like Christmas. Of course after TWWW, Bob went on to star in a number of other series including the short lived The D.A. which was one of the first TV series to try to cross promote with another currently running series by having him appear as his character in an episode of Adam-12. But to many of us, he'll always be James West. R.I.P. Bob. Say hi to Ross Martin for me when you see him.

Updated On: 2/9/20 at 01:55 PM

[Stage Door Sally]

Posted: 2/9/20 at 3:44pm

I like how he mocked his tough guy image in the Eveready battery commercials. He made "I dare ya to knock it off," a household phrase.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA6mksFu2vc

 

[Mr Roxy]

Posted: 2/9/20 at 6:16pm

javero said: "I caught the Wild Wild West in syndication as a kid. And thehullabaloo over the violenceis coming back to me now. I'm going to order the box set @ Amazon shortly. RIP R.C."

Season 1 would get 4 stars were it not in B/W. Season 2 and 3 are the best .Season 4 started to get into PC land with toning down the violence by having West go into dangerous situations  unarmed. Another reason  was Ross Martin missing a number of episodes due to heart issues. The many fight scenes started to take a toll.on Conrad and the rest of the cast  .Do not think they could actually do a season 5  Get 2 and 3 and you have the best of them 

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 2/10/20 at 6:36pm

Rest in Power Robert Conrad.

I wanted to really knock off his battery back in the day....

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 2/11/20 at 12:16am

Tee-hee!

[Roscoe]

Posted: 2/11/20 at 2:22pm

Conrad was the eye candy, but WILD WILD WEST really belonged to the Special Guest Villains, most memorably the great Michael Dunn as Miguelito Loveless.  His giggling enthusiasm for his nefarious deeds was always infectious.

[UncleCharlie]

Posted: 2/11/20 at 7:20pm

Roscoe said: "Conrad was the eye candy, but WILD WILD WEST really belonged to the Special Guest Villains, most memorably the great Michael Dunn as Miguelito Loveless. His giggling enthusiasm for his nefarious deeds was always infectious."

What made the show for me was Ross Martin as Artemus Gordon with his incredible disguises, accents and crazy inventions that were years ahead of their time. Without "Artie", it would have been just another western. Having said that, I can't argue with the uniqueness of the villains including the great Victor Bueno playing Count Carlos Manzeppi at the same time he was playing King Tut on Batman, and especially Michael Dunn as Loveless usually with Richard Kiel as Voltaire and Phoebe Dorin as "The Lovely Antoinette. It's a tribute to Dunn's excellent acting that almost everyone even passingly knowledgeable of the show vividly remembers his portrayal of Loveless even though, believe it or not, he only guested on 10 of the 104 episodes.

[sondheimboy2]

Posted: 2/18/20 at 6:09pm

I like both formats.

In the black and white episodes, the shadows on his ass make you think that Herb Ritts did the lighting for the show and, in the color episodes, you get to see how blue his eyes and how cherry red his lips were.