William Conrad Movies
Actor/director/producer William Conrad started his professional career as a musician. After World War II service, he began building his reputation in films and on Hollywood-based radio programs. Due to his bulk and shifty-eyed appearance, he was cast in films as nasty heavies, notably in The Killers (1946) (his first film), Sorry Wrong Number (1948) and The Long Wait (1954). On radio, the versatile Conrad was a fixture on such moody anthologies as Escape and Suspense; he also worked frequently with Jack "Dragnet" Webb during this period, and as late as 1959 was ingesting the scenery in the Webb-directed film 30. Conrads most celebrated radio role was as Marshal Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke, which he played from 1952 through 1961 (the TV Gunsmoke, of course, went to James Arness, who physically matched the character that the portly Conrad had shaped aurally). In the late 1950s, Conrad went into the production end of the business at Warner Bros., keeping his hand in as a performer by providing the hilariously strident narration of the cartoon series Rocky and His Friends and its sequel The Bullwinkle Show. During the early 1960s, Conrad also directed such films as Two on a Guillotine (1964) and Brainstorm (1965). Easing back into acting in the early 1970s, Conrad enjoyed a lengthy run as the title character in the detective series Cannon (1971-76), then all too briefly starred as a more famous corpulent crime solver on the weekly Nero Wolfe. Conrad's final TV series was as one-half of Jake and the Fatman (Joe Penny was Jake), a crime show which ran from 1987 through 1991. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1989
In this suspenseful drama, a bereaved bricklayer vows to avenge the brutal murder of his parents. The killer is brought in, but is not given the death penalty. The young man then decides to take matters into his own hands. He oversteps the law and eventually begins to question his actions. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1985
In Like Flynn is Remington Steele cross-pollinated with Romancing the Stone. The title "character," Jason Flynn, is a fictional James Bond-like adventurer created by reclusive author Daryl E. Raymond. Raymond's bestselling books are seemingly the sole source of income for the publishing firm where Jenny Seagrove works as editor and researcher. What nobody knows is that Daryl E. Raymond doesn't really exist--in fact, "he" is none other than the plucky Ms. Seagrove. In this busted pilot film, "Raymond" (that is, Seagrove) is dispatched halfway across the world on a delicate rescue assignment. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
Angela Lansbury is reunited with her onetime The Picture of Dorian Gray costar Hurd Hatfield in this episode, in which Jessica Fletcher (Lansbury) attends a special performance by a Soviet ballet troupe. Just as two of the dancers decide to defect, the KGB official assigned to the troupe is killed. When one of the defecting dancers also turns up murdered and a terrified ballerina is accused of the crime, Jessica reluctantly joins forces with a gruff government official to solve the crimes. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1984
In this made-for-TV movie, a teenage boy runs away from home and joins a circus, discovering that his new life is not exactly what he thought it would be. When the boy is the witness to a murder, he must struggle to keep himself out of the killer's way. ~ Iotis Erlewine, All Movie Guide
- 1982
This drama is based on Dr. R. Adams Cowley's true story of how he and his colleagues developed the very first medical shock trauma unit. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1982
This video presents a 1982 production of the Gilbert and Sullivan operatic farce The Mikado. Although the setting and characters come from Japan, the play is a satire of English Victorian society. Its foibles are exposed in this comedy starring William Conrad, Clive Revill, and Stafford Dean. The London Symphony Orchestra and the Ambrosian Opera Chorus provide the music for the production. ~ Rose of Sharon Winter, All Movie Guide
The second of Rankin/Bass' animated TV specials based on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, Return of the King plots the quest to defeat the evil wizard Sauron. Frodo, nephew of The Hobbit protagonist Bilbo Baggins, vows to destroy the Ring, even if it costs him his own life. He carries the Ring to the volcanic innards of Mount Doom. All this he does on behalf of good-guy Aragon, who will never be able to escape the dreaded land of Sauron so long as the Ring retains its evil powers. Orson Bean, who'd been the voice of Bilbo Baggins in the 1977 Hobbit cartoon special, returns to portray Frodo. Return of the King originally aired May 11, 1980. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
As made obvious by its title, this TV movie was an attempt to revive the once-popular private eye series Cannon, which ran from 1971 to 1976. Emerging from self-imposed retirement, corpulent gumshoe Frank Cannon (William Conrad) investigates the death of an old friend who formely worked for the CIA. Officially, the death has been ruled a suicide, but Cannon, as usual, has his doubts. Also mixed up in the intrigue is Cannon's former sweetheart and a Hughes-like millionaire. First telecast November 1, 1980 on CBS, The Return of Frank Cannon did not result in a weekly series, but William Conrad was able to find solace in his starring role on the subsequent weekly Nero Wolfe. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1980
Originally intended as the pilot for a never-sold cop series titled Battles, this made-for-TV meller stars William Conrad as William Battles, a retired Los Angeles police detective spending his golden years in Hawaii. Somewhat bored by inactivity, Battles takes a job at a local college as assistant football coach and security chief. Not unexpectedly, our corpulent hero is soon up to his neck in a murder investigation, this time with a recent homicide bearing a remarkable resemblance to a similar killing in the 1940s (as described in a mock newsreel narrated by no less than Lowell Thomas). Assisting Battles in bringing the culprit to heel are his niece Shelby (Robin Mattson), collegiate football star Deacon Joe Jackson (Lane Caudell) and his own boss, Dean Mary Phillips (Marj Dusay). The Murder That Wouldn't Die debuted March 9, 1980, on NBC. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Lane Caudell
- 1980
In this drama, a famous criminologist draws from his amazing bag of scientific and technical tricks to locate a psycho-killer. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide
- 1979
The Rebels was the second "Operation Prime Time" miniseries to be based on author John Jakes' Kent Family Chronicles (the first was The Bastard). The saga of Philip Kent (Andrew Stevens), illegitimate son of a British blueblood, picks up with Kent fighting in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. Part One of this two-part endeavor busies itself with setting up characters, places and events; Part Two finds Kent and his pal Judson Fletcher (Don Johnson) teaming up to prevent the assassination of General George Washington (Peter Graves). The enormous all-star cast includes Richard Basehart, Doug McClure, Joan Blondell, Tom Bosley, Macdonald Carey, Robert Vaughan, William Daniels and Nehemiah Persoff; William Conrad does off-screen duty as narrator. The Rebels was syndicated to local TV stations beginning the week of May 14, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
