Man, another part of my childhood has moved on. The Wild Wild West was a great show and a big part of my childhood. RIP Jim West.
RIP. I loved Baa Baa Black Sheep. And also this…
I always preferred the late, great Ross Martin (Artemus Gordon), but yeah, terrific show and he was good in it. RIP
I loved The Wild, Wild West when I was growing up. Great show.
Same. Gordon was more fun but I did enjoy the show.
The other thing I remember Conrad for was his meltdown on Battle of the Network Stars. It was a dumb athletic competition with the actors from the three networks and Conrad’s team got penalized in a relay race and Conrad took it a bit too seriously.
As I understand it, he was a legitimate tough guy, and due to the parts he played, guys would always try to pick fights with him.
He put at least one in the hospital.
Enjoyed all the shows he was in and the infamous commercials were hysterical.
Although, there is a Wild West themed Barbecue restaurant near me that occasionally puts the old show up on the screen.
Boy, the fight scenes really do not hold up very well…
Being an airplane geek, I loved Baa Baa Black Sheep. Corsairs, baby! Although the character Conrad portrayed was written quite a bit tamer than the real Pappy Boyington, especially in terms of alcohol consumption, for the prime time audience of the day.
Man I watched every episode of that when I was a kid. Turned me into a reader / model airplane builder of so many ww2 dogfight books. It’s been ages since I read any of those. Makes me think of maybe tracking some good books down. Any recommendations?
Me too.
Pappy Boyington himself wrote an autobiographical book which was decent. I don’t remember the title and have no idea if it’s still in print.
Well that sucks. I always loved reruns of Wild, Wild West (my mom was a big fan) and Black Sheep Squadron when I was a kid. Conrad was pretty distinctive in both looks and his voice, so it was always fun years later to pick him out when he’d show up in a cameo in some TV show or movie.
R.I.P. to a legendary tough guy, and my condolences to his family and friends.
Boyington’s autobiography was Baa Baa Black Sheep. :)
I have an autographed copy; got it signed at an airshow when I was a kid, right around the time the show was on.
Loved that show, and Conrad was great in it.
I actually checked after I posted, and it is still available on Amazon!
Ba ba Blacksheep in those marine F4U corsairs. RIP.