Russ Conway (actor)
Encyclopedia
Russ Conway was a Canadian-American character actor
who appeared on film
and television
between 1947 and 1975.
, the second largest city of Manitoba
, Canada
, Conway earned a bachelor's degree
in 1937 from the University of California at Los Angeles. Years later, he procured a master's
in theatre arts from UCLA as well as teaching credentials.
During World War II
, he was in the United States Army
, attached to the special services unit. For several months, he was entertainment director at the since defunct Fort Ord on Monterey Bay
in California
before he was sent to the Philippine Islands and then Japan
. He worked as a producer and announcer for Armed Forces Radio.
in Buck Privates Come Home
and including Flamingo Road, I Was a Male War Bride
, Calamity Jane and Sam Bass about frontier characters Martha Jane Cannary
and the bandit Sam Bass
, Twelve O'Clock High
, Ma and Pa Kettle
on Vacation, and the 1952 film, The Outcasts of Poker Flat, based on a Bret Harte
short story
of the same name
.
Though most of his work after 1953 was on television, Conway also appeared in notable films. He was Elvis Presley
's friend Ed Galt in Presley's screen debut, Love Me Tender
. He also played the police officer who discovered Joan Crawford
's body on the beach at the end of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
. He played the Reverend Bethany of The War of the Worlds
.
Conway became best known for his multiple television appearances, beginning with "Sheep Thieves", the first of four episodes between 1950 and 1954, of the classic western
The Lone Ranger
. The other episodes featuring Conway are "Sinner by Proxy", "A Son by Adoption", and "The Bounty Hunter". In 1951, Conway appeared on the detective
series Boston Blackie
. He then guest starred in three 1952-1953 episodes of Jack Webb
's original Dragnet
crime drama on NBC
. Later he guest starred on Reed Hadley
's second CBS
series, The Public Defender
in Abilene
and Dodge City
, Kansas
, a segment of the Hallmark Hall of Fame
, then on NBC. Conway's co-stars on Hallmark were Frances Bavier
, Marjorie Lord
, Leo Penn
, James Best
, and George Nader
as Joseph McCoy.
He appeared in the syndicated
westerns, Hopalong Cassidy
and twice on the Duncan Renaldo
and Leo Carrillo
series The Cisco Kid
in the roles of an outlaw
in "Cisco Meets the Gorilla" and as E.W. Akers in "The Ventriloquist". He portrayed a character named "Stirling" in the 1957 episode "Judith" of the syndicated The Gray Ghost, an American Civil War
drama based on the life of Confederate
cavalry
officer John Singleton Mosby. He appeared in 1957 and 1958 on CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
in the episodes "No Man Living" and "The Accuser".
In 1957, he guest starred as Jared Martin (also the name of a subsequent actor) in the episode "Show of Force" on CBS's Have Gun - Will Travel starring Richard Boone
. He further appeared as the character Frank Russell in the episode "Girl in the Cab" of the syndicated Casey Jones
, starring Alan Hale, Jr.
, in the title role of railroad engineer John Luther "Casey" Jones
. Conway was cast in two 1958 segments, "Diamonds in the Rough" and "When the Cat's Away" of Rod Cameron
's State Trooper
modern western crime drama.
Often placed in law-enforcement roles, Conway portrayed a sheriff
in the 1958 episode "Rage for Vengeance" of ABC
's Maverick
and as Marshal
Short in the 1958 episode "Ghosts of Cimarron" of another ABC and Warner Brothers western, Cheyenne
, starring Clint Walker
.
He guest starred as Bart McCallin in the 1959 episode "McCallin's Daughter on CBS's Trackdown
, starring Robert Culp
, and twice on its sequel, Wanted: Dead or Alive, with Steve McQueen
. He appeared on two other CBS series, Rory Calhoun
's The Texan
and Earl Holliman
's Hotel de Paree
, set in a fictitious Colorado
town. He was another unnamed marshal in the episode "The Giant Killer" of the ABC-Warner Brothers production, Sugarfoot
, starring Will Hutchins
. Conway appeared with Roscoe Ates
on "Long Odds" of Dale Robertson
's Tales of Wells Fargo
, in "St. Louis
Woman" of The Tall Man
, and as Tyler in "Trail Drive" of Laramie
, all on NBC.
Between 1959 and 1962, Conway guest starred three times on the Eric Fleming
/Clint Eastwood
CBS series, Rawhide
, in the episodes entitled "Incident of the Town in Terror", "The Incident of the Running Man", and "Deserter's Patrol". He guest starred on other westerns: NBC's children's drama Peter Graves
's Fury
, Pat Conway
's Tombstone Territory
and Ty Hardin
's Bronco
as well as The Californians
, The Rough Riders
, Lawman
, and Frontier Justice
.
From 1961-1968, he appeared four times on NBC's Bonanza
: as Dave Hart in "The Tax Collector", as attorney Jeremy Grant in "The Man Without Land", as Judge Horace Wheeler in "False Witness", and as Balenger in "The Passing of a King". Other NBC western roles were on Jeffrey Hunter
's Temple Houston
and Chuck Connors
's acclaimed but short-lived Branded. From 1963-1967, he appeared in four episodes of NBC's The Virginian
: "Run Away Home", "Ryker" as Ed Hale, "The Dream of Stavros Karas" as Charley Cousins, and "Bitter Harvest" as Tom Hadley. He appeared twice on NBC's Daniel Boone
, including the role of Tom Mayberry in the 1966 episode entitled "Seminole
Territory". In 1967, he appeared as family patriarch
Albert Monroe but only for the series premiere of ABC's The Monroes
.
anthology series. He appeared in fifteen of the nineteen episodes of the Mickey Mouse Club
serial The Hardy Boys
: "The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure" (1956). The next year, he starred in the Hardy Boys' "The Mystery of the Ghost Farm". He portrayed Fenton Hardy, the father of teenagers Frank and Joe Hardy, played respectively by Tim Considine
, later of My Three Sons
, and Tommy Kirk
, later the Disney characters The Shaggy Dog
and Merlin Jones.
In 1959, Conway appeared as the father, Monty Morgan, of ABC's Disneyland in the two-part episode, "Moochie of the Little League", with 10-year-old Kevin Corcoran
(born 1949) in the title role. James Brown
appeared in the miniseries too as Andy Clinton. In 1960, he appeared in another two-part Disney episode starring Kevin Corcoran, "Moochie of Pop Warner Football".
In September 1968, Conway starred as a rancher in the Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color two-part episode "Boomerang, Dog of Many Talents". His co-stars were Patricia Crowley, Darby Hinton
, and Darren McGavin
.
roles on CBS's You Are There
, narrated by Walter Cronkite
and aired between 1953 and 1955. The episodes included "The Boston Tea Party
", "The Assassination
of Julius Caesar
", "The Resolve of Patrick Henry
", and "Washington Crosses the Delaware", with Conway portraying General George Washington
in the December 25, 1776, crossing of the Delaware River
from Pennsylvania
into Trenton
, New Jersey
.
He also portrayed the secretary of war
in the 1968 episode "Flag of Truce" of Daniel Boone.
. That same year, he appeared as Clemson in "The Horn That Blew Too Long" of Rod Cameron's first syndicated series, City Detective
.
In 1955 and 1956, Conway appeared twice on NBC's anthology series, The Loretta Young Show, first as Joe Davis in "He Always Comes Home" and then as Eddie in "Hapless Holiday".
Other Conway roles were on four episodes of CBS's fantasy drama, The Millionaire aired between 1955 and 1958, but he was never the millionaire
himself. He was Commander Loomis in the 1956 episode "A Day for a Stingray" of the ABC military drama Navy Log
, formerly on CBS. He appeared twice on Ronald W. Reagan's General Electric Theater
in the episodes "The Chess Game" and "Dropout" in 1956 and 1961, respectively,
He guest starred in another CBS crime dramas, The Lineup
and Checkmate
. He played Detective Ben Cooper in the episode "Killer in Town" of Lee Marvin
's M Squad
series on NBC.
Conway appeared in all four of the ABC-WB crime dramas: as Barney Harris in the episode "Girl in Trouble" of Bourbon Street Beat
starring Andrew Duggan
, as Cranston MacDonald on 77 Sunset Strip
in the episode "The Bouncing Chip", as Brockton Storr in "Ghost of a Chance" of Surfside 6
, and three times on Hawaiian Eye
in episodes entitled "Made in Japan", "Moon of Mindanao
", and "The Sisters". He also starred three times on ABC's The Untouchables
, a 1920s crime drama starring Robert Stack
as federal agent Elliot Ness.
From 1958-1961, he appeared eight times on Lloyd Bridges
's Sea Hunt
syndicated series about a professional diver. Conway guest starred in Edmond O'Brien
's 1960 syndicated crime drama, Johnny Midnight
. He appeared three times as Lieutenant Pete Kile on David Janssen
's NBC series, Richard Diamond, Private Detective
, previously broadcast on CBS. He also starred as Sheriff Thornton in Janssen's later series, ABC's The Fugitive
, in the 1967 episode "Passage to Helena
". In 1971, Conway appeared as Mr. Hansen in the episode "Operation: Crystal Springs" of Janssen's third series, O'Hara, U.S. Treasury
on CBS.
Conway appeared as General Devon in six episode of CBS's 1959-1960 drama Men Into Space
. That same year, he guest starred on Mike Connors
's CBS crime drama Tightrope
. He appeared in John Bromfield
's syndicated U.S. Marshal
, Charles Bronson
's Man with a Camera
on ABC, and Gary Lockwood
's NBC military drama The Lieutenant
, having appeared as Colonel
Curtis Morley in the 1964 episode "In the Highest Tradition".
In 1961 and 1965, he appeared on two CBS dramas, The Aquanauts, starring Keith Larsen
, and Slattery's People
, featuring Richard Crenna
as a state legislator. Conway was cast three times on the network's Perry Mason
starring Raymond Burr
. He appeared as a judge in the 1969 episode "The Law and Order Blues" (Part 1) of Carl Betz
's ABC legal drama Judd for the Defense.
police drama and twice as Dr. Jay L. Milton in two episodes of ABC's The Mod Squad
. He guest starred three times on CBS's Mannix
starring Mike Connors and four times on the same network's Mission: Impossible
with Peter Graves
. In 1972, he guest starred in "A Game of Chess" on ABC's The F.B.I. starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
In 1973, he starred in the episode "The Winning Ticket" of NBC's short-lived Chase
, starring Mitchell Ryan
and Wayne Maunder
. In 1974, Conway appeared on William Conrad
's Cannon
in the episode entitled "Where's Jennifer?". His last screen apeparance was in 1975 as an unnamed ship's captain in the 1975 episode "The Cruise Ship
Murders" of the Robert Wagner and Eddie Albert
CBS crime drama, Switch
.
Conway appeared in a few comedy programs too, including twice on CBS's The Jack Benny Program
, including an episode starring Ginger Rogers
. He also appeared once on ABC's Leave It to Beaver
, NBC's Get Smart
, and CBS's Mrs. G. Goes to College
starring Gertrude Berg
, Petticoat Junction
. The Beverly Hillbillies
, and The Munsters
.
in Orange County
, California.
Character actor
A character actor is one who predominantly plays unusual or eccentric characters. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a character actor as "an actor who specializes in character parts", defining character part in turn as "an acting role displaying pronounced or unusual characteristics or...
who appeared on film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
and television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
between 1947 and 1975.
Early years
Born Russell Clarence Zink in BrandonBrandon, Manitoba
Brandon is the second largest city in Manitoba, Canada, and is located in the southwestern area of the province. Brandon is the largest city in the Westman region of Manitoba. The city is located along the Assiniboine River. Spruce Woods Provincial Park and CFB Shilo are a relatively short distance...
, the second largest city of Manitoba
Manitoba
Manitoba is a Canadian prairie province with an area of . The province has over 110,000 lakes and has a largely continental climate because of its flat topography. Agriculture, mostly concentrated in the fertile southern and western parts of the province, is vital to the province's economy; other...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Conway earned a bachelor's degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
in 1937 from the University of California at Los Angeles. Years later, he procured a master's
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
in theatre arts from UCLA as well as teaching credentials.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, he was in the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, attached to the special services unit. For several months, he was entertainment director at the since defunct Fort Ord on Monterey Bay
Monterey Bay
Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean, along the central coast of California. The bay is south of San Francisco and San Jose, between the cities of Santa Cruz and Monterey....
in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
before he was sent to the Philippine Islands and then Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
. He worked as a producer and announcer for Armed Forces Radio.
First roles
His first had uncredited roles in some two dozen motion pictures from 1947–1953, beginning as a medicMedic
Medic is a general term for a person involved in medicine, especially emergency or first-response medicine, such as an emergency medical technician, paramedic, or a military member trained in battlefield medicine. Also the term is used toward a Nurse in pre-hospital care and/or emergency...
in Buck Privates Come Home
Buck Privates Come Home
Buck Privates Come Home is a 1947 film starring the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. It is a sequel to their 1941 hit, Buck Privates....
and including Flamingo Road, I Was a Male War Bride
I Was a Male War Bride
I Was a Male War Bride is a 1949 comedy film directed by Howard Hawks and starring Cary Grant and Ann Sheridan.This film was based on I was an Alien Spouse of Female Military Personnel Enroute to the United States Under Public Law 271 of the Congress, a biography of Henri Rochard, a Belgian who...
, Calamity Jane and Sam Bass about frontier characters Martha Jane Cannary
Calamity Jane
Martha Jane Cannary Burke , better known as Calamity Jane, was an American frontierswoman, and professional scout best known for her claim of being an acquaintance of Wild Bill Hickok, but also for having gained fame fighting Native Americans...
and the bandit Sam Bass
Sam Bass
Sam Bass was a nineteenth-century American train robber and outlaw.-Early life:Bass was orphaned at the age of 10. For the next five years, he and his siblings lived with an abusive uncle. In 1869, he set out on his own and spent the next year in Mississippi...
, Twelve O'Clock High
Twelve O'Clock High
Twelve O'Clock High is a 1949 American war film about aircrews in the United States Army's Eighth Air Force who flew daylight bombing missions against Nazi Germany and occupied France during the early days of American involvement in World War II. The film was adapted by Sy Bartlett, Henry King ...
, Ma and Pa Kettle
Ma and Pa Kettle
Ma and Pa Kettle are comic film characters of the successful film series of the same name, produced by Universal Studios, in the late '40s and '50s. They are a hillbilly couple with fifteen children whose lives turn upside-down when they win a model-home-of-the-future in a slogan-writing contest...
on Vacation, and the 1952 film, The Outcasts of Poker Flat, based on a Bret Harte
Bret Harte
Francis Bret Harte was an American author and poet, best remembered for his accounts of pioneering life in California.- Life and career :...
short story
Short story
A short story is a work of fiction that is usually written in prose, often in narrative format. This format tends to be more pointed than longer works of fiction, such as novellas and novels. Short story definitions based on length differ somewhat, even among professional writers, in part because...
of the same name
The Outcasts of Poker Flat
"The Outcasts of Poker Flat" is a short story written by renowned author of the American West Bret Harte. This story is a good example of regionalism and local color during the Gilded Generation. His compelling combination of realism and sentimentality offers readers real and known characters, yet...
.
Though most of his work after 1953 was on television, Conway also appeared in notable films. He was Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
's friend Ed Galt in Presley's screen debut, Love Me Tender
Love Me Tender (1956 film)
Love Me Tender is a 1956 American black-and-white CinemaScope motion picture directed by Robert D. Webb, and released by 20th Century Fox on November 21, 1956. The film, named after the song, stars Richard Egan, Debra Paget, and Elvis Presley in his film debut. It is in the Western genre with...
. He also played the police officer who discovered Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford
Joan Crawford , born Lucille Fay LeSueur, was an American actress in film, television and theatre....
's body on the beach at the end of What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (film)
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is a 1962 American psychological thriller film produced and directed by Robert Aldrich, starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford. The screenplay by Lukas Heller is based on the novel of the same name by Henry Farrell...
. He played the Reverend Bethany of The War of the Worlds
The War of the Worlds (1953 film)
The War of the Worlds is a 1953 science fiction film starring Gene Barry and Ann Robinson. It was the first on-screen loose adaptation of the H. G. Wells classic novel of the same name...
.
Conway became best known for his multiple television appearances, beginning with "Sheep Thieves", the first of four episodes between 1950 and 1954, of the classic western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger
The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked Texas Ranger who, with his Native American companion Tonto, fights injustice in the American Old West. The character has become an enduring icon of American culture....
. The other episodes featuring Conway are "Sinner by Proxy", "A Son by Adoption", and "The Bounty Hunter". In 1951, Conway appeared on the detective
Detective
A detective is an investigator, either a member of a police agency or a private person. The latter may be known as private investigators or "private eyes"...
series Boston Blackie
Boston Blackie
Boston Blackie is a fictional character created by author Jack Boyle . Originally a jewel thief and safecracker in Boyle's novels, he became a detective in adaptations for films, radio and television—an "enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend."-Literature:Jack...
. He then guest starred in three 1952-1953 episodes of Jack Webb
Jack Webb
John Randolph "Jack" Webb , also known by the pseudonym John Randolph, was an American actor, television producer, director and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sergeant Joe Friday in the radio and television series Dragnet...
's original Dragnet
Dragnet (series)
Dragnet is a radio and television crime drama about the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners...
crime drama on NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
. Later he guest starred on Reed Hadley
Reed Hadley
Reed Hadley was an American movie, television and radio actor.Reed Hadley was born Reed Herring in Petrolia in Clay County near Wichita Falls, Texas, to Bert Herring, an oil well driller, and his wife Minnie. Hadley had one sister, Bess Brenner. He was reared in Buffalo, New York...
's second CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
series, The Public Defender
The Public Defender (TV series)
The Public Defender is a half-hour 69-episode television dramatic series starring Reed Hadley as Bart Matthews, an attorney for the indigent. The series aired on CBS from March 11, 1954 to June 23, 1955, a season and a half.-Premise:...
Western roles
Over the years, Conway guest starred in many television westerns, including a forgotten 1953 episode "McCoy of Abilene", about the 1860s cattleman Joseph McCoyJoseph McCoy
Joseph "Cowboy" McCoy was a 19th century cattle baron.Born in Sangamon county, Illinois, he is often cited as the inspiration for the phrase "The Real McCoy" because of his reputation and reliability and because he referred to himself by that phrase Joseph "Cowboy" McCoy (December 21, 1837 –...
in Abilene
Abilene, Kansas
Abilene is a city in and the county seat of Dickinson County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 6,844.-History:...
and Dodge City
Dodge City, Kansas
Dodge City is a city in, and the county seat of, Ford County, Kansas, United States. Named after nearby Fort Dodge, the city is famous in American culture for its history as a wild frontier town of the Old West. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 27,340.-History:The first settlement of...
, Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, a segment of the Hallmark Hall of Fame
Hallmark Hall of Fame
Hallmark Hall of Fame is an anthology program on American television, sponsored by Hallmark Cards, a Kansas City based greeting card company. The second longest-running television program in the history of television, it has a historically long run, beginning in 1951 and continuing into 2011...
, then on NBC. Conway's co-stars on Hallmark were Frances Bavier
Frances Bavier
Frances Elizabeth Bavier was an American stage and television actress. Originally from the New York theatre, Bavier worked in film and television from the 1950s...
, Marjorie Lord
Marjorie Lord
Marjorie Lord is an American television and film actress. She played Kathy "Clancy" Williams opposite Danny Thomas on Make Room for Daddy and later Make Room for Granddaddy.-Early life and career:...
, Leo Penn
Leo Penn
Leo Z. Penn was an American actor and director, and father of musician Michael Penn and actors Sean Penn and Chris Penn.-Early life:...
, James Best
James Best
James Best is an American actor best known for his role as bumbling Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane in the CBS television series The Dukes of Hazzard. He has also worked as an acting coach, artist, and musician.-Early years:...
, and George Nader
George Nader
George Nader was an American film and television actor of Lebanese descent. He appeared in a variety of films from 1950 through 1974, including Phone Call from a Stranger , Congo Crossing , and The Female Animal...
as Joseph McCoy.
He appeared in the syndicated
Television syndication
In broadcasting, syndication is the sale of the right to broadcast radio shows and television shows by multiple radio stations and television stations, without going through a broadcast network, though the process of syndication may conjure up structures like those of a network itself, by its very...
westerns, Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalong Cassidy
Hopalong Cassidy is a fictional cowboy hero created in 1904 by the author Clarence E. Mulford, who wrote a series of popular short stories and twenty-eight novels based on the character....
and twice on the Duncan Renaldo
Duncan Renaldo
Renault Renaldo Duncan , better known as Duncan Renaldo, was an American actor who portrayed The Cisco Kid in films and on the 1950-1956 American TV series, The Cisco Kid.-Early years:...
and Leo Carrillo
Leo Carrillo
Leopoldo Antonio Carrillo , was an American actor, vaudevillian, political cartoonist, and conservationist.-Family roots:...
series The Cisco Kid
The Cisco Kid (TV series)
The Cisco Kid is a half-hour American Western television series starring Duncan Renaldo in the title role, The Cisco Kid, and Leo Carrillo as the jovial sidekick, Pancho...
in the roles of an outlaw
Outlaw
In historical legal systems, an outlaw is declared as outside the protection of the law. In pre-modern societies, this takes the burden of active prosecution of a criminal from the authorities. Instead, the criminal is withdrawn all legal protection, so that anyone is legally empowered to persecute...
in "Cisco Meets the Gorilla" and as E.W. Akers in "The Ventriloquist". He portrayed a character named "Stirling" in the 1957 episode "Judith" of the syndicated The Gray Ghost, an American Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
drama based on the life of Confederate
Confederate States of America
The Confederate States of America was a government set up from 1861 to 1865 by 11 Southern slave states of the United States of America that had declared their secession from the U.S...
cavalry
Cavalry
Cavalry or horsemen were soldiers or warriors who fought mounted on horseback. Cavalry were historically the third oldest and the most mobile of the combat arms...
officer John Singleton Mosby. He appeared in 1957 and 1958 on CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.-Overview:Zane Grey Theatre was created by Luke Short and Charles A. Wallace...
in the episodes "No Man Living" and "The Accuser".
In 1957, he guest starred as Jared Martin (also the name of a subsequent actor) in the episode "Show of Force" on CBS's Have Gun - Will Travel starring Richard Boone
Richard Boone
Richard Allen Boone was an American actor who starred in over 50 films and was notable for his roles in Westerns and for starring in the TV series Have Gun – Will Travel.-Early life:...
. He further appeared as the character Frank Russell in the episode "Girl in the Cab" of the syndicated Casey Jones
Casey Jones (TV series)
Casey Jones is an American children's Western series that ran during the '58-'59 television season, based around the pioneering western railroads. The series aired in syndication in the United States...
, starring Alan Hale, Jr.
Alan Hale, Jr.
Alan Hale, Jr. was an American film and television actor, best known for his role as Skipper on the popular sitcom Gilligan's Island. Hale was the lookalike son of popular supporting film actor Alan Hale, Sr....
, in the title role of railroad engineer John Luther "Casey" Jones
Casey Jones
John Luther Jones was an American railroad engineer from Jackson, Tennessee, who worked for the Illinois Central Railroad...
. Conway was cast in two 1958 segments, "Diamonds in the Rough" and "When the Cat's Away" of Rod Cameron
Rod Cameron
Rod Cameron was a Canadian-born movie actor whose career extended from the 1930s to the 1970s. He appeared in horror, war, action and science fiction movies, but is best remembered for his many Westerns....
's State Trooper
State Trooper (TV series)
State Trooper is a half-hour television crime drama set in the 1950s American West, starring Rod Cameron as Rod Blake, an officer of the Nevada State Troopers. The series aired 104 episodes in syndication from September 25, 1956, to June 25, 1959...
modern western crime drama.
Often placed in law-enforcement roles, Conway portrayed a sheriff
Sheriff
A sheriff is in principle a legal official with responsibility for a county. In practice, the specific combination of legal, political, and ceremonial duties of a sheriff varies greatly from country to country....
in the 1958 episode "Rage for Vengeance" of ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
's Maverick
Maverick (TV series)
Maverick is a western television series with comedic overtones created by Roy Huggins. The show ran from September 22, 1957 to July 8, 1962 on ABC and stars James Garner as Bret Maverick, a cagey, articulate cardsharp. Eight episodes into the first season, he was joined by Jack Kelly as his brother...
and as Marshal
Marshal
Marshal , is a word used in several official titles of various branches of society. The word is an ancient loan word from Old French, cf...
Short in the 1958 episode "Ghosts of Cimarron" of another ABC and Warner Brothers western, Cheyenne
Cheyenne (TV series)
Cheyenne is a western television series of 108 black-and-white episodes broadcast on ABC from 1955 to 1963. The show was the first hour-long western, and in fact the first hour-long dramatic series of any kind, with continuing characters, to last more than one season...
, starring Clint Walker
Clint Walker
Norman Eugene Walker, known as Clint Walker , is an American actor best known for his cowboy role as "Cheyenne Bodie" in the TV Western series, Cheyenne.-Life and career:...
.
He guest starred as Bart McCallin in the 1959 episode "McCallin's Daughter on CBS's Trackdown
Trackdown
Trackdown is an American Western television series starring Robert Culp that aired on CBS between 1957 and 1959. The series offered more than seventy episodes and was produced by Dick Powell's Four Star Television and filmed at the Desilu-Culver Studio...
, starring Robert Culp
Robert Culp
Robert Martin Culp was an American actor, scriptwriter, voice actor and director, widely known for his work in television. Culp first earned an international reputation for his role as Kelly Robinson on I Spy , the espionage series in which he and co-star Bill Cosby played a pair of secret agents...
, and twice on its sequel, Wanted: Dead or Alive, with Steve McQueen
Steve McQueen
Terrence Steven "Steve" McQueen was an American movie actor. He was nicknamed "The King of Cool." His "anti-hero" persona, which he developed at the height of the Vietnam counterculture, made him one of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination...
. He appeared on two other CBS series, Rory Calhoun
Rory Calhoun
Rory Calhoun was an American television and film actor, screenwriter and producer, best known for his roles in Westerns.-Early life:...
's The Texan
The Texan (TV series)
The Texan is a Western television series starring popular B movie star Rory Calhoun. It aired on the CBS television network from 1958-1960.-Production notes:...
and Earl Holliman
Earl Holliman
-Early life:Earl Holliman was born at Delhi in Richland Parish of northeastern Louisiana. Holliman’s biological father died before he was born, and his biological mother, living in poverty with several other children, gave him up for adoption at birth...
's Hotel de Paree
Hotel de Paree
Hotel de Paree is a Western television series that aired on the CBS Friday schedule from October 2, 1959, until June 3, 1960, under the alternate sponsorship of Liggett & Myers and Kellogg's....
, set in a fictitious Colorado
Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...
town. He was another unnamed marshal in the episode "The Giant Killer" of the ABC-Warner Brothers production, Sugarfoot
Sugarfoot
Sugarfoot is the title of a TV western that aired from 1957 to 1961. The series featured Will Hutchins as fledgling frontier lawyer Tom Brewster and Jack Elam as sidekick Toothy Thompson...
, starring Will Hutchins
Will Hutchins
Will Hutchins is an American actor most noted for playing the lead role of the young lawyer Tom Brewster in the Warner Brothers Western television series Sugarfoot on ABC from 1957-1961.-Biography:...
. Conway appeared with Roscoe Ates
Roscoe Ates
Roscoe Ates was an actor and musician in primarily western films and television.-Early years:Ates was born in the rural hamlet of Grange, Mississippi, northwest of Hattiesburg. Grange is no longer included on road maps...
on "Long Odds" of Dale Robertson
Dale Robertson
Dayle Lymoine "Dale" Robertson is an American actor best known for his starring roles on television. He played the role of Jim Hardie in the TV series, Tales of Wells Fargo, and the owner of an incomplete railroad line in ABC's The Iron Horse, often appearing as the deceptively thoughtful but...
's Tales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo
Tales of Wells Fargo is an American Western television series that ran from March 18, 1957 to June 2, 1962 on NBC. Produced by Revue Productions, the series aired in a half-hour format until its final season when it expanded to an hour.-Synopsis:...
, in "St. Louis
St. Louis, Missouri
St. Louis is an independent city on the eastern border of Missouri, United States. With a population of 319,294, it was the 58th-largest U.S. city at the 2010 U.S. Census. The Greater St...
Woman" of The Tall Man
The Tall Man (TV series)
The Tall Man is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from 1960 to 1962. The series was produced by Revue Productions.-Synopsis:...
, and as Tyler in "Trail Drive" of Laramie
Laramie (TV series)
Laramie is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from 1959 to 1963. Laramie was a Revue Studios production which originally starred John Smith as Slim Sherman, Robert Fuller as Jess Harper, Hoagy Carmichael as Jonesy and Robert Crawford, Jr...
, all on NBC.
Between 1959 and 1962, Conway guest starred three times on the Eric Fleming
Eric Fleming
Eric Fleming was an American actor, known primarily for his role as Gil Favor in the long running CBS television series Rawhide.-Early life:...
/Clint Eastwood
Clint Eastwood
Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...
CBS series, Rawhide
Rawhide (TV series)
Rawhide is an American Western series that aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes...
, in the episodes entitled "Incident of the Town in Terror", "The Incident of the Running Man", and "Deserter's Patrol". He guest starred on other westerns: NBC's children's drama Peter Graves
Peter Graves (actor)
Peter Aurness , known professionally as Peter Graves, was an American film and television actor. He was best known for his starring role in the CBS television series Mission: Impossible from 1967 to 1973...
's Fury
Fury (TV series)
Fury is an American Western television series that aired on NBC from 1955–1960, starring Peter Graves as Jim Newton , Bobby Diamond as Jim's adopted son, Joey Clark Newton, and William Fawcett as ranch hand Pete Wilkey...
, Pat Conway
Pat Conway
Patrick Douglas Conway, known as Pat Conway , was an American actor best known for his role as young but tough Sheriff Clay Hollister on the ABC and then syndicated western television series Tombstone Territory . He was a maternal grandson of silent film star Francis X...
's Tombstone Territory
Tombstone Territory
Tombstone Territory is an American Western series starring Pat Conway and Richard Eastham. The series' first two seasons aired on ABC from 1957 to 1959...
and Ty Hardin
Ty Hardin
Ty Hardin, born Orison Whipple Hungerford, Jr., is a former American actor best known as the star of the 1950s ABC western television series Bronco.-Early life:...
's Bronco
Bronco (TV series)
Bronco is a Western series on ABC from 1958 through 1962. It was shown by the BBC in the United Kingdom. The program starred Ty Hardin as Bronco Layne, a former Confederate officer who wandered the Old West, meeting such well-known individuals as Wild Bill Hickok, Billy the Kid, Jesse James,...
as well as The Californians
The Californians (TV series)
The Californians is a 54-episode half-hour Western television series, set in the San Francisco gold rush of the 1850s, which aired on NBC from September 24, 1957, to May 26, 1959...
, The Rough Riders
The Rough Riders (TV series)
The Rough Riders is an American Western television series set in the West after the American Civil War. It aired on ABC for the 1958-1959 television season...
, Lawman
Lawman (tv series)
Lawman is an American Western television series originally telecast from 1958 to 1962 starring John Russell as Marshal Dan Troop and featuring Peter Brown as Deputy Marshal Johnny McKay on the ABC Television Network. The series was set in Laramie, Wyoming during the mid to late 1870s. Warner Bros....
, and Frontier Justice
Frontier Justice (TV series)
For the NBC western anthology, see Frontier .Frontier Justice is a CBS television Western anthology series which had thirty-one telecasts over the summers of 1958, 1959, and 1961. It was a repackaging of episodes from CBS's Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater, and was hosted by Lew Ayres, Melvyn...
.
From 1961-1968, he appeared four times on NBC's Bonanza
Bonanza
Bonanza is an American western television series that both ran on and was a production of NBC from September 12, 1959 to January 16, 1973. Lasting 14 seasons and 430 episodes, it ranks as the second longest running western series and still continues to air in syndication. It centers on the...
: as Dave Hart in "The Tax Collector", as attorney Jeremy Grant in "The Man Without Land", as Judge Horace Wheeler in "False Witness", and as Balenger in "The Passing of a King". Other NBC western roles were on Jeffrey Hunter
Jeffrey Hunter
Jeffrey Hunter was an American film and television actor. His most famous roles are as Jesus in the film King of Kings, as Martin Pawley in The Searchers, and as Capt...
's Temple Houston
Temple Houston (TV series)
Temple Houston is a 1963–64 NBC television series which has been called "the first attempt . . . to produce an hour-long Western series with the main character being an attorney in the formal sense." It was the only show Jack Webb sold to a network during his ten months as the head of production at...
and Chuck Connors
Chuck Connors
Chuck Connors was an American actor, writer, and professional basketball and baseball player. His best known role from his forty-year film career was Lucas McCain in the 1960s ABC hit Western series The Rifleman....
's acclaimed but short-lived Branded. From 1963-1967, he appeared in four episodes of NBC's The Virginian
The Virginian (TV series)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...
: "Run Away Home", "Ryker" as Ed Hale, "The Dream of Stavros Karas" as Charley Cousins, and "Bitter Harvest" as Tom Hadley. He appeared twice on NBC's Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone (TV series)
Daniel Boone is an American action/adventure television series starring Fess Parker as Daniel Boone that aired from September 24, 1964 to September 10, 1970 on NBC for 165 episodes, and was made by 20th Century Fox Television. Ed Ames co-starred as Mingo, Boone's Native American friend, for the...
, including the role of Tom Mayberry in the 1966 episode entitled "Seminole
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
Territory". In 1967, he appeared as family patriarch
Patriarch
Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy. This is a Greek word, a compound of πατριά , "lineage, descent", esp...
Albert Monroe but only for the series premiere of ABC's The Monroes
The Monroes (1966 TV series)
The Monroes is a 26-segment Western television series which ran on ABC during the 1966-1967 season – the story of five orphans trying to survive as a family on the frontier in the area about what is now Grand Teton National Park near Jackson in northwestern Wyoming.Michael Anderson, Jr., then 24,...
.
Disney roles
Some of Conway's most memorable roles were on the Walt DisneyWalt Disney
Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, and philanthropist, well-known for his influence in the field of entertainment during the 20th century. Along with his brother Roy O...
anthology series. He appeared in fifteen of the nineteen episodes of the Mickey Mouse Club
Mickey Mouse Club
The Mickey Mouse Club is an American variety television show that began in 1955, produced by Walt Disney Productions and televised by the ABC, featuring a regular but ever-changing cast of teenage performers. The Mickey Mouse Club was created by Walt Disney...
serial The Hardy Boys
The Hardy Boys
The Hardy Boys, Frank and Joe Hardy, are fictional teenage brothers and amateur detectives who appear in various mystery series for children and teens....
: "The Mystery of the Applegate Treasure" (1956). The next year, he starred in the Hardy Boys' "The Mystery of the Ghost Farm". He portrayed Fenton Hardy, the father of teenagers Frank and Joe Hardy, played respectively by Tim Considine
Tim Considine
Timothy Daniel "Tim" Considine is a former American child actor and young adult actor who was popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s...
, later of My Three Sons
My Three Sons
My Three Sons is an American situation comedy. The series ran from 1960 to 1965 on ABC, and moved to CBS until its end on August 24, 1972. My Three Sons chronicles the life of a widower and aeronautical engineer named Steven Douglas , raising his three sons.The series was a cornerstone of the CBS...
, and Tommy Kirk
Tommy Kirk
Thomas Lee "Tommy" Kirk is a former American actor, and later a businessman.-Disney years:Kirk was discovered by talent agents at the age of thirteen in a production of Eugene O'Neill's Ah, Wilderness! at the Pasadena Playhouse in Pasadena, California...
, later the Disney characters The Shaggy Dog
The Shaggy Dog (1959 film)
The Shaggy Dog is a black and white 1959 Walt Disney film about Wilby Daniels, a teenage boy who is transformed into an Old English Sheepdog by an enchanted ring of the Borgias. The film was based on the story, The Hound of Florence by Felix Salten...
and Merlin Jones.
In 1959, Conway appeared as the father, Monty Morgan, of ABC's Disneyland in the two-part episode, "Moochie of the Little League", with 10-year-old Kevin Corcoran
Kevin Corcoran
Kevin Anthony "Moochie" Corcoran is an American director, producer, and former child actor. He appeared in numerous Disney projects between 1957 and 1963, frequently as an irrepressible character with the nickname Moochie...
(born 1949) in the title role. James Brown
James Brown (Rin Tin Tin)
James E. Brown was an American film and TV actor best known for his role as Lieutenant Ripley "Rip" Masters in all 166 episodes of the 1954-1959 ABC Western television series, The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin....
appeared in the miniseries too as Andy Clinton. In 1960, he appeared in another two-part Disney episode starring Kevin Corcoran, "Moochie of Pop Warner Football".
In September 1968, Conway starred as a rancher in the Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color two-part episode "Boomerang, Dog of Many Talents". His co-stars were Patricia Crowley, Darby Hinton
Darby Hinton
Darby Hinton is an American actor and filmmaker initially cast in commercials when he was six months old. From 1964–1970 he portrayed Israel Boone, a son of American pioneer Daniel Boone, on the NBC adventure series Daniel Boone, with Fess Parker in the title role...
, and Darren McGavin
Darren McGavin
Darren McGavin was an American actor best known for playing the title role in the television horror series Kolchak: The Night Stalker and his portrayal in the film A Christmas Story of the grumpy father given to bursts of profanity that he never realizes his son overhears...
.
Historic roles
Conway appeared in historicHistory
History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
roles on CBS's You Are There
You Are There
You Are There is the fourth studio album by the Japanese instrumental rock band Mono, a double album released on 15 March 2006. The album was recorded in 2005 at Electrical Audio in Chicago, Illinois with recording engineer Steve Albini...
, narrated by Walter Cronkite
Walter Cronkite
Walter Leland Cronkite, Jr. was an American broadcast journalist, best known as anchorman for the CBS Evening News for 19 years . During the heyday of CBS News in the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as "the most trusted man in America" after being so named in an opinion poll...
and aired between 1953 and 1955. The episodes included "The Boston Tea Party
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a direct action by colonists in Boston, a town in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the British government and the monopolistic East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies...
", "The Assassination
Assassination
To carry out an assassination is "to murder by a sudden and/or secret attack, often for political reasons." Alternatively, assassination may be defined as "the act of deliberately killing someone, especially a public figure, usually for hire or for political reasons."An assassination may be...
of Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar was a Roman general and statesman and a distinguished writer of Latin prose. He played a critical role in the gradual transformation of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire....
", "The Resolve of Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry was an orator and politician who led the movement for independence in Virginia in the 1770s. A Founding Father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia from 1776 to 1779 and subsequently, from 1784 to 1786...
", and "Washington Crosses the Delaware", with Conway portraying General George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
in the December 25, 1776, crossing of the Delaware River
Delaware River
The Delaware River is a major river on the Atlantic coast of the United States.A Dutch expedition led by Henry Hudson in 1609 first mapped the river. The river was christened the South River in the New Netherland colony that followed, in contrast to the North River, as the Hudson River was then...
from Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
into Trenton
Trenton, New Jersey
Trenton is the capital of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. As of the 2010 United States Census, Trenton had a population of 84,913...
, New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
.
He also portrayed the secretary of war
United States Secretary of War
The Secretary of War was a member of the United States President's Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's administration. A similar position, called either "Secretary at War" or "Secretary of War," was appointed to serve the Congress of the Confederation under the Articles of Confederation...
in the 1968 episode "Flag of Truce" of Daniel Boone.
Dramatic roles
His dramatic guest appearances included the role of 41-year-old Doug Parish in the 1954 episode "Climax" of the NBC crime drama, Mr. and Mrs. NorthMr. and Mrs. North
Mr. and Mrs. North are fictional American amateur detectives. Created by Frances and Richard Lockridge, the couple were featured in a series of 26 Mr. and Mrs. North novels, a Broadway play, a motion picture and several radio and television series....
. That same year, he appeared as Clemson in "The Horn That Blew Too Long" of Rod Cameron's first syndicated series, City Detective
City Detective (TV series)
City Detective is a half-hour syndicated crime drama starring Rod Cameron as 43-year-old Bart Grant, a tough 1950s New York City police lieutenant. The first of three consecutive Rod Cameron series, City Detective aired between January 1, 1953 and May 10, 1955...
.
In 1955 and 1956, Conway appeared twice on NBC's anthology series, The Loretta Young Show, first as Joe Davis in "He Always Comes Home" and then as Eddie in "Hapless Holiday".
Other Conway roles were on four episodes of CBS's fantasy drama, The Millionaire aired between 1955 and 1958, but he was never the millionaire
Millionaire
A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. It can also be a person who owns one million units of currency in a bank account or savings account...
himself. He was Commander Loomis in the 1956 episode "A Day for a Stingray" of the ABC military drama Navy Log
Navy Log
Navy Log is an American anthology series that initially aired on CBS. The series featured over 70 regular guests and told about the greatest survival war stories in the history of the United States Navy. This series premiered on September 20, 1955. The following year, it was moved to ABC, where it...
, formerly on CBS. He appeared twice on Ronald W. Reagan's General Electric Theater
General Electric Theater
General Electric Theater is an American anthology series hosted by Ronald W. Reagan that was broadcast on CBS radio and television. The series was sponsored by General Electric's Department of Public Relations.-Radio:...
in the episodes "The Chess Game" and "Dropout" in 1956 and 1961, respectively,
He guest starred in another CBS crime dramas, The Lineup
The Lineup (TV series)
The Lineup is an American police drama which aired on CBS radio from 1950 to 1953 and on CBS television from 1954 to 1960, possibly in response to NBC's hit Dragnet....
and Checkmate
Checkmate (TV series)
Checkmate is an American detective television series starring Anthony George, Sebastian Cabot, and Doug McClure. The show aired on CBS Television from 1960 to 1962 for a total of 70 episodes and was produced by Jack Benny's production company, "JaMco Productions" in co-operation with Revue...
. He played Detective Ben Cooper in the episode "Killer in Town" of Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...
's M Squad
M Squad
M Squad is an American police drama television series that ran from 1957 to 1960 on NBC. Its format would later inspire the creation of spoof TV show Police Squad! Its sponsor was the Pall Mall cigarette brand; Lee Marvin, the program's star, appeared in its commercials during the...
series on NBC.
Conway appeared in all four of the ABC-WB crime dramas: as Barney Harris in the episode "Girl in Trouble" of Bourbon Street Beat
Bourbon Street Beat
Bourbon Street Beat is a private detective series which aired on the ABC network from 1959-1960 and featured Andrew Duggan as Cal Calhoun, Richard Long as Rex Randolph, Van Williams as Kenny Madison, and Arlene Howell as Melody Lee Mercer, the secretary at the New Orleans detective agency in which...
starring Andrew Duggan
Andrew Duggan
-Career:During World War II, Duggan was in the 40th Special Services Company, led by actor Melvyn Douglas in the China Burma India Theater of World War II. His contact with Douglas later led to his performing with Lucille Ball in the play Dreamgirl. He developed a friendship with Broadway...
, as Cranston MacDonald on 77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip
77 Sunset Strip is an hour-length American television private detective series created by Roy Huggins and starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr., Roger Smith, and Edd Byrnes....
in the episode "The Bouncing Chip", as Brockton Storr in "Ghost of a Chance" of Surfside 6
Surfside 6
Surfside 6 was an ABC television series which aired from 1960 to 1962. The show centered around a Miami Beach detective agency set on a houseboat and featured Troy Donahue as Sandy Winfield, II; Van Williams as Kenny Madison ; and Lee Patterson as Dave Thorne...
, and three times on Hawaiian Eye
Hawaiian Eye
Hawaiian Eye is an American television series that ran from October 1959 to September 1963 on the American Broadcasting Company television network.-Premise:...
in episodes entitled "Made in Japan", "Moon of Mindanao
Mindanao
Mindanao is the second largest and easternmost island in the Philippines. It is also the name of one of the three island groups in the country, which consists of the island of Mindanao and smaller surrounding islands. The other two are Luzon and the Visayas. The island of Mindanao is called The...
", and "The Sisters". He also starred three times on ABC's The Untouchables
The Untouchables (1959 TV series)
The Untouchables is an American crime drama that ran from 1959 to 1963 on ABC. Based on the memoir of the same name by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley, it fictionalized the experiences of Eliot Ness, a real-life Prohibition agent, as he fought crime in Chicago during the 1930s with the help of a...
, a 1920s crime drama starring Robert Stack
Robert Stack
Robert Stack was an American actor. In addition to acting in more than 40 films, he was the star of the 1959-1963 ABC television series The Untouchables and later served as the host of Unsolved Mysteries.-Early life:...
as federal agent Elliot Ness.
From 1958-1961, he appeared eight times on Lloyd Bridges
Lloyd Bridges
Lloyd Vernet Bridges, Jr. was an American actor who starred in a number of television series and appeared in more than 150 feature films. Bridges is best known for his role of Mike Nelson in Sea Hunt, the most-popular syndicated American TV series in 1958...
's Sea Hunt
Sea Hunt
Sea Hunt was an American adventure television series that was aired in syndication by Ziv Television Programs from 1958 to 1961 and was popular in syndication for decades afterwards. The series originally aired for four seasons, with 155 episodes produced...
syndicated series about a professional diver. Conway guest starred in Edmond O'Brien
Edmond O'Brien
Edmond O'Brien was an American actor who is perhaps best remembered for his role in D.O.A. and his Oscar winning role in The Barefoot Contessa...
's 1960 syndicated crime drama, Johnny Midnight
Johnny Midnight (TV series)
Johnny Midnight is an American crime drama that aired for one season in syndicated from January to December 1960. The series stars Edmond O'Brien as the title character.-Synopsis:...
. He appeared three times as Lieutenant Pete Kile on David Janssen
David Janssen
David Janssen was an American film and television actor who is best known for his starring role as Dr. Richard Kimble in the television series The Fugitive , the starring role in the 1950s hit detective series Richard Diamond, Private Detective , and as Harry Orwell on Harry O.In 1996 TV Guide...
's NBC series, Richard Diamond, Private Detective
Richard Diamond, Private Detective
Richard Diamond, Private Detective is an American detective drama which aired on radio from 1949 to 1953, and on television from 1957 to 1960.-Radio:...
, previously broadcast on CBS. He also starred as Sheriff Thornton in Janssen's later series, ABC's The Fugitive
The Fugitive (TV series)
The Fugitive is an American drama series produced by QM Productions and United Artists Television that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1967. David Janssen stars as Richard Kimble, a doctor from the fictional town of Stafford, Indiana, who is falsely convicted of his wife's murder and given the death...
, in the 1967 episode "Passage to Helena
Helena, Montana
Helena is the capital city of the U.S. state of Montana and the county seat of Lewis and Clark County. The 2010 census put the population at 28,180. The local daily newspaper is the Independent Record. The Helena Brewers minor league baseball and Helena Bighorns minor league hockey team call the...
". In 1971, Conway appeared as Mr. Hansen in the episode "Operation: Crystal Springs" of Janssen's third series, O'Hara, U.S. Treasury
O'Hara, U.S. Treasury
O'Hara, U.S. Treasury is an American television crime drama broadcast by CBS during the 1971-72 television season. Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited packaged the program for Universal Television. Webb and longtime colleague James E. Moser created the show; Leonard B. Kaufman was the...
on CBS.
Conway appeared as General Devon in six episode of CBS's 1959-1960 drama Men Into Space
Men Into Space
Men Into Space is an American sci-fi television series broadcast from September 30, 1959 to September 7, 1960 by CBS which depicted future efforts by the United States Air Force to explore and develop outer space. The black-and-white filmed show starred William Lundigan as Col...
. That same year, he guest starred on Mike Connors
Mike Connors
Mike Connors is an American actor best known for playing detective Joe Mannix in the CBS television series, Mannix. Before that, he had played a crime-fighting investigator, wielding a .38 handgun hidden in his back, in another CBS series, Tightrope.-Early life:Connors was born Krekor Ohanian in...
's CBS crime drama Tightrope
Tightrope (TV series)
Tightrope is an American crime drama series that aired on CBS from September 1959 to September 1960. Produced by Russell Rouse and Clarence Greene in association with Screen Gems, the series stars Mike Connors as an undercover agent named "Nick" who was assigned to infiltrate criminal gangs...
. He appeared in John Bromfield
John Bromfield
John Bromfield was an American film and television actor.Bromfield was born in South Bend, Indiana. He played football and was a boxing champion in college. He served in the United States Navy. In 1948, he twice harpooned a whale in the documentary film Harpoon...
's syndicated U.S. Marshal
Sheriff of Cochise
Sheriff of Cochise , renamed U.S. Marshal , is a 58-episode syndicated western-themed crime drama set in Arizona and starring John Bromfield as law enforcement officer Frank Morgan. In the first two seasons, Morgan was sheriff of Cochise County...
, Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson , born Charles Dennis Buchinsky was an American actor, best-known for such films as Once Upon a Time in the West, The Magnificent Seven, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, Rider on the Rain, The Mechanic, and the popular Death Wish series...
's Man with a Camera
Man with a Camera (TV series)
Man with a Camera is a 1950s television crime drama starring Charles Bronson.Throughout the 1950s, Charles Bronson spent most of his early acting career in TV-shows as well as small parts in films, until he landed the lead in the ABC series The Man with a Camera.-Plot:In the series Bronson...
on ABC, and Gary Lockwood
Gary Lockwood
Gary Lockwood is an American actor probably best known for his iconic 1968 role as the astronaut Dr. Frank Poole in 2001: A Space Odyssey.-Early life:...
's NBC military drama The Lieutenant
The Lieutenant
The Lieutenant is an American television series, the first created by Gene Roddenberry. It aired on NBC on Saturday evenings in the 1963-1964 television schedule. It was produced by Arena Productions, one of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's most successful in-house production companies of the 1960s. Situated...
, having appeared as Colonel
Colonel
Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...
Curtis Morley in the 1964 episode "In the Highest Tradition".
In 1961 and 1965, he appeared on two CBS dramas, The Aquanauts, starring Keith Larsen
Keith Larsen
Keith Larsen was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer who starred in three short-lived television series between 1955 and 1961.-Background:...
, and Slattery's People
Slattery's People
Slattery's People is a 1964-1965 American television series about local politics starring Richard Crenna as title character James Slattery, a state legislator, co-starring Ed Asner and Tol Avery, and featuring Carroll O'Connor and Warren Oates in a couple of episodes each. James E. Moser was...
, featuring Richard Crenna
Richard Crenna
Richard Donald Crenna was an American motion picture, television, and radio actor and occasional television director. He starred in such motion pictures as The Sand Pebbles, Wait Until Dark, Body Heat, the first three Rambo movies, Hot Shots! Part Deux, and The Flamingo Kid...
as a state legislator. Conway was cast three times on the network's Perry Mason
Perry Mason (TV series)
Perry Mason is an American legal drama produced by Paisano Productions that ran from September 1957 to May 1966 on CBS. The title character, portrayed by Raymond Burr, is a fictional Los Angeles defense attorney who originally appeared in detective fiction by Erle Stanley Gardner...
starring Raymond Burr
Raymond Burr
Raymond William Stacey Burr was a Canadian actor, primarily known for his title roles in the television dramas Perry Mason and Ironside. His early acting career included roles on Broadway, radio, television and in film, usually as the villain...
. He appeared as a judge in the 1969 episode "The Law and Order Blues" (Part 1) of Carl Betz
Carl Betz
Carl Betz was an American film and television actor. A native of Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania, Betz participated in childhood theatricals and later worked in summer stock. He graduated from Mount Lebanon High School in 1939 and then served in the military...
's ABC legal drama Judd for the Defense.
Later years
Into the 1970s, Conway appeared on Jack Webb's Adam-12Adam-12
Adam-12 was a television police drama which followed two police officers of the Los Angeles Police Department, Pete Malloy and Jim Reed, as they patrolled the streets of Los Angeles in their patrol unit, 1-Adam-12. Created by Jack Webb who is known for creating Dragnet, the series captured a...
police drama and twice as Dr. Jay L. Milton in two episodes of ABC's The Mod Squad
The Mod Squad
The Mod Squad is a television series that ran on ABC from September 24, 1968, until August 23, 1973. This series starred Michael Cole, Peggy Lipton, Clarence Williams III, and Tige Andrews...
. He guest starred three times on CBS's Mannix
Mannix
Mannix is an American television detective series that ran from 1967 through 1975 on CBS. Created by Richard Levinson and William Link and developed by executive producer Bruce Geller, the title character, Joe Mannix, is a private investigator. He is played by Mike Connors...
starring Mike Connors and four times on the same network's Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible
Mission: Impossible is an American television series which was created and initially produced by Bruce Geller. It chronicled the missions of a team of secret American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force . The leader of the team was Jim Phelps, played by Peter Graves, except in...
with Peter Graves
Peter Graves (actor)
Peter Aurness , known professionally as Peter Graves, was an American film and television actor. He was best known for his starring role in the CBS television series Mission: Impossible from 1967 to 1973...
. In 1972, he guest starred in "A Game of Chess" on ABC's The F.B.I. starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. is an American actor known for his starring roles in the television series 77 Sunset Strip and The F.B.I. He is also known as recurring character "Dandy Jim Buckley" in the series Maverick and as the voice behind the character Alfred Pennyworth in Batman: The Animated Series...
In 1973, he starred in the episode "The Winning Ticket" of NBC's short-lived Chase
Chase (1973 TV series)
Chase is an American television series that aired on the NBC network from September 11, 1973 to August 28, 1974. The show was a production of Jack Webb's Mark VII Limited for Universal Television and marked the first show produced by Stephen J...
, starring Mitchell Ryan
Mitchell Ryan
Mitchell Ryan is an American actor most recently known for playing Edward Montgomery on the sitcom Dharma & Greg. He also worked with his on-screen wife from Dharma & Greg, Susan Sullivan, in the short-lived series Julie Farr, M.D..Ryan was born in Cincinnati, Ohio and raised in Louisville,...
and Wayne Maunder
Wayne Maunder
Wayne E. Maunder is a retired actor, originally from Canada, who starred in three American television series between 1967 and 1974.-Three television series:...
. In 1974, Conway appeared on William Conrad
William Conrad
William Conrad was an American actor, producer and director whose career spanned five decades in radio, film and television....
's Cannon
Cannon (TV series)
Cannon is a CBS detective television series produced by Quinn Martin which aired from March 26, 1971 to March 3, 1976.The primary protagonist was the title character, Frank Cannon, played by William Conrad....
in the episode entitled "Where's Jennifer?". His last screen apeparance was in 1975 as an unnamed ship's captain in the 1975 episode "The Cruise Ship
Cruise ship
A cruise ship or cruise liner is a passenger ship used for pleasure voyages, where the voyage itself and the ship's amenities are part of the experience, as well as the different destinations along the way...
Murders" of the Robert Wagner and Eddie Albert
Eddie Albert
Edward Albert Heimberger , known professionally as Eddie Albert, was an American actor and activist. He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1954 for his performance in Roman Holiday, and in 1973 for The Heartbreak Kid.Other well-known screen roles of his include Bing...
CBS crime drama, Switch
Switch (TV series)
Switch is an American action-adventure, tongue-in-cheek detective series starring Eddie Albert and Robert Wagner, who worked as private eyes, for a deceptive sting operation...
.
Conway appeared in a few comedy programs too, including twice on CBS's The Jack Benny Program
The Jack Benny Program
The Jack Benny Program, starring Jack Benny, is a radio-TV comedy series that ran for more than three decades and is generally regarded as a high-water mark in 20th-century American comedy.-Cast:*Jack Benny - Himself...
, including an episode starring Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers
Ginger Rogers was an American actress, dancer, and singer who appeared in film, and on stage, radio, and television throughout much of the 20th century....
. He also appeared once on ABC's Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver
Leave It to Beaver is an American television situation comedy about an inquisitive but often naïve boy named Theodore "The Beaver" Cleaver and his adventures at home, in school, and around his suburban neighborhood...
, NBC's Get Smart
Get Smart
Get Smart is an American comedy television series that satirizes the secret agent genre. Created by Mel Brooks with Buck Henry, the show starred Don Adams , Barbara Feldon , and Edward Platt...
, and CBS's Mrs. G. Goes to College
Mrs. G. Goes to College
Mrs. G. Goes To College is an American situation comedy which aired on CBS from October 4, 1961 to April 5, 1962...
starring Gertrude Berg
Gertrude Berg
Gertrude Berg was an American actress and screenwriter. A pioneer of classic radio, she was one of the first women to create, write, produce and star in a long-running hit when she premiered her serial comedy-drama The Rise of the Goldbergs , later known as The Goldbergs.-Career:Berg was born...
, Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction
Petticoat Junction is an American situation comedy produced by Filmways which originally aired on CBS from 1963 to 1970. The series is one of three interrelated shows about rural characters created by Paul Henning; the others are The Beverly Hillbillies and Green Acres.The setting for the series...
. The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies
The Beverly Hillbillies is an American situation comedy originally broadcast for nine seasons on CBS from 1962 to 1971, starring Buddy Ebsen, Irene Ryan, Donna Douglas, and Max Baer, Jr....
, and The Munsters
The Munsters
The Munsters is a 1960s American family television sitcom depicting the home life of a family of monsters. It starred Fred Gwynne as Herman Munster and Yvonne De Carlo as his wife, Lily Munster. The series was a satire of both traditional monster movies and popular family entertainment of the era,...
.
Death
For the last thirty-three years of his life, Conway made no further screen appearances. He died in his sleep at the age of ninety-five in Laguna HillsLaguna Hills, California
Laguna Hills is a city located in southern Orange County, California, United States. Its name refers to its proximity to Laguna Canyon and the much older Laguna Beach. Other newer cities nearby—Laguna Niguel and Laguna Woods—are similarly named.-Geography:...
in Orange County
Orange County, California
Orange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
, California.