William Conrad trivia

If you are an old radio fan, then you easily recognize William Conrad's voice, because it seemingly was everywhere during those days. Later on he was the star of the Cannon television show for five seasons. Glamorous he was not, but he still had that resonant bass voice.

Conrad was a fighter pilot during World War II. He left the service with the rank of Captain. He twice flew a P-39 under the Golden Gate.

He estimated that he played 7500 roles during his radio career.

He had three memorable (but invisible) roles as narrator: for the radio show Escape, and later for the cartoon Rocky and Bullwinkle and The Fugitive, which starred David Janssen.

At its peak, his weight was 260 pounds, packed onto a 5'7" frame.

He was certain to be found walking around the stage with his hands in his pockets.

Although he was by-passed for the role of Matt Dillon on the TV version of Gunsmoke because of his corpulence, he did direct some of the episodes.

The lead statue of the Maltese Falcon which was marred by Sydney Greenstreet at the end of the movie was given to Conrad by studio chief Jack Warner. After Conrad's death it was auctioned for $398,500, which at the time was the highest price ever paid for a movie prop.