Photo: CBS Radio / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
William Conrad is one of those performers I admire precisely because he refused to be boxed in. That unmistakable booming voice could have made him a one-note radio star, yet he kept reinventing himself across five decades, moving from menacing film-noir heavies into producing and directing. A fighter pilot in World War II before Hollywood, he carried a certain gravity into every role. I respect artists who build a career on craft and stamina rather than glamour, and Conrad strikes me as exactly that kind of durable, no-nonsense professional whose work outlasted the fads around him.
Overview
William Conrad (born John William Cann Jr., September 27, 1920 – February 11, 1994) was an American actor, producer, and director whose entertainment career spanned five decades in radio, film, and television. A radio writer and actor, he moved to Hollywood after serving in World War II as a fighter pilot and played a series of character roles in films, beginning with the film noir The Killers (1946).
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- William Conrad
- Name (Japanese)
- ウィリアム・コンラッド
- Reading
- うぃりあむ・こんらっど
- Born
- September 27, 1920 – February 11, 1994
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Libra / Monkey
- Origin
- Louisville, Kentucky, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- television director / actor / film director / film actor / television actor
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Excelsior High School
- University
- Private
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Television director — see all → · Actor — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.