Robert Conrad (born March 1, 1935) is an American film and television actor, best known for his role in the 1965–69 television series The Wild Wild West, playing the sophisticated Secret Service agent James T. West. He also portrayed World War II ace Pappy Boyington in the television series Black Sheep Squadron. He was a recording artist of pop/rock songs in the early 1960s as Bob Conrad before he began his acting career. He has hosted a weekly two-hour national radio show (The PM Show with Robert Conrad) on CRN Digital Talk Radio since 2008.

Biography

Conrad was married to Joan Kenlay from February 23, 1952, until their divorce in 1977; the couple had five children. His second marriage, to LaVelda Ione Fann, produced three children. After living in Bear Valley in the High Sierra, Conrad and Fann relocated to Thousand Oaks, California, in 2006. Conrad and Fann divorced in 2010.

Conrad was joined on some television shows by his sons, Shane and Christian, and his daughter, Nancy. Another daughter, Joan, became a television producer. In a 2008 interview, Conrad described the late Chicago Outfit "made man" and burglar, Michael Spilotro, as his "best friend". Spilotro's slaying was featured in the movie Casino.

Conrad was involved with a volunteer organization in Bear Valley known as Bear Valley Search and Rescue, which later formed the basis for High Mountain Rangers.

On March 31, 2003, while on Highway 4 in the California Sierra foothills near his Alpine County home, Conrad drove his Jaguar over the center median and slammed head-on into a Subaru being driven by 26-year-old Kevin Burnett. Both men suffered serious injuries. Tried on felony charges, Conrad pleaded no contest, and he was convicted of drunk driving. (His blood-alcohol level had been 0.22%, nearly three times the legal limit.) He was sentenced to six months of house confinement, alcohol counseling, and five years probation.

A civil suit filed by Kevin Burnett against Conrad was settled the following year for an undisclosed amount. In 2005, Burnett died at age 28 from perforated ulcers, which his family attributed to his difficult recovery from the crash. Conrad himself suffered severe nerve injuries from the crash, which left his right side partially paralyzed.

In February 2013, Conrad gave $500 to a British couple on vacation in Los Angeles after they were interviewed on KFI Radio, recounting that their hotel was closed after a corpse was found in the Cecil Hotel's water cistern.

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