William Conrad's vocal ability and full bass voice were the key to his early and long-lasting success in radio. Unlike many other radio actors, however, Conrad also became a successful director and producer for film and television and had a long and varied career.

     Conrad was born to a theater-owning family in Kentucky who moved to Southern California when he was still a small boy. His initial radio experience came at age 17 when he took on announcing and later writing and directing roles at Los Angeles (Beverly Hills) station KMPC. His bass voice was already very expressive, especially for a teenager. He attended but appears not to have graduated from Fullerton Junior College (now California State University, Fullerton). During World War II, Conrad served initially as a fighter pilot with the U.S. Army Air Force until he was grounded because of night blind­ ness. He finished his military obligation as a producer and director for the Armed Forces Radio Service.

Radio Work

  Conrad is best known in radio history for his appearance as U.S. Marshall Matt Dillon in 480 episodes of the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) series Gunsmoke, broadcast from 1952 to 1961. His opening statement (recorded in 1952 and reused for years) remains in the minds of listeners:

I'm that man, Matt Dillon, United States Marshall. The first man they look for and the last they want to meet ... it's a chancy job, and it makes a man watchful, and a little lonely.

Before the program first appeared on television in 1955, the radio cast was given· perfunctory auditions, but none of the radio performers transferred to the visual medium. Conrad had by then become a rotund man far different from the image he had created with his magnificent voice. He remained bitter for many years about the loss of the television role.

     During this period, Conrad also played a variety of charac­ters on many other radio series, including The Whistler,  Romance, The Lux Radio Theatre, Suspense, The ScreenGuild Players, and The Philip Morris Playhouse. His voice  opened alternate weekly episodes of Escape (1947-54). For a period, he was appearing in 10 to 15 radio programs every week. Conrad later estimated he had appeared in no fewer than 7,500 radio broadcasts.

Film and Television Work

  Beginning in the late 1940s, Conrad focused on film appearances, beginning with his film debut in The Killers in 1946. His success in performing the villain and other character roles obtained him roles in Body and Soul (194 7), Sorry, Wrong Number (1948), and East Side, West Side (1949). His supporting roles continued more sporadically in the 1950s and included The Naked Jungle (1954) and The Conqueror (1956), but were too few and far between. Conrad thus began a related but more successful career as a producer or director of both films and television series. He was under contract to Warner Brothers as a producer and director for 15 years.

     Conrad reached the peak of his career nor in radio or films, but in television. He played the eponymous role of detective Cannon in the 1970s, appeared more briefly on Nero Wolfe in 1981, and finally played the older and more experienced man in the aptly named Jake and the Fat Man from 1987 to 1992. In the background Conrad undertook many television tasks, as narrator of various series and as the producer or director of others. He died on 11 February 1994 in North Hollywood, California.