William Conrad

William Conrad September 27 1920 February 11 1994 was an American actor producer and director He was born William Cann in Louisville Kentucky the son of a theatreowner who moved to southern California where he excelled at drama and literature while at school Starting work in radio in the late 1930s in California Conrad went on to serve as a fighter pilot in World War II He entered the army in 1942 and was commissioned at Luke Field Arizona in 1943 now Luke Air Force Base On the day of his commission he married June Nelson He returned to the airwaves after the war going on to accumulate over 7000 roles in radio by his own estimate Among Conrads various film roles where he was usually cast as threatening figures perhaps his most notable role was his first credited one as one of the gunmen sent to eliminate Burt Lancaster in the 1946 film The Killers He also appeared in Body and Soul 1947 Sorry Wrong Number Joan of Arc both 1948 and The Naked Jungle 1954 As a producer for Warner Brothers he made a string of feature films including An American Dream 1966 retitled See You in Hell Darling for British release A Covenant With Death 1966 First to Fight 1967 and The Cool Ones 1967 and also directed My Blood Runs Cold Brainstorm and Two on a Guillotine all 1965