OT: Robert Conrad of the Wild Wild West, RIP

Kirk Douglas died just a few days ago...but Robert Conrad was, in his own reduced TV series star way, cut from somewhat the same cloth as Kirk: very muscular(he liked to do scenes with his shirt off) , very menacing(on his hit TV show Wild, Wild, West, he seemed to ENJOY beating up the bad guys), somewhat apart from the traditional male lead.

Robert Conrad made his name as the star of the hit TV series "The Wild, Wild, West" which ran a solid 4 years but produced probably 8 years of episodes by today's standards. Like a lot of TV series stars from the 60's , Conrad faced a quandary: the show lasted only 4 years but he needed to find work for about 30 more. And he did, he made busted pilots and short-term TV series(The DA for Jack Webb, Assignment Vienna, some other spy show) and one other noteable two-season series, Baa Baa Black Sheep to keep his name in the news.

I post this on Oscar day, and Robert Conrad just may find himself a part of Oscar history tonight, if Once Upon a Time in Hollywood wins Best Picture. For in one scene, agent Al Pacino warns faded TV star Rick Dalton(Leo DiCaprio) that by playing villains on TV series, he's allowing new TV stars to beat him up and ruin his career:

"Who's gonna beat you up next?" asks Pacino with friendly malice..."Bob Conrad in his tight pants?"

Indeed, The Wild Wild West was still on the air in 1969 when OAITH is set. And Bob Conrad WAS famous for his tight pants.

In fact, it went like this: on other TV spy shows with "Roberts" in the lead -- ROBERT Vaughn (The Man From UNCLE) was a slight and trim and erudite man who fought, but with elegance; and ROBERT Culp(I Spy) was a slender and witty man who fought with skill, but ROBERT Conrad was a compact muscleman type who fought intensely and often to the death. Conrad's whole thing was much more physical (and exhibitionist) than Vaughn and Culp...and he looked great with his shirt off.

Indeed, Robert Conrad's key competitor in those days as a series lead was William Shatner on Star Trek. Captain Kirk fought a lot too, and like Conrad's James West, had a more intellectual partner in Mr. Spock(Leonard Nimoy). That would be Artemis Gordon(Ross Martin) on WWW. But alas, William Shatner just didn't look as good as Robert Conrad with his shirt off.

And this: came the 70's, the famous TV detective series Columbo employed almost all of those 60s TV stars as the "murderers of the week" -- Robert Culp, Robert Vaughn, William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and Ross Martin all played guest murderers. And so did Robert Conrad. But Conrad's was DIFFERENT: he played a rich fitness gym franchise owner(patterned after Jack LaLanne) and he did much of the episode with his shirt off in swim trunks. (The tension of this episode was how Conrad could easily beat Columbo to death if he wanted to, but can't.)

Its ironic that Robert Conrad is mentioned in the fictional tale of faded TV series lead Rick Dalton, because Conrad WAS Rick Dalton. But then, so were Culp and Vaughn and for awhile there, Shatner. (A movie franchise saved Shatner.) Its a hard truth of 60's TV series that these guys could be "mini superstars" for about four years and still have to scramble for work for decades. Conrad successfully did.

"The Wild, Wild West" was a childhood favorite. It was "James Bond meets Gunsmoke" with some of the NXNW template(handsome hero, sexy woman, elegant villain.) Conrad was the superbuff lead as agent James West(what a perfect name!), but he treated his less strong and less handsome partner Artemis as an equal and a friend. It was a "brain and brawn" team, but I liked that Artemis could fight too, and got pretty women too(often on double dates with James West.) Simply put, I related to Artemis(but I"ve read this week that many young fellows related to West.)

And in the end, perhaps for the infamous Boomer generation(late end), The Wild Wild West will get to stand as a favorite childhood memory with just enough style, sex, and violence to hold as an adult memory.

And in that specialized realm of that one memorable TV series from another place and time...Robert Conrad WAS a superstar. RIP.