Conrad was born in New York City, the son of Harriet, a writer, who co-authored the 1950 book They All Played Ragtime[2], and Sidney Janis, an art dealer and writer,[3] and a younger brother (by three years) named Carroll.[4][5] Brought up in a large but modest Manhattan apartment, surrounded by Picasso's, Rousseau's and Braque's, they were, he recalled, not cash wealthy as 'every time my father got a couple of bucks ahead, he bought another painting.' The pieces were collected not for investment purposes, but rather in appreciation of modern art, his parents wanting vindication for the art itself. To recognize the genius of these artists. The collection, numbering 109 pieces in total, and worth many millions was donated to the Museum of Modern Art in New York by Sidney, in memory of his late wife, Conrad's mother.[6] In the late 1980s, Janis and brother Carroll Janis took over the Sidney Janis Gallery from their aging father and continued operating the prestigious operation throughout the 1990s.[7] The brothers had disputes over the gallery’s finances and management and, at one point, filed lawsuits against each other. The gallery closed in 1999.[8]
Howard Storm, who directed most of the episodes of the first three Seasons of Mork & Mindy, and who knew Conrad for many years before the show, disabused anyone of the notion that he was a pampered Manhattanite, "He was a street kid, all he cared about was sports."[6] Conrad himself on an episode of Match Game stated how he never went to high school or college, and at aged 13, he skipped school go to try out for a part in the Broadway adaptation of Sally Benson's Junior Miss stories, starring Patricia Peardon, and directed by Moss Hart, landing a role. The play having a successful run of 710 performances on Broadway from November 18, 1941, to July 24, 1943. His parents, he said, didn't object, feeling their children would get the best education doing what they wanted to do, 'I guess," he said 'you could call them permissive.' [6]
Jazz Baby[]
Throughout his life, Janis strove to keep traditional jazz alive. He was a noted jazz trombonist, however he started out in a more classical vein, being exposed by his parents to classical music at a a young age. Taking both, piano and violin when he was a kid "They were teaching me to play Beethoven and things like that."
He didn't get into jazz until he was on the road with a show, at 14. He was traveling with his mother and were in San Francisco, when they ran into the famous musicologist Rudi Blesh. He was giving a lecture on New Orleans Jazz. The show was headed to New Orleans a week or so, after that lecture. "That alerted us to the idea of improvised music. When we got to New Orleans, we looked up some of the people that Rudi Blesh had mentioned and we fell in love with the music... both my mother and myself." His mother went on to co-author the first book on ragtime in 1950 called "They All Played Ragtime". "There had never been anything written on it before. They did a lot of the original research on Scott Joplin and all the ragtime people." [2]
For his own part Conrad took up jazz guitar, but became further inspired by legendary musician and bandleader Kid Ory in the 1940s (after he first came to Hollywood), the first man to play a slide trombone as a jazz instrument. [6] "I had a lot of free time. I spent it at a club in Los Angeles called "The Beverly Caverns", listening to Kid Ory and his band. He recalled, "Rudi [Blesh's] daughter Hillary, played trombone in her high school band and Rudi had given her a trombone and she finally decided that she didn't want to play anymore... in the band. She'd rather have the social life of a high schooler'. She returned the trombone to Rudi and Rudi had nothing to do with it so he gave it to me because he knew I listened to Kid Ory."[2]
Conrad with "The Tailgate Jazz Band" formerly "The Canal Street Stompers".
In 1949, Janis put together a band of young bucks like himself and aging jazz greats ("all of the guys that I idolized"), consisting of James P. Johnson (piano), Henry Goodwin (trumpet), Edmond Hall (clarinet), Pops Foster bass), and Baby Dodds (drums), with Janis on trombone.[9]
Gigging and jamming throughout his acting career. in the late 1970s, Janis' formed the Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band, alongside other Hollywood jazz lovers like actor George Segal and producer Sheldon Keller which appeared multiple times on the Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson along with appearances on Merv Griffin, Dinah Shore, and Mike Douglas[2] (in a show co-hosted by Pam Dawber) and made eight sold-out performances at Carnegie Hall, alongside Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme [6].[9][10] Actors who were capable musicians, including Jack Lemmon (piano), George Segal (banjo) and Hal Linden (clarinet), often sat in with the band.[8] Conrad recalled the depth of talent often available in Hollywood during 'down time when putting together an all star 'The Joint is Jumping' session. "There was a strike out here and nobody was working. Everyone was chomping at the bit to work. My wife decided to put it together and she wrote it. Her name is Maria Janis. She got Dudley Moore and Jack Lemmon... who both play very good piano... Dudley, especially. We got Bea Arthur to sing. We got Dirk Benedict, who also plays the trombone. Jackie Cooper... who was a professional drummer as well as an actor. There are a lot of guys that play music, who are actors. Clint Eastwood plays piano. Debbie Reynolds plays the tuba. Richard Gere plays cornet."[2]
Personal Life[]
He married Vicki Quarles in 1948 at aged 20, with whom he had two children, son Christopher, and daughter, Carin. The marriage ending in 1957, During the course of Mork & Mindy he married again to Ronda Copland, which ended in divorce in 1983. He married once again in 1987 to actress and screenwriter Maria Grimm, the couple remaining happily married for more than 30 years till Maria's death in September 2021.
Conrad passed away 6 months later, on March 1 of organ failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, his death was announced by business manager Dean Avedon. He was survived by his two children from his first marriage; his brother; two grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
“The thing that’s been so great, is that I’ve been allowed to do just what I love doing almost all my life. It’s just dumb luck that it worked out that way.”[8]
Acting Career[]
Early Acting Roles[]
Following his Junior Miss theatre bow, further stage roles followed including Dark Of The Moon (1945) and The Next Half Hour (1945)[11] . That same year, at aged 17 already a veteran of several Broadway shows, Janis headed to Hollywood having been contracted by 20th Century Fox . he landed a contract at Fox for $750 a week; most everyone got $75 a week to start, but he commanded the much higher salary because he had been on Broadway, he noted. [12]
There he appeared in his first film, “Snafu,” with famed humorist, former Algonquin Round Table alumnus (and father of Jaws author Peter Benchley) Robert Benchley in what was one of his last roles. “Benchley was a famous New York writer and drama critic before playing the bumbling expert in those comedy shorts of the 30s, like ‘How to Sleep,’ where everything goes wrong,” explained Janis, “I learned a tremendous amount about naturalistic acting from him, years before that style became popular.”[13]
With Barbara Lawrence in 'Margie' 1946
He followed that up with other movie roles playing Johnny 'Johnikins' Green opposite Jeanne Crain in 'Margie' (1946) a murderer in the Raymond Chandler penned Phillip Marlowe mystery The Brasher Doubloon (1947) unusually shot in the first person POV, starring Robert Montgomery (unseen bar for reflections) and George Montgomery. He then played opposite a grown Shirley Temple and young Ronald Reagan in That Hagen Girl (1947), and Alan Ladd and Donna Reed in Beyond Glory (1948).
Films[]
Year
Movie
Role
1945
Snafu
Ronald Stevens
1946
Margie
Johnny 'Johnikins' Green
1947
The Brasher Doubloon
Leslie Murdock
1947
That Hagen Girl
Dewey Koons
1948
Beyond Glory
Raymond Denmore, Jr.
1958
Let's Rock
Charlie
1974
Airport 1975
Arnie
1975
The Happy Hooker
Fred
1976
The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox
Gladstone
1977
Roseland
George (The Hustle)
1978
The Buddy Holly Story
Ross Turner
1980
Oh, God! Book II
Charles Benson, School Principal
1985
Brewster's Millions
Businessman in Car
1986
Nothing in Common
Conrad Janis (Himself)
1989
Sonny Boy
Doc Bender
1989
Caddie Woodlawn
Rev. Tanner
1992
Mr. Saturday Night
Director
1993
Crazy
Hong Kong Jack
1996
The Cable Guy
Father 'Double Trouble'
1998
Last Night
2009
Maneater
Doc Gramm
2012
Bad Blood
Lawrence
By the end of the 40s however, his film output declined, Fox didn’t give him much to do, and he was eventually replaced on the lot by Robert Wagner, he said[12]. However his movie career ran for almost 70 years, including a memorable turn in Jim Carrey's 'The Cable Guy' (1996). His last screen appearance coming in 2012s Bad Blood when he was 84, and endeavor written by his third wife, actress Maria Grimm, which he also produced, directed and starred in opposite Piper Laurie.[12]
Return to Theatre[]
With Anne Wedgeworth in 'Make a Million' (1958)
With his film career relatively limited to second male leads and young heavies, at the end of the 40s Conrad moved back to the East Coast to tread the boards again. He studied at the Actors Studio workshop in New York and, during the 1950s, was often cast as a drug-addled jazz musician. “I was always saying, ‘Hey, man, I just got to have a fix,’ ” he said.[8]
He appeared in numerous Broadway shows including: The Brass Ring (April 1952), Time Out for Ginger (Nov 1952), The Terrible Swift Sword (1955) A Visit to a Small Planet (Feb 1957) and Make a Million (Nov 1958).[11]
In the late 50s he also travelled to play in the West End in London, in "The Velvet Shotgun" with Sarah Marshal the daughter of 30s Hollywood movie star Herbert Marshall and Edna Best. Taking the time to indulge his first love while there, recalling, "While we were on the road, we played in Oxford England, and the kids from Oxford had a jazz band. They came back stage and invited me to sit in with the jazz band. They put on a session at midnight, after our show closed for the evening."[2]
Conrad & Robert Redford in Sunday in New York, 1961
Back on Broadway he played opposite Robert Redford and actress Pat Stanley in the original 1961 Broadway production of “Sunday in New York,” a sex farce later made into a popular movie with Jane Fonda and Rod Taylor. (his role in the film adaptation, as an airline pilot and Lothario, was taken over by Cliff Robertson.)[8], Other appearances came in Marathon '33 (Dec 1963) The Front Page (May 1969), No Hard Feelings (April 1973), Same Time, Next Year (April 1975),[11] the latter a two character play... that Conrad described as 'great fun to do. We took it on the road across the country and played it in Los Angeles for several months.'[2]
Television[]
In the late 40's Janis migrated from the big screen towards the new medium of television and soon became a pioneer of its early days. “It was an exciting time because everything was live,” he recalled. “You had to memorize the entire show for the night of broadcast. We’d do 1-hour shows six or seven nights a week, with very little time for rehearsal. If people forgot their lines or a prop gun didn’t fire, you just had to adlib your way out of it.”
He recalled the many film legends who got their start alongside of him at that time. “There were about 50 of us who were regulars on all those early, live comedies and dramas, including Grace Kelly, Eva Marie Saint, Paul Newman, and Robert Redford. For a leading role on a 1-hour show you would make $400." [13] But that changed, he recollected, when a studio brought in Robert Cummings. “Bob was a big movie star,” noted Janis. “They paid him something like $20,000 to take the lead role in one of the shows such as ‘Playhouse 90.’ It changed the entire concept of television production because Hollywood stars realized they could work for just a few days on a TV show and make a lot of money.”[13]
Conrad the KAOS agent in Get Smart with Don Adams.
He made appearances over 6 decades in some of the most prominent shows of the times including the Untouchables, Get Smart, The Waltons, Maude, The Jeffersons, Kojak, The Love Boat, Mama's Family, St. Elsewhere, Murder She Wrote, Remington Steele, The Golden Girls and Frasier.
He also appeared in the show that Mork & Mindy was, initially, most closely identified with 'My Favorite Martian' with Ray Walston (later Robin William's Pappy in Popeye) and a pre-Hulk Bill Bixby. And prior to his landing the role of Fred he had appeared as Palindrome in another SF based comedy, Quark. He was also a Garry Marshall "Triumvirate" show Alum, appearing in both Happy Days and Laverne & Shirley along with his main cast role in Mork & Mindy.
Janis said he made around 700 TV appearances, although many early live performances were not recorded and are lost.[13]
TV Series[]
Year
TV Series
Episodes
Character
1949-1950
Actor's Studio
- Joe McSween's Atomic Machine (1950)
- Joe McSween's Atomic Machine (1949)
1950
Starlight Theatre
- Fumble (1950)
- The Witch of Woonsapucket (1950)
1949-1950
The Philco Television Playhouse
- A Husband for Mama (1950)
- Dark of the Moon (1949)
1950
The Web
- Fit to Kill (1950)
1950-1952
Suspense
8 Episodes
1951
The Big Story
- Charles W. Wells, Reporter
Charles W. Wells
1951-1955
Kraft Theatre
- Gramercy Ghost (1955)
- One Hill, One River (1955)
- The Spring Green (1951)
1952
CBS Television Workshop
- Careless Love
1952
The Doctor
- Time to Kill
1953
The Gulf Playhouse
- One Night Stand
1953
Bonino
Edward Bonino
1953
Omnibus
- The Raspberry Queen
1953
Studio One in Hollywood
- Cinderella '53
Borden Crane
1954
The Man Behind the Badge
- The Philadelphia Story
1954
Ponds Theater
- The Day the Diner Closed (1954)
- The Dashing White Sergeant (1954)
1954-1955
Danger
- Sandy River Blues (1955)
- Road Happy (1954)
Pete River
1955-1960
The United States Steel Hour
- Shame the Devil (1960)
- Ashton Buys a Horse (1955)
- The Seventh Veil (1955)
Bill Adams
Tap-Out
Peter
1955
Appointment with Adventure
- Race the Comet
Wedge Johnson
1956
Matinee Theatre
- Are You Listening?
1956
Zane Grey Theater
- The Long Road Home
Ben Gracie
1959-1960
Armstrong Circle Theatre
- Raid in Beatnik Village (1960)
- The Monkey Ride (1959)
Eddie Velasquez
1960
The Untouchables
- The Mark of Cain
Sticks
1960
The Robert Herridge Theater
- The Summer of the Insistent Voices
1962
Stoney Burke
- A Matter of Pride
Penn Hudson
1963
The Doctors and the Nurses
- You Could Die Laughing
Charlie Noyes
1965
Get Smart
- My Nephew the Spy
Victor
1966
My Favorite Martian
- TV or Not TV
Chad Foster
1972
Banacek
- Let's Hear It for a Living Legend
Video Technician
1974
Cannon
- Daddy's Little Girl
Larry Warshaw
1975
The Manhunter
Trial by Terror
Dutch Weller
1975
Baretta
Walk Like You Talk
Latour
1975
The Invisible Man
The Klae Resource
Homer
1976
The Waltons
The First Edition
Judge Graham Thornbury
1976
Maude
The Game Show
Lyle Bellamy
1976
Happy Days
A Place of His Own
Mr. Kendall
1976
The Streets of San Francisco
In Case of Madness
Dave Breen
1976
Police Story (TV Series)
Monster Manor
Lieutenant Needles
1977
The Jeffersons
Jefferson Airplane
Stratton
1977
Dog and Cat
Dead Skunk
1977-1978
Quark
8 Episodes
Palindrome
1978
Kojak
The Captain's Brother's Wife
D. A. Lynn
1978
Husbands, Wives & Lovers
Murray Gets Sacked and Paula Gets Hired
Bennett Porter
1978
Barnaby Jones
The Picture Pirates
Marty
1978 - 1982
Mork & Mindy
70 Episodes
Fred McConnell
1979
The Love Boat
Gopher's Greatest Hits/The Vacation/One Rose a Day
Byron Horner
1980
House Calls
Beast of Kensington
Fiskerson
1980
Laverne & Shirley
Murder on the Moose Jaw Express: Part 1
The Conducter
1981
Here's Boomer
Boomer in the Pound
Phil
1982
Insight
Every Ninety Seconds
Ned
1983
Trapper John, M.D.
Forget Me Not
Bill Williams
1984
Mama's Family
Ask Aunt Fran
Dwight Nettles
1984
St. Elsewhere
Cramming
Hearing
Peter's Lawyer
Prosecuting Attorney
1984-1991
Murder, She Wrote
Lines of Excellence
A Little Night Work
Death Casts a Spell
Jason O'Connell
Miles Hatcher
Dr. Yambert
1985
Remington Steele
Stronger Than Steele
Maxwell Donahue / Atomic Man
1985
V
War of Illusions
Dr. David Atkins
1985
Highway to Heaven
The Devil and Jonathan Smith
C.J. Barabbas
1985
George Burns Comedy Week
Christmas Carol II: The Sequel
Baker
1986
You Again?
Henry the Kissinger
Garfield
1987
The Golden Girls
One for the Money
Announcer
1990
Shades of LA
Concrete Evidence
Pressman
1996
Baywatch
Buried
Lester Beeber
1997-2002
Frasier
Perspectives on Christmas
Mother Load: Part 2
Proxy Prexy
Albert
1998
Diagnosis Murder
Food Fight
Fred McCarren
1999
L.A. Heat
Professor Benton
Prof. Larry Benton / Gary Benton
2000
Family Law
Media Relations
Judge Clarence Franklin
He also appeared in the TV Mini Series California Fever (1979). And in the direct to video film The Feminine Touch (1995).
Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour[]
He dipped his toe into voice over work in animation, when taking his role of Fred to the Mork & Mindy/Laverne & Shirley/Fonz Hour (1982) appearing in 5 of the 26 episodes.
Animated Fred
To Ork or Not to Ork
Mork Man vs. Ork Man
Every Doing Has His Day
Muddle in a Huddle
Mayhem for the Mayor
Over the same period he appeared in TV Movies such as Full Speed for Anywhere (1960), Miracle on 34th Street (1973,) Virginia Hill (1974), The Rear Guard (1976), There's Always Room (1977) The Magnificent Magical Magnet of Santa Mesa (1977), Danny and the Mermaid (1978).
TV Movies[]
Year
TV Movie
Role
1960
Full Speed for Anywhere
Ensign Jones
1973
Miracle on 34th Street
Dr. Pierce
1974
Virginia Hill
Halley
1976
The Rear Guard
German Captain
1977
The Magnificent Magical Magnet of Santa Mesa
Mr. Kreel
1977
There's Always Room
Stewart Dennis
1978
Danny and the Mermaid
Psychiatrist
1980
The Gossip Columnist
Ivan Bock
1984
The Red-Light Sting
Bowman
1997
The Rockford Files: Shoot-Out at the Golden Pagoda
Harvey
1998
Addams Family Reunion
Hotel Bar Patron (uncredited)
2002
Another Pretty Face
Walter Flynn
Mork & Mindy[]
Beginning in 1978, he became a regular on “Mork and Mindy,” playing Mindy’s father who worked, appropriately, in a music store. However, he was neither the first choice, nor the first cast for the role. Tom Poston, who went on to play Mr. Bickley Mindy's downstairs neighbor was actually first choice for the show runners, but the Network (possibly because of Poston's higher profile and higher cost as a regular) nixed that.
Another actor was actually cast, Conrad recalled, but for whatever reason didn't work out, and he was called in at the last minute, after filming had actually begun...in another fortuitous piece of almost serendipitous casting that seems to affect the show...and it worked out perfectly. For his part Garry Marshall was doubly delighted as "I got to hire one of my idols..." recalling "When I was in high school I would go downtown to the Child's Paramount Theatre to see Conrad and the Tailgaters. They were a great Dixieland band and Conrad was the best trombone player I had ever heard." When they were looking for someone to play Mindy's dad, who owned a Boulder music store getting him into read seemed the natural option. "Hiring Conrad was a great casting choice and also allowed me to finally meet the idol whose music I had admired for so long." [14]
That being said, Conrad regretted that though his character ran a music store, and his trombone made a couple of appearances he never actually got the chance to play his instrument on the show. "The producers wouldn't go for it," he told The Albany Democrat-Herald of Oregon in 1990, per the Times. "We had a really cute script where I got together with my old Dixieland jazz band, but they didn't think it was funny enough."[15]
Robin, Pam and Conrad at the 1st Season Wrap Party
Conrad's on screen paternal relationship with Pam Dawber's Mindy, was exceptionally natural and easy, alongside a sparky fun banter filled turn with Elizabeth Kerr as Cora, his mother in law, Mindy's Grandmother. As a group, along with Pam and Robin, he, Elizabeth Kerr and young Jeffry Jacquet took to the stage to collect the 78/79 People's Choice Award for Favorite New TV show. It catapulted Conrad to national fame along with his fellow cast members, “We all felt the show would do well,” Mr. Janis told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in 1988. “But, we had no idea. The week we hit the air, I was walking through a craft fair and everyone said, ‘Look, it’s Mindy’s father.’ That’s how quick the recognition came. That show was just four great years, a great experience.” [16]
However, following a highly successful first season during which Conrad and Elizabeth Kerr, became hugely popular with the audience alongside the two main leads, ABC made the ridiculous 'demographically based' decision to oust the older actors. According to Bruce Johnson the Supervising Producer on the show, 'ABC had studies that *proved* that the young only want to look at the young, so it followed that the character playing Pam Dawber's father was a drag.' Howard Storm recalled that after finding out Janis & Kerr were out, 'I was in shock. We all were. Someone, somewhere, went crazy. It was so unexpected. Connie had just bought a house, and it was a blow to his finances as well as his ego." Johnson believes that "ABC got greedy. They fiddled with success." Janis admitted "It was a terrible time. It was embarrassing. I loved the show and the people." [6] It soon turned out that the demographics studies of the Network weren't worth the paper they were printed on, "We got a tremendous amount of protest mail." Johnson recalls "They wanted Pam to have a father.". Executive Producer Garry Marshall believed this proves his theory that "When the audience decides it likes the lead characters in a series, it also likes their families and wants to know more about them."
Conrad to his credit put a positive front on it at the time, “Mork and Mindy was certainly a big hit,” he explained to the Abilene Reporter-News in 1980, “In fact, it was a huge hit. So just to be connected with it, even for only one season, was a great thrill and a great pleasure. Very few actors have that experience, being part of a blockbuster hit.” [17]
Thankfully, in late spring of 1980, before the end of the second season, ABC realized the mistake they had made and approached Janis requesting that he return. He acceded, contingent that they paid him a *lot* more money. They agreed. "Wouldn't you like to have been his agent?" Bruce Johnson noted. Storm recalled that it was one of those 'great moments when Connie returned. I know he was a little apprehensive. It isn't that easy to come back after you've been fired. You know there's somebody up high who didn't want you. But on the set you never saw so much hugging. There was loads of warmth."[6]
Janis also vividly remembers comedians Robin Williams, who played Mork, and Jonathan Winters who played Mearth.
“If Jonathan caught you off set, he would push you up against a wall and do two hours of comedy in your face,” recalled Janis. “Robin had a photographic memory and could read a script once and know it. He would constantly adlib. If anyone in the cast made a mistake, Robin would run up into the audience and start doing his shtick.”
Conrad left his mark, reaching younger audiences via DVD, retro cable TV and streaming channels,. His wife Maria, recalling an incident in Hollywood where the couple waited in line to attend a film.
“This kid standing near us was covered in tattoos and staring intensely at Conrad,” Maria recalled. “Then he put his hands out and gave the Mork ‘nanu nanu’ sign. When we asked how he knew that, he just said ‘Nick at Night, man, Nick at Night.’ It was wonderful!”[13]
