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 theatre-owner 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 7,000 roles in radio by his own estimate.
Among Conrad's 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).
Recent movies
| # | Name | Character | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Box (2009) | Self (voice) (uncredited) | 5.9 |
| 2 | Hudson Hawk (1991) | Narrator (voice) | 6.1 |
| 3 | Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982) | (in "The Killers") (archive footage) | 6.5 |
| 4 | Side Show (1981) | Director / Writer | - |
| 5 | The Return of the King (1980) | Lord Denethor (voice) | - |
| 6 | Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (1979) | Opening Narrator / Draconian officer (uncredited) (voice) | 6 |
| 7 | Moonshine County Express (1977) | Jack Starkey | 6 |
| 8 | The Making of Star Wars (1977) | Narrator (voice) | 7.5 |
| 9 | Chisum (1970) | Narrator - Opening Credits (voice) (uncredited) | 7 |
| 10 | Countdown (1967) | TV Newscaster (voice) (uncredited) | 3 |
| 11 | Chamber of Horrors (1966) | Narrator (voice) (uncredited) | 7 |
| 12 | Two on a Guillotine (1965) | Director / Writer | 9 |
| 13 | Brainstorm (1965) | Director / Writer | 5.5 |
| 14 | Battle of the Bulge (1965) | Narrator (uncredited) | 8 |
| 15 | The Conqueror (1956) | Kasar | 3 |
| 16 | 5 Against the House (1955) | Eric Berg | 7 |
| 17 | The Naked Jungle (1954) | Commissioner | 4 |
| 18 | Cry of the Hunted (1953) | Goodwin | 7 |
| 19 | Cry Danger (1951) | Louie Castro | 4 |
| 20 | The Racket (1951) | Turk | 5 |
| 21 | Dial 1119 (1950) | Chuckles | 5 |
| 22 | One Way Street (1950) | Ollie | 5 |
| 23 | East Side, West Side (1949) | Lt. Jacobi | 8 |
| 24 | Tension (1949) | Lt. Edgar Gonsales | 6.5 |
| 25 | Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) | Morano | 4.3 |
| 26 | Joan of Arc (1948) | Guillaume Erard, a Prosecutor | 4 |
| 27 | Body and Soul (1947) | Quinn | 6.5 |
| 28 | The Killers (1946) | Max | 6.3 |
