Rory M. Wohl wants to know something…
My few remaining synapses must be firing less & less often because it just occurred to me to ask you: Is the William Conrad you note as one of the Rocky & Bullwinkle cast the same William Conrad who went on to star in Cannon, Nero Wolfe and Jake and the Fatman?
Wikipedia seems to indicate that he was, but, with a range of roles so vast, I needed to hear it from a real, live expert to believe he had that kind of range (and sense of humor). I guess that's why they call it "acting," huh?
Yes, definitely the same guy. He had a real good career in radio — among many others, he was Marshal Dillon on Gunsmoke in those days — and lots of on-camera roles in film and television. He was also an announcer in many commercials and TV shows…The Fugitive (the show with David Janssen) for one. Usually, he was hired for a deeper, slower voiceover and that's how he narrated the earliest Rocky & Bullwinkle shows but they soon were having him talk faster and when he did, his voice went up in pitch.
Conrad was the narrator on all the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons Jay Ward produced and on a few of the Dudley Do-Right cartoons, though Paul Frees wound up narrating most of those. The entire cast of the Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons consisted of Frees, June Foray, Bill Scott and Mr. Conrad. There were no guest stars in any of the episodes because it was impossible to write a role that one of those four people could not do.
And while Conrad's job in most was confined to the narration, every so often when there was a crowd scene and multiple voices were needed, they'd have him do one of them. He was a great announcer but he did not do a very good job of not sounding like William Conrad.
