Conrad Bain(1923-2013)
- Actor
- Soundtrack
Usually sized up as an erudite gent, advice-spouting father or uptight,
pompous neighbor, the acting talents of Conrad Bain were best utilized
on stage and on TV. Born in Lethbridge, Alberta, on February 4, 1923,
Conrad Stafford Bain was a twin son (the other was named Bonar) born to
Stafford Harrison Bain, a wholesaler, and Jean Agnes (née Young). He
enjoyed Canadian sports growing up (ice hockey, speed skating), but
picked up an interest in acting while in high school.
Electing to train at Alberta's Banff School of Fine Arts after
graduating, he met Monica Marjorie Sloan, an artist, while there. His
acting pursuit was interrupted by WWII when he subsequently joined the
Canadian army. Picking up here he left off following his discharge, he
studied at New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He also
married Ms. Sloan in 1945 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen the
following year. The couple went on to have three children -- Jennifer,
Mark and Kent.
Making his stage debut in a Connecticut production of "Dear Ruth" in
1947, Bain also appeared in "Jack and the Beanstalk" and a tour of "The
Barretts of Wimpole Street" before making his off-Broadway debut in a
1956 Circle-in-the-Square revival of Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman
Cometh," a production that made a star out of
Jason Robards. Following an inauspicious
Broadway bow in "Sixth Finger in a Five Finger Glove", which closed
after only one day, he joined the Stratford (Ontario) Shakespeare
Festival for their 1958 season, appearing in "A Winter's Tale," "Much
Ado About Nothing" and "Henry IV, Part I."
Fair in complexion and exceedingly genial in demeanor, the wry and
witty blond actor graduated into other Broadway work, particularly
drama, with strong roles in "Candide," "Advise and Consent," "An Enemy
of the People," "Twigs" and "Uncle Vanya." He also built up his
regional and repertory credits during the early 1960s with parts in
"King Lear," "The Firebugs," "Death of a Salesman" and "The Shadow of
Heroes" at Seattle Rep. Later in the decade he began to focus more
intently on TV, usually playing cerebral, white-collar types (district
attorneys, stock brokers, doctors, politicos).
Bain eventually found an "in" with daytime drama, which included a
recurring role on
Dark Shadows (1966) (as an
innkeeper), and a part on
The Edge of Night (1956) in
1970. He broke completely away, however, from his trademark dramatics
when the 49-year-old actor was "discovered" for prime-time TV by
Norman Lear and offered a supporting role
opposite Bea Arthur and
Bill Macy in
Norman Lear's landmark, liberally-sliced
comedy series Maude (1972), a spin-off
of Lear's equally landmark
All in the Family (1971)
sitcom. Conrad was cast as
Rue McClanahan's stuffy, conservative
doctor/husband, Arthur Harmon, who usually was at political odds with
free-wheeling feminist Maude Finlay.
The role moved Bain into the prime TV comedy character ranks. Following
the show's lengthy run (1972-1978), he was given the green light by
Lear to move into his own comedy series with
Diff'rent Strokes (1978) as
the wealthy father of a girl and adoptive father of two
African-American children. While young
Gary Coleman, the compact,
precocious, mouthy dynamo, may have stolen the show, the good-humored
Bain remained a strong center and voice of reason until the show's
demise in 1986. Three was not a charm when Bain went into a third new
comedy series,
Mr. President (1987), with
Conrad as a loyal aide-de-camp to "President"
George C. Scott. The show, created not
by Lear but by Johnny Carson,
lasted only 24 episodes.
During and after his lengthy 70s and 80s TV success, Conrad would
continue to return to his first love, the stage, in such productions as
"Uncle Vanya," "The Owl and the Pussycat," "On Golden Pond," "The
Dining Room" and "On Borrowed Time", the last being a 1992 return to
Broadway after nearly two decades. Films, on the other hand, were a
non-issue at this point. Earlier minor turns included
Clint Eastwood's
Coogan's Bluff (1968),
Gene Hackman's
I Never Sang for My Father (1970),
Woody Allen's
Bananas (1971),
Sean Connery's
The Anderson Tapes (1971) and
Barbra Streisand's
Up the Sandbox (1972). His last
stop in films was an engaging part as a befuddled grandpa opposite the
perennially crusty Mary Wickes in
Postcards from the Edge (1990)
starring Meryl Streep and
Shirley MacLaine. One of Bain's last
on-camera appearances was recreating his Phillip Drummond role from
Diff'rent Strokes (1978) on
a 1996 episode of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air".
Other than a stage role in "Ancestral Voices" in 2000, Conrad turned
for a time to screen-writing but later comfortably retired to the
Brentwood area of Los Angeles. Moving to a Livermore California
retirement home in 2008, wife Monica died a year later. Bain passed
away there quietly of natural causes on January 14, 2013, less than a
month short of his 90th birthday. His twin brother Bonar died in 2005.
pompous neighbor, the acting talents of Conrad Bain were best utilized
on stage and on TV. Born in Lethbridge, Alberta, on February 4, 1923,
Conrad Stafford Bain was a twin son (the other was named Bonar) born to
Stafford Harrison Bain, a wholesaler, and Jean Agnes (née Young). He
enjoyed Canadian sports growing up (ice hockey, speed skating), but
picked up an interest in acting while in high school.
Electing to train at Alberta's Banff School of Fine Arts after
graduating, he met Monica Marjorie Sloan, an artist, while there. His
acting pursuit was interrupted by WWII when he subsequently joined the
Canadian army. Picking up here he left off following his discharge, he
studied at New York's American Academy of Dramatic Arts. He also
married Ms. Sloan in 1945 and became a naturalized U.S. citizen the
following year. The couple went on to have three children -- Jennifer,
Mark and Kent.
Making his stage debut in a Connecticut production of "Dear Ruth" in
1947, Bain also appeared in "Jack and the Beanstalk" and a tour of "The
Barretts of Wimpole Street" before making his off-Broadway debut in a
1956 Circle-in-the-Square revival of Eugene O'Neill's "The Iceman
Cometh," a production that made a star out of
Jason Robards. Following an inauspicious
Broadway bow in "Sixth Finger in a Five Finger Glove", which closed
after only one day, he joined the Stratford (Ontario) Shakespeare
Festival for their 1958 season, appearing in "A Winter's Tale," "Much
Ado About Nothing" and "Henry IV, Part I."
Fair in complexion and exceedingly genial in demeanor, the wry and
witty blond actor graduated into other Broadway work, particularly
drama, with strong roles in "Candide," "Advise and Consent," "An Enemy
of the People," "Twigs" and "Uncle Vanya." He also built up his
regional and repertory credits during the early 1960s with parts in
"King Lear," "The Firebugs," "Death of a Salesman" and "The Shadow of
Heroes" at Seattle Rep. Later in the decade he began to focus more
intently on TV, usually playing cerebral, white-collar types (district
attorneys, stock brokers, doctors, politicos).
Bain eventually found an "in" with daytime drama, which included a
recurring role on
Dark Shadows (1966) (as an
innkeeper), and a part on
The Edge of Night (1956) in
1970. He broke completely away, however, from his trademark dramatics
when the 49-year-old actor was "discovered" for prime-time TV by
Norman Lear and offered a supporting role
opposite Bea Arthur and
Bill Macy in
Norman Lear's landmark, liberally-sliced
comedy series Maude (1972), a spin-off
of Lear's equally landmark
All in the Family (1971)
sitcom. Conrad was cast as
Rue McClanahan's stuffy, conservative
doctor/husband, Arthur Harmon, who usually was at political odds with
free-wheeling feminist Maude Finlay.
The role moved Bain into the prime TV comedy character ranks. Following
the show's lengthy run (1972-1978), he was given the green light by
Lear to move into his own comedy series with
Diff'rent Strokes (1978) as
the wealthy father of a girl and adoptive father of two
African-American children. While young
Gary Coleman, the compact,
precocious, mouthy dynamo, may have stolen the show, the good-humored
Bain remained a strong center and voice of reason until the show's
demise in 1986. Three was not a charm when Bain went into a third new
comedy series,
Mr. President (1987), with
Conrad as a loyal aide-de-camp to "President"
George C. Scott. The show, created not
by Lear but by Johnny Carson,
lasted only 24 episodes.
During and after his lengthy 70s and 80s TV success, Conrad would
continue to return to his first love, the stage, in such productions as
"Uncle Vanya," "The Owl and the Pussycat," "On Golden Pond," "The
Dining Room" and "On Borrowed Time", the last being a 1992 return to
Broadway after nearly two decades. Films, on the other hand, were a
non-issue at this point. Earlier minor turns included
Clint Eastwood's
Coogan's Bluff (1968),
Gene Hackman's
I Never Sang for My Father (1970),
Woody Allen's
Bananas (1971),
Sean Connery's
The Anderson Tapes (1971) and
Barbra Streisand's
Up the Sandbox (1972). His last
stop in films was an engaging part as a befuddled grandpa opposite the
perennially crusty Mary Wickes in
Postcards from the Edge (1990)
starring Meryl Streep and
Shirley MacLaine. One of Bain's last
on-camera appearances was recreating his Phillip Drummond role from
Diff'rent Strokes (1978) on
a 1996 episode of "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air".
Other than a stage role in "Ancestral Voices" in 2000, Conrad turned
for a time to screen-writing but later comfortably retired to the
Brentwood area of Los Angeles. Moving to a Livermore California
retirement home in 2008, wife Monica died a year later. Bain passed
away there quietly of natural causes on January 14, 2013, less than a
month short of his 90th birthday. His twin brother Bonar died in 2005.