In addition to acting, he was a singer and recorded several pop/rock songs in the late 1950s and early 1960s as Bob Conrad.

His father, Leonard Henry Falk, was 17 years old at the time of Conrad's birth and was of German descent.

[8] After working in Chicago for several years and studying theater arts at Northwestern University, Conrad pursued an acting career.

[8] One of his first paying roles was a week-long job posing outside a Chicago theater where the film Giant (1956) was screened;[9] Conrad bore a resemblance to the film's lead, actor James Dean, so his mother used her entertainment industry contacts to help him get the part intended as a publicity stunt to boost attendance at the theater.

[11] In 1957, Conrad met actor Nick Adams while visiting James Dean's gravesite in Fairmount, Indiana.

[12] Conrad's brief non-speaking role in Juvenile Jungle enabled him to join the Screen Actors Guild.

He was featured in other shows, either for Warner or Ziv Television, including Highway Patrol, Lawman, Colt .45 (playing Billy the Kid), Sea Hunt, The Man and the Challenge, and Lock Up.

Warner Brothers had a big success with its detective show 77 Sunset Strip, then made Hawaiian Eye, a follow-up series.

In 1964, he guest-starred on an episode of Temple Houston, then performed in the comedic film La Nueva Cenicienta (also known as The New Cinderella).

The next year, he was in the episode "Four into Zero" of Kraft Suspense Theatre, and portrayed Pretty Boy Floyd in Young Dillinger alongside his old friend Nick Adams.

[17] He did most of his own stunts and fight scenes during the series, and while filming the season four episode "The Night of the Fugitives", he was injured and rushed to the hospital after he dove from the top of a saloon staircase, lost his grip on a chandelier, fell 12 feet, and landed on his head.

He also formed his own company, Robert Conrad Productions, and under its auspices he wrote, starred in, and directed the Western film The Bandits (also 1967).

Conrad briefly returned to series TV from 1976 to 1978 as legendary tough-guy World War II fighter ace Pappy Boyington in Baa Baa Black Sheep, retitled for its second season and in later syndication as Black Sheep Squadron in a re-tooling that failed to keep the series on the air.

[23] Despite the show's struggles in the ratings, Conrad went on to win a People's Choice Award for Favorite Male Actor and a Golden Globe nomination for his performance.

Conrad later played a modern-day variation of James West in the short-lived series A Man Called Sloane in 1979.

[28] In 1984 Conrad and his production company produced the film, Hard Knox, an unsold pilot for a proposed TV series.

He played the lead role of retired U.S. Marine Colonel Joseph Knox, who returns to his childhood home of Mount Carroll, Illinois, to teach at his alma mater, a local military prep academy.

Conrad played a Police Chief in the theatrically released comedy film Moving Violations (1985), and appeared in the TV movies The Fifth Missile (1986), Assassin (1986) and Charley Hannah's War (1986).

[29] In 1986, Conrad served as special guest referee for the main event of WrestleMania 2 between Hulk Hogan and King Kong Bundy in a Steel Cage Match for the WWF Championship.

The following year, he essentially rebooted High Mountain Rangers, reteaming with his sons Shane and Christian, and his second wife LaVelda Fann, in the TV movie pilot High Sierra Search and Rescue, which led to a short-lived TV series that was canceled after only eight episodes.

[1] He appeared in the documentary film Pappy Boyington Field (released in July 2010 on DVD) where he recounted his personal insights about the legendary Marine Corps aviator he portrayed in the television series.

[41] On March 31, 2003, while on Highway 4 in California's Sierra Nevada foothills near his Alpine County home, Conrad drove his Jaguar over the center median and slammed head-on into a Subaru driven by 26-year-old Kevin Burnett.

[43] A civil suit filed by Kevin Burnett against Conrad was settled the following year for an undisclosed amount.