Tinseltown Talks....with Conrad Janis

   Conrad Janis:  TV Pioneer  by Nick Thomas

     A fixture on television since the late 1940's, Conrad Janis's trademark baldness and youthful face made him a recognizable character actor throughout his 65 year long show business career.


  As a teenager, Janis was already a veteran of several Broadway shows, and was just 17 when his first film, "Snafu," was released in 1945 with costar Robert Benchley.

   "Benchley was a famous New York writer and drama critic before playing the bumbling expert in those comedy shorts of the '30's like 'How to Sleep' where everything goes wrong," explained Janis, who turned 87 on February 11.  "I learned a tremendous amount about naturalistic acting from him, years before that style became popular."

   Janis soon became a pioneer of early television.

   "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 ad-lib your way out of it."

   Many film legends also got their start alongside Janis.

   "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," said Janis.

   But that changed when a studio brought in Robert Cummings.

   "Bob was a big movie star," said 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."

   Janis says he made around 700 TV appearances, although many early live performances were not recorded and are lost.

   Beginning in 1978, he became a regular on "Mork and Mindy" playing Mindy's father who worked, appropriately, in a music store.

   Janis is a noted jazz trombonist, having been inspired by legendary musician and bandleader Kid Ory in the 1940's.

   Janis also vividly remembers comedians Robin Williams, who played Mork, and Jonathan Winders who played Mearth.

   "If Winters 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.  If anyone in the cast made a mistake, Robin would run up into the audience and start doing his Shtick."

   Janis has also enjoyed success as a director and producer with his 2012 horror-thriller, "Bad Blood: The Hunger" - a sequel to "Bad Blood" six years earlier - both written by his wife, actress Maria Grimm.

   "She based it on a rather unpleasant incident that occurred as a child when living in Casablanca when she found a shish kabob with a finger on it under a table," recalled Janis.

   Despite the gruesome premise, the films were more character driven than gory, with Janis starring in both alongside Piper Laurie.

   In addition to several new film projects currently in development, Janis and his wife are preparing a documentary on his life. (see www.comradjanis.com)

   But it's television where Janis left his mark, even reaching today's younger audiences who watch retro cable TV channels, says wife Maria, recalling a recent incident in Hollywood where the couple waiting 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 know that, he just said 'Nick at Night man. Nick at Night.' It was wonderful"

   Conrad truly is a man for all seasons," she added.