Hans Conried

At 64 years old, Hans Conried has this physical status:

Hans Georg Conried Jr. (April 15, 1917 – January 5, 1982) was an American actor and comedian, who was active in voice-over roles.

He was known for providing the voices of Walt Disney's Mr. George Darling, and Captain Hook in Peter Pan (1953), for playing the villainous title role in The 5,000 Fingers of Dr.

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Miller on The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show, Snidely Whiplash in Jay Ward's Dudley Do-Right cartoons, Professor Kropotkin on the radio and film versions of My Friend Irma, his work as Uncle Tonoose on Danny Thomas' sitcom Make Room for Daddy, and multiple roles on I Love Lucy.

Early life

Conried was born on April 15, 1917, in Baltimore, Maryland to parents Edith Beryl (née Gildersleeve) and Hans Georg Conried Sr. His Connecticut-born mother was a descendant of Pilgrims, and his father was a Jewish immigrant from Vienna, Austria. He was raised in Baltimore and in New York City.

He studied acting at Columbia University and went on to play major classical roles onstage. Conried worked in radio before turning to movies in 1939. During World War II, he enlisted in the U.S. Army in September 1944.

Conried trained at Fort Knox as a tank crewman until the army decided he was too tall. He became a heavy mortar crewman then was sent to the Philippines as an engineer laborer until fellow actor Jack Kruschen obtained his release for service with the Armed Forces Radio Network.

Personal life

Conried married Margaret Grant on January 29, 1942; they had four children.

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Career

In 1937, one of Conried's first radio appearances appeared in a supporting role in a broadcast of The Taming of the Shrew on KECA in Los Angeles, California. A newspaper announced his connection with Hedda Hopper's Hollywood career: "But at the mike, he's as convincing as old men, inebriated dialeticians, or Shakesperean tragedians." "If the script allows him, Miss Hopper favors him for her dramatizations."

Conried appeared on radio during the 1940s and 1950s. He appeared on Orson Welles' Ceiling Unlimited, for which he wrote the "War Workers" episode on December 14, 1942. On The George Burns and Gracie Allen Exhibition, he appeared as a psychiatrist who George frequently consults for assistance in dealing with the ditzy Gracie. Conried appeared on CBS Radio's Life with Luigi as Schultz, a German classmate.

Conried, a younger man, seemed much older than his actual age, and was often depicted as middle-aged or even elderly pompous academic types. He portrayed dim Professor Kropotkin in the radio show My Friend Irma or as obnoxious or cranky characters, such as Mr. Xini. Darling and Captain Hook in Walt Disney's Peter Pan (following the tradition of having both characters portrayed by the same actor) and The Grinch/Narrator from Dr. Seuss' Halloween Is Grinch Night. He was the inspiration for the voice created for Robot Devil, according to Futurama's DVD review. He was a live action model reference for King Stefan in Sleeping Beauty, and although he was substituted by Taylor Holmes for Stefan's voice, he did a few interviews.

Conried was a cast member of other Dr. Seuss specials and Bullwinkle's Exhibition, as well as Wally Walrus on The Woodpecker Show, Prof. Waldo P. Wigglesworth on Hoppity Hooper, and Dr. Dred on Dr. Pack.

Conried appeared in Make Room for Daddy on ABC and then CBS, as Danny Thomas' Uncle Tonoose, and four others as other characters from 1955 to 1964.

In the 1958 episode "What Makes Opera Grand? he was featured. Anthology's Omnibus is a series of books based on the anthology film Omnibus. The episode, which was a Leonard Bernstein's reflection of opera performance, featured Conried as Marcello in a spoken dramatization of Puccini's Act III. The program demonstrated the effect of the music in La Bohème by having actors perform portions of the libretto in English, followed by opera singers singing the same lines in the original Italian.

As the Magic Mirror from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, Conried appeared on several episodes of Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color. He appeared on Jack Paar's Tonight Show from 1959 to 1962. Conried, as a regular panelist on the pantomime program Stump the Stars and a semi-regular guest on the Ernie Kovacs-hosted game show Take a Good Look, was more than hosting Jay Ward's Fractured Flickers. During the 1977-78 season, Conried appeared on the cast of The Tony Randall Show.

Several of his guests included I Love Lucy, Davy Crockett, The Young Boys, Meet McGraw, Hey, Jeannie, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, The Beach Menage, Dobie Robert, The Future With Doney Parker, The Sunset Dominion, Dobie Gillis, Mister Ed Johnson, Dr. Ian Bell, The Most Popular Tourists, The Bell Barn in Space with Walter Brennan, Dobie Gillis, Mister Ed Murray, The Many Love,

Conried made his Broadway debut in Can-Can's Cole Porter's musical Can-Can, where he starred as a struggling artist and performed two musical numbers. He appeared in 70, Girls, 70, and two years later, he was a replacement actor in the revival of Irene, which starred Debbie Reynolds.

In 1953, his first film was the independent science fiction comedy The Twonky. In Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier, two years ago, Conried appeared as a riverboat gambler. The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T. and The Shaggy D.A. are two of his other live action films.

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