William Conrad Collection

William Conrad
(1920 – 1994)

Best known for his rumbling baritone voice and sizable belly, Conrad played over 7,500 radio characters. During his heyday, he often appeared three to four times a week in radioland. He was well known for his role as Marshal Matt Dillon on the old time radio show, Gunsmoke. He later was rejected for the part due to his size to play the same character for the television program and the role went to James Arness . He was also well known for his roles in Escape, Lux Radio Theater, Suspense, This is Your FBI, Nightbeat, and Suspense.

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William Conrad's baritone burst into the world in a Louisville, Kentucky hospital in 1920.
Some say the nurses and doctors proclaimed his cry to be the lowest, honkiest cry ever heard that side of the Mississippi. Famous in that Louisville hospital forever more, William went on to blow his baritone across the airwaves in the late 1930s, delighting millions tuning in to California radio. After a brief career as a WWII fighter pilot, Conrad returned to radio and extended his talents to the moving pictures. Later, he went on to narrate on the tv show, Rocky and Bullwinkle. He was inducted in the Radio Hall of Fame in 1997.

Text on OTRCAT.com ©2001-2024 OTRCAT INC All Rights Reserved. Reproduction is prohibited.

This collection includes many of his well known roles from all various series, as well as a few select favorites from his performances in the Gunsmoke series. For other great deep radio voices, see als: Paul Frees in The Player, Frank Lovejoy, and Orson Welles Collection