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Thomas Daniel Conway (born December 15, 1933) is an American actor, writer, director, and comedian. He portrayed the inept
in the 1960s World War II
, co-starred on the 1970s variety and
program , starred as the title character in the Dorf series of comedy films, and provides the voice of
in the animated series .
Conway was born in , a suburb of , and grew up in nearby . He is
on his father's side and
on his mother's.
Conway attended
in , where he majored in speech and radio, and was a member of the
Fraternity. When he graduated, he enlisted the
to fulfill his military obligation.
After his discharge from the Army, Conway returned to Cleveland and worked with
affiliate, in 1958 and 1959. From 1960 to 1962, he was on
affiliate, now a
affiliate) on a weekday morning film (under the Ernie's Place banner), where he also wrote material for the comedic skits shown in between film intermissions. Conway also recorded a comedy album with Anderson, who himself gained national prominence as a voice over announcer for
in the 1970s.
WJW dismissed Conway in 1962, in part because he (and Anderson) misled station management into thinking he had experience as a director. Because of this move, which deprived Anderson of his co-host and comic foil, the station asked Anderson if he could host a B-grade (and lower) horror film show on Friday nights instead. Conway continued to make many appearances alongside Anderson's alter ego , in addition to "Big Chuck" Schodowski, a station engineer who Anderson got to assume much of Conway's sidekick status (and who ultimately succeeded Anderson as co-host of the horror film program).
After he became famous, Conway resurfaced periodically on Cleveland television on the
shows on WJW-TV, in guest spots and occasional skits. Conway has since made regular guest appearances at numerous "Ghoulardifest" functions held by WJW over the years, along with former Cleveland TV personality , in tribute to Anderson, who died in 1997.
Comedic actress
in 1961, as part of CBS's promotional practice of sending their major show stars directly to local affiliates: in this case, it was for . She viewed tapes of some of Anderson and Conway's skits and proceeded to take Conway under her wing. Following his departure from WJW, Conway moved to New York C where, with Rose Marie's assistance, he auditioned for, and gained a spot on, 's
as a regular player. Conway (who by this point had officially changed his first name to Tim) continued on the show through its entire run.
Conway and Ernest Borgnine in a photograph of , 1962
Conway gained a national following from his role as the bumbling, naive Ensign Charles Parker, Executive Officer of the World War II PT-73, in the 1960s
, alongside
and . Borgnine became a mentor and a good friend. Conway appeared at Borgnine's 90th birthday celebration and, four years later, paid tribute to his friend at 7th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on . Conway said, "Borgnine was 'like a big teddy bear' and 'a very pleasant person to be around' when he worked with him on the World War Two sitcom 'McHale's Navy'."
Afterwards, he starred in a string of short-lived TV series, starting with 1967's
which starred Conway as an incompetent .
Conway was part of one of the most infamous network TV programming catastrophes ever: , a
was derided as a ripoff of NBC's . Ironically,
was created and directed by Laugh-In's creator . Even though Conway was listed only as a guest star on the , which ABC broadcast on February 5, 1969, it was the .
was so far ahead of its time in terms of comedic treatment of sexuality that the show received enough immediate, negative reaction to force several ABC affiliates, including
in Conway's hometown of Cleveland, to refuse to return to the program after the first commercial break. WEWS management also sent an angrily-worded telegram to the network's headquarters. Many
affiliates received advance warning and refused to air the show. Conway remarked that the show's premiere party he attended also marked the program's cancellation party, but ABC did not officially cancel the program for several days.
Conway and Flynn pose in front of Lucky Linda in a publicity photo for
taken on January 9, 1970.
paired Conway with
in a sitcom as owner-pilots of a one-plane (a
named Lucky Linda) airline operated by the pair. Having "nowhere to run", this pressurized situation was ideal for the fast
of the lead actors. It debuted in January 1970 and the last new show aired in June 1970. In the fall of the same year, Conway was given his own hour-long variety show, The Tim Conway Comedy Hour, or The Tim Conway Comedy House, which, as his other series had, folded quickly, lasting only 13 weeks. Typical of his self-effacing humor, he ordered his car's license plate to reflect the short duration of the series: "13 WKS". (Conway was given another one-hour variety show ten years later, which revived the title The Tim Conway Show; see later section.)
Beginning in 1975, Conway was often paired with
in family films from , including
and its 1979 sequel, . They also starred in two independent films, a boxing comedy called
in 1979, and a 1980 mystery comedy film called . In 1983, he starred in another TV show, , a parody it lasted only five episodes.
Starting with the , Conway became a regular on , after having been a frequent guest for the show's first eight seasons. Conway's work on the show earned him five . Two of Conway's memorable characters on the Burnett Show were:
, whose shaggy white hair, slow speech, and shuffling gait ran counter to the much-needed energy levels of the various occupations he was usually found in. His comic inability to get said jobs done — usually with
results to himself, and with many an
— both frustrated and 'broke up' his fellow sketch performers.
, a businessman whose intentions of running a 'ship-shape' office were usually sunk by the bored indifference of his secretary,
(Burnett). Although the character was widely thought to be , Conway used a
accent learned from his mother. For example, his attempts to pronounce his secretary's name came out as "Mrs. Ah-huh-wiggins". He also used this accent for other characters, such as an inept dentist.
Conway could also get results with no dialogue, such as in a sketch in which he played a tired businessman seeking restful sleep in his hotel — and pestered by a , created only by a sound effect and Conway's gazing after it. After much struggle, he manages to get the fly out of the roo after returning to bed, he hears a persistent knock on his door, gets up to answer it, and opens the door, letting the fly (who was doing the knocking) back in.
Another skit, also without a word from Conway, featured him playing Simba, a lion raised by humans then released to the wild (based on the lioness Elsa in the film ). Conway, told of the upcoming eviction from the comfortable home, caused Burnett and
to break up with an interminable process of packing to leave.
A prime example of his ability to make his co-stars laugh uncontrollably involved
as a captured American airman, with Conway as a stereotypical blond-haired Gestapo agent charged with his interrogation. Stating that "the Fuhrer" had taken particular interest, Conway produces a small Hitler hand puppet. With Conway providing a falsetto voice, the puppet suggests that singing might relax Waggoner's character to the point he is willing to talk. In a long, drawn-out fashion, the Hitler puppet sings "I've Been Working on the Railroad", and with each passing verse, Waggoner loses more of his composure, finally laughing hysterically when puppet-Hitler screeches, "FEE-FI-Fiddely-I-O!"
Conway remained a regular cast member of The Carol Burnett Show until the program's run ended, in 1978.
In 1980, Conway again was given his own one-hour variety program, titled
(the title that was previously used for his 1970 ). It aired on CBS, as his previous shows had, and debuted on March 22, 1980. It was originally a full hour but was reduced to half an hour in summer 1980. It lasted longer than any of his earlier self-titled series, ending in August 1981. The format was similar to that of The Carol Burnett Show, with several regular cast members performing in comedy sketches, interspersed with the occasional musical performance by a guest musician. Among the regulars in the cast were , , , , and . Former Burnett cast member
also became a Tim Conway Show regular in late 1980, after having earlier made guest appearances on the show, as had
In the spring of 1983, Conway starred in another situation comedy, ; a spoof of detective shows, it lasted only a month. In the summer of 1990, he starred in , playing pranks in disguise on unsuspecting passersby around the United States while
recorded the results, which Conway presented
it, too, lasted only a few weeks.
Conway's more recent work includes a series of satirical how-to videos in which he plays a diminutive, dark-haired Scandinavian known as Dorf (a variation on "dwarf"), reprising his goofy Mr. Tudball accent. The Dorf character first appeared in the
and has since appeared in eight other films on a variety of sports from baseball to auto racing. Dorf on Golf was remastered for DVD in 2007. In 2010, all of the Dorf films were remastered in a DVD Collection featuring all eight films, a behind-the-scenes with Dorf, and a commentary track by Tim Conway on "The Legend of the Paddle: The Oldie Hollis Story". Dorf also appeared on an episode of Tim Conway's Funny America in the summer of 1990, leading an
class on his impossibly short legs.
In 2009, Conway's Dorf character started "helping" Santa Claus on the website , created by comedy filmmaker Pasquale Murena and Anything Goes Productions. Each year, Dor in 2009, he tried to give Santa his Christmas list, failing and accidentally hitting Santa with a golf ball. Then, in 2010, he tried to give all of the world's letters to Santa directly using jet rockets to fly to his sleigh, cannonballs, and more.
Conway as an angel with
Conway has also made many guest appearances and other roles in television.
He guest-starred in 's , for which he received the
playing Kenny Montague in the 1996 episode "The Gardener". Conway won another Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as Bucky Bright in the
episode "", which initially aired on April 17, 2008.
His other TV roles include:
1963: , playing a job applicant
1973: , voiced himself in the episode "The Spirited Spooked Sports Show"
1991: ; a cameo appearance as audience member in the episode "That Little Extra Something"
as Ephraim Wanker, hillbilly father of Peg Bundy in four episodes
1997/99: , app in "Comedy is Murder", he and
play former comedy partners Tim Conrad and Harvey Huckaby (A clip of the well-known dentist sketch from The Carol Burnett Show was used to illustrate their partnership)
1999–present: , voicing the character "" (14 episodes), a recurring role pairing up as the sidekick to his old McHale's Navy co-star,
(as ) (Now
from July 9, 2012 – present because Borgnine died of a Kidney failure on July 8, 2012.)
2001–05: , a recurring role as Tom Warner, the father of Greg, with Carol Burnett Show co-star
playing his wife
2003: , short-lived
comedy, as Mr. Henderson
2003–10: , 's animated video series, providing the voice of the title character in eight episodes
2008: , voicing Freddy Frog and other characters
2008: , as Bucky Bright, a washed up star from the 1940s and 1950s
: , in the episodes "It's Not That Complicated" and "Canoga Falls" (in which he is reunited with Carol Burnett)
2010–11: , voicing Bampy Botsford and Museum Security Guard
2011: , voicing the
in the episode "Joker: The Vile and the Villainous!"
2011: , as Cragmont in the episode "Justin's Back In"
2013: , as Brian in the episode "School Recital"
2013: , as a tenant of Shangri-La Apartments in "There's No Place Like Home"
2014: , as a guest at Marty's stag party in "Bite Me, Supreme Court"
2014: , as an old man who plays in Peter Pan in ""
He has lent his voice to other TV shows including , Disney spin-off , , , , , , , , and . He also narrated The Secret Shortcut in
and hosted .
In 2002, Conway was inducted into the .
On his 75th birthday in 2008, Conway was interviewed as a guest on
and given a surprise cake by .
He starred in
(1976), and
(1979). He starred in the 1977 comedy film . Conway also co-starred with
(1979) and
Horse Race comedy starring Tim Conway (1986). Conway also appeared with
(1998) as Fred Davis, the main announcer for the Timberwolves' final game, with Martin as his co-announcer, Phil Phil. He was Herman Dooly in the 1996 film, .
Conway and
created a Collector's Edition
of new comedy sketches, titled Together Again; sold through Conway's official website and produced by Pasquale Murena.
Starting in 2003, Conway teamed up with good friend
again to provide voices for the direct-to-video children's series , which continued until Knotts' death in 2006. Conway continued to do the series.
In 2007, he hosted Thou Shalt Laugh 2: The Deuce, a collection of Christian stand-up comedians.
In 2012-13, he voiced the character 'Mulch' in DreamWorks' Dragons: Riders of Berk series.
In 2014, he played Professor VanVanguard, a knowledgeable character of the lives, characteristics and treating of zombies in the award-winning feature film Chip & Bernie's Zomance.
Conway has collaborated with some of the funniest and most talented people in Hollywood and has kept long-time collaborations with many of them.
Conway first met
in 1966 while a guest, the first of three, on . Korman was a four year series regular on Kaye's CBS variety hour. 1967 saw the end of the Kaye show and the debut of . With Korman available, he stepped into a regular role there. Conway appeared as a guest during that first Burnett season and the two men immediately became friends starting a lifetime of working together until Korman's death in 2008. One of their most famous sketches was from The Carol Burnett Show called "The Dentist Sketch." In this sketch, Korman goes to the just-graduated dentist Conway for a toothache. Conway proceeds to remove Korman's tooth, but before he can inject the novocaine into Korman, he injects it into himself, causing his head, hand, and leg to go numb.
Korman and Conway performed together for 10 years on The Carol Burnett Show before Korman left to pursue his own show. Korman joined Conway on Conway's shows and then later on in the 1986 film , which Conway wrote for the two men. Conway also wrote the direct-to-video films Tim and Harvey in The Great Outdoors and Together Again with Tim and Harvey, which the comedy pair starred in together. The DVD Together Again with Tim and Harvey was a recording of their touring stage show that ran over 10 years to sold out markets until Korman's death in 2008. Conway has referred to Korman as, "The smartest man I knew but couldn't tie his shoelaces".
When Conway was starting his career in Hollywood, so was . Both men were regulars on , though at different times. They didn't have the chance to work together until
Studios paired the two men on the Apple Dumpling Gang series of films, and
Knotts's boisterous, -style bungling both contrasted and meshed with Conway's quieter form of physical comedy. The first film starred
in 1975 and was called . The film centered around Bixby being tricked into taking care of a trio of orphans as the pair of lovable holdup men named Amos Tucker (Conway) and Theodore Ogelvie (Knotts) attempt to steal the gold nugget the children find. The film was a commercial success, and a sequel was made starring the pair in 1979 called . The sequel did not have the other cast members but was hugely profitable for Disney.
Conway wrote two other films for the pair to star in together starting with
in 1979 and
in 1980. Both were independently produced and the highest grossing independent films of those years. They had a cameo in the
film together and in later years voiced characters Hermie and Wormie in numerous children's shows from .
In 2007, Conway met filmmaker
when Murena was brought in to direct additional scenes and edit the direct-to-DVD film Legend of the Paddle, starring Conway. The two men subsequently worked together on numerous productions, including Murena producing the DVD releases of Together Again with Tim and Harvey, the re-releases of Tim and Harvey in The Great Outdoors, , and . Murena directed, produced and co-wrote with Conway six Dorf comedy sketches for the DVD release of The Ultimate Dorf DVD Collection, which has sold over 3 million copies.
Starting in 2009, the two men collaborated on their first sketches for the website iSpotSanta, where Dorf helps Santa deliver presents, and works at the North Pole as Santa's #1 elf. They have done over 25 comedy sketches and three short films for the website, while garnering over 35 million viewers. Conway was quoted in an interview on the Disney Channel, stating that, "Pasquale has done more with Dorf then I ever imagined. We love making these films for kids." Continuing their success, Murena cast Conway as Professor VanVanGuard in his award-winning first feature film in 2014 called, Chip & Bernie's Zomance, with Conway adding his unique humor to this zombie film.
Conway first pitched the idea of
and him doing a late night show together in Cleveland during the 1960s and that is where
found Conway and got him a role on The Steve Allen Show. Before that, the duo recorded two comedy albums together: Are We On? (1966) and Bull (1967). Anderson turned to doing voiceovers after Conway moved on, but their collaborations continued with Conway's string of shows and Anderson's career as "The Voice of ABC". Anderson performed on sketches and was the voiceover talent for The Carol Burnett Show. teaming the pair together.
Anderson become a cult icon in Cleveland as the character Ghoulardi during his own late night television show, where he showed horror
to viewers. In 2013, Conway went to the Ghoulardi Fest to promote his book and show his love for his friend Anderson.
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any . Please help by adding . Contentious material about living people that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately.
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Conway has been married twice. He was married to Mary Anne Dalton from 1961 until 1978. They had seven children together. He has been married to Charlene Fusco since May 18, 1984. Among Tim Conway's children is
Los Angeles radio host
Interviewed by
program The World Over on October 2, 2014, Conway revealed that he had converted to the .
On June 6–8, 2010, Conway returned to his hometown of
to put on fund-raising performances at the
to help kick off its capital campaign.
He is a spokesperson for the United
Foundation.
, and an occasional racehorse owner, Conway is a co-founder and vice-president of the Board of Directors of the Don MacBeth Memorial Jockey Fund.
Gostin, Nicki (November 4, 2013). .
Lewis, Thomas Attila (). . . Archived from
. . Associated Press. July 6, 1975. p. C10 2013.
. . Retrieved on .
(). Retrieved on .
Conway, Tim.
Rosenthal, Phil (26 November 2006). . . Tim Conway ... has joked the cancellation of the 1969 ABC comedy program came during the cast's post-debut party.
; Marsh, Earl (2003).
(8th ed.). New York: . p. 1203.  .
King, Susan. "", , November 11, 2013. Accessed September 6, 2016.
. . Retrieved on .
. Ballantine Books. 2003. p. 1447.  .
. . Retrieved on .
June 15, 2010, at the .
"Aout", MacBeth Fund website. . Archived from
Conway, T Scovell, Jane (2013). What's So Funny?: My Hilarious Life. .  .
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