Hans Conried...the story of his life in one place

Hans Georg Conried Jr. was born April 15th, 1917 in Baltimore Maryland at 9:25 AM to his parents Hans Georg Conried Sr. and Edith B. Gilderseeve. Though he had two brothers in his life, one half brother Edwin and one full brother Alfred (who died sadly at the age of 5), he was raised for the most part as an only child, and was doted on by his parents. He graduated from the High School of Commerce in New York City, and studied commercial art at his father’s insistence.

Hans was the sole supporter for his immediate family as early as 1934. Because of his father’s failing health, the Conried’s packed their belongings and moved to California in September, 1935, thinking the weather might help. Shortly after his arrival in Los Angeles, Hans Jr. was acting on stage with the Santa Monica Players. During the day, he worked for a company that manufactured sports equipment, and was given the job of demonstrating a revolutionary type of punching bag at a local department store during the Christmas season.

About that time, he heard an announcement on his favorite radio station (KECA) that they were adding some weekly dramatic offerings to their regular schedule of classical music and news. The first program was to be a series of Shakespeare’s plays, performed uncut. He was very excited about this news, and rushed down to KECA to confront the producer, Forest Barnes. Hans had performed in many Shakespearean productions, beginning in elementary school at age 12. He of course was hired on the spot, thus launching his radio career. The first episode Hans performed on was the play "Othello" and first aired on January 14, 1936.

As the only surviving son, Hans was able to put off being drafted, but eventually the Army called him up in August of 1944. (The highest rank I know of him receiving was Seargant, and there's a story on the misc page about one officer's encounter with him.) He travelled to the Phillipines, Korea, and Japan, and it was a great opportunity for him to pick up a love for the art and become a "rabid Japanophile" as he put it. Hans helped set up radio stations and spent about a year as director of Radio Tokyo for AFRS. He returned home to the USA in September, 1946.

His first motion picture was "Dramatic School" in 1938 starring Luise Ranier, and directed by Robert B. Sinclair. Hans played a rather snobbish student at the school named Ramy. His film career, though vast, was very disappointing considering he rarely was given a substantial role. It was obvious he needed an audience, and the studio environment made his acting rather stilted. Due to his Germanic name, (and possibly his flamboyant character) Hans spent a lot of time prior to his Army stint playing bit parts as various kinds of Nazi’s. His best film, and his own personal favorite, was the 1953 release of "The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T". The experience of making the film was one he always cherished.

His first television show may have been his 1948 performances on the early Los Angeles produced quiz show called "Pantomime Quiz" hosted by Mike Stokey. He and his good friend Vincent Price developed a sort of friendly feud on the show to the delight of television audiences. The final season was aired in 1963–1964 with a new name: “Stump the Stars.” Hans gained a great deal of fame as one of TV’s first real personalities when he was invited to be a semi-regular on “The Jack Paar Show” in 1957. His intelligent and witty conversation won the hearts of audiences across the nation. Hans was dumfounded by this sudden popularity and commented on how he had worked hard as an actor for over 20 years, and now was famous for “uttering inanities” on the Paar show. Hans’ first TV performance as someone other than himself was on an episode of “Arch Oboler Comedy Theater” entitled “Ostrich in Bed” where he actually was the star. (The episode aired on September 23, 1949.)

He married on January 29, 1942 to Margaret Grant (a former NBC executive secretary). She was the same age as Hans, and they lived near each other. It’s doubtful Hans had many other relationships in his life. (Margaret is still living, but is sadly suffering from advanced Alzheimer’s.) They had 4 children (2 boys and 2 girls) from the time of 1951 to 1957. Hans’ reason for the late start of his family: "Radio died, and I had a lot of time around the house."

For most of the 1960’s and early 1970’s, Hans regularly spent his summers and winters traveling in stock tours throughout the U.S. and parts of Canada. Beginning in 1960, he began a successful series of lectures and readings to colleges and universities. His readings were derived from great literature, poetry, the Bible, and of course, Shakespeare. Hans usually ended the evening with a question and answer session, which was actually his favorite part of the evening.

As far as collections and obsessions go, his personal collection of Asian art rivaled some smaller museums. He had hundreds of rare netsuke, tsubo, bokuto, silk paintings, unusual Asian toys, and many, many other amazing works of art. As a teenager, he collected military paraphernalia, and had an amazing collection of model soldiers (not the tiny kind, though he had a lot of those as well) in every kind of uniform. By his own admission, Hans was a hopeless packrat, and his home in the Hollywood Hills was stuffed to the rafters with all of his “stuff”. He had a library of nearly 7,000 books: 500 alone were on Japanese art. Hans’ greatest love was to learn as much as he could about as many subjects as he could wrap his mind around. He read voraciously, and loved to share his knowledge with anyone who would listen. Hans always felt somehow inadequate for not having a college degree, but he was one of the most educated people you could ever meet.

Admittedly, we are all a little strange with our quirks in everyday life, and Hans was no exception. He was best remembered by his oldest acquaintances for his flamboyant, eccentric behavior during his radio days. He wore brilliantly colored, oddly matched, clothing, and insisted on wearing one red sock, and one green sock. He almost always had to have some article of red on somewhere, as red was his lucky color. Hans’ clothes were described as “Edwardian”, and it seemed like he belonged to a much earlier time because of his grand mannerisms and flowery language.

Overall, one of Hans’ most successful collaborations was with the animators Jay Ward and Bill Scott. Jay Ward Productions produced some of the most original cartoons of the 1960’s such as “Crusader Rabbit”, “Bullwinkle and Rocky”, “Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties”, and “Hoppity Hooper”. Hans was the voice of arch villain, Snidely Whiplash: Dudley Do-Right’s nemesis. He also was the voice of Hoppity Hooper’s “uncle” Waldo Wigglesworth. Ward gave Hans the opportunity to host his truly bizarre television show: “Fractured Flickers”. Hans would often use his “Stump the Stars” co-panelists as the celebrity guests for the interview segments. The show went into syndication in 1963.

Towards the end of his life, with his film career pretty much over, and television work few and far between; Hans found voice work to be the best way for him to continue to earn a living, and stay closer to his Los Angeles home. Hans suffered a mild stroke at the end of a performance of “How the Other Half Loves” in Columbus, Ohio on January 22, 1974. He quickly recovered, but it took a heavy toll on him. Hans was never quite the same afterwards, as he tired easily.

Hans Georg Conried Jr. died of a massive heart attack at the St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, California on January 5, 1982. He was admitted to the hospital on January 3rd, after suffering severe chest pains at home. He donated his body to the St. Joseph’s medical school, and his cremated remains were returned to his wife, Margaret. After her passing, both will be interred together.