Robert Conrad Revolutionized the Action Genre
Obituaries for Robert Conrad properly noted the actor’s prowess as a pugilist-stuntman.
However, the press failed to recognize how Conrad essentially invented the modern action genre in the late 1960s as the star of The Wild Wild West.
Other TV Westerns resolved conflicts quickly with pedestrian, perfunctory gunplay, but The Wild Wild West featured action as the main attraction, with at least two knockdown, dragout barefisted brawls every episode.
Conrad co-designed each week’s fight sequences and performed his own stunts, creating a demand for muscular, athletic actors who could execute complex fight choreography.
Thus, Conrad the boxer and karate student paved the way for martial artist action heroes like Bruce Lee, Chuck Norris, and Jackie Chan, and for bodybuilders like Lou Ferrigno and Arnold Schwarzenegger. As action movies became Hollywood’s most lucrative genre, the success of these highly-skilled physical freaks forced regular actors to get ripped and train to perform their own stunts in order to land leading roles in top-grossing blockbusters. So, Conrad shaped the career trajectories of Sylvester Stallone, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, Keanu Reeves, Angelina Jolie, etc.
