Robert Conrad Revolutionized the Action Genre

Robert Conrad in a 1965 publicity shot for The Wild Wild West (Image Credit: Wikimedia)

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…