Doctor Loveless finally kills Jim West

Robert Conrad, Star of TV’s ‘The Wild Wild West,’ Dies at 84

Best opening/closing credit sequences of its era:

Two minor things I remember about that show (which I found very entertaining):

1. Jim West’s wardrobe got me interested in wearing fancy vests that complemented but did not exactly match my suits, and that became my own signature “look” until I retired.

2. Ross Martin’s disguises always looked exactly like Ross Martin wearing cheap stage make-up, and the voice was always instantly recognizable. He was truly the master of deception! The name of his character was Artemis Gordon, and when he showed up in his cheap Halloween disguises, I always expected the villains to say “Oh, hi Arty!” (But apparently Dr. Loveless wasn’t the genius he claimed to be, because he never could see through that transparent artifice.) My theater friends and I used this as an insult. “Do I really look like a realistic old man?” “Hell, no. It looks like Ross Martin did your make-up.”

2 thoughts on “Doctor Loveless finally kills Jim West

  1. Yeah, he was Pappy Boyington to me as well. Actually, he’ll also be that guy daring you to knock the battery off his shoulder. Can you tell, I didn’t start watching TV until the 1970’s? My dad was a big fan of Wild Wild West, but the first I ever saw of that was the reunion movie from 1979 with Paul Williams playing Dr. Loveless Junior. Having now seen episodes of the series, I think the series was better. But since Michael Dunn died before 1979, is the title of this post accusing Paul Williams of killing him?

    I was watching a tribute to Robert Conrad and it talked about A Man Called Sloan, also from 1979. I remembered watching that show back when I was 11. I went looking for it, wondering of it was available anywhere. It’s not. You would think that with a thousand and one streaming platforms out there you would have at least one dedicated to TV that predates the 1990’s. These studios have huge back catalogs of TV shows doing nothing for them. Why not monetize them while nostalgic middle aged geezers like me are still around to subscribe? OK, I can understand not bothering with a 40 year old show canceled after 12 episodes. But why not all 4 seasons of The Wild Wild West? The 1966 Batman series? The 1950’s Disney Zorro show? I was expecting Disney+ to have it as it was supposed to have everything, but all they have is a 90 minute movie taken from the show. It does show how expectations have changed. Imagine Robert Conrad or Orson Bean in the 1960’s being told in the future people will expect to be able to watch any episode of any TV show at any time they feel like it.

  2. Had a good run, he will be missed. Pointless trivia: before his career took off, he was a milkman – my mother-in-law’s milkman. But he’ll always be Pappy Boyington to me.

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