There and Back Again

1. Actor Tom Conway was born in St. Petersburg, Russia. His younger brother was a fellow actor. At the outbreak of the Russian Revolution (1917), the family moved to England, where Conway was educated at Bedales School and Brighton College. He traveled to Northern Rhodesia, where he worked in mining and ranching, then returned to England, appearing in several plays with the Manchester Repertory Company and performing on BBC Radio^.

When he joined his brother in Hollywood, Conway became a contract player for MGM. During this time, he changed his last name to Conway.^[2] He had small roles in Waterloo Bridge (1940), with only his voice heard, Sky Murder (1941) with Walter Pidgeon, and The Wild Man of Borneo (1941). He had a bigger part in The Trial of Mary Dugan (1941) with Robert Young, then was back to small parts in Free and Easy (1941), The Bad Man (1941) with Wallace Beery and Lionel Barrymore, The People vs. Dr. Kildare (1941) with Lew Ayres and Lionel Barrymore, and Lady Be Good (1941) with Eleanor Powell and Red Skelton.

Conway was a villain in Tarzan's Secret Treasure (1941) with Johnny Weissmuller and Maureen O'Sullivan, Mr. and Mrs. North (1941) with Gracie Allen, and Rio Rita (1942) with Abbott and Costello. He was a murder suspect in Grand Central Murder (1942) with Van Heflin and had an uncredited bit in Mrs. Miniver (1942) with Greer Garson and Walter Pidgeon.

At RKO, Conway's brother had starred in three popular "B" movies as The Falcon, but tired of the role, so Conway took over as The Falcon's Brother (1942), co-starring with his brother (his brother's character was killed off, leaving ConwY to assume the mantle of The Falcon). Producer Maurice Geraghty later revealed that RKO executives recruited Conway so they could induce the brother to make one more Falcon picture, after which the series would end. "So it was astonishing to them when Tom Conway caught on right away and carried the series on -- even outgrossing the pictures the brother had made." RKO signed Tom Conway to a long-term contract.

Conway followed this success with an excellent role in Cat People (1942), the first of producer Val Lewton's legendary horror cycle. He had the male lead in a second film for Lewton, I Walked with a Zombie (1942), now regarded as a horror classic. Conway was top-billed in Lewton's The Seventh Victim (1943) playing the same role he did in The Cat People though his character was apparently killed in that film.

Between his Falcon and Val Lewton assignments, RKO featured Conway in B mysteries: A Night of Adventure (1944), Two O'Clock Courage (1945), and Criminal Court (1946).

Conway was borrowed by United Artists for Whistle Stop (1946), in which he supported George Raft, Ava Gardner, and Victor McLaglen. In June 1946, Conway obtained a release from his RKO contract. His next film was to be Strange Bedfellows at United Artists.^[6]

On radio, Conway played Sherlock Holmes during the 1946–1947 season of The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, following Basil Rathbone's departure from the series. In spite of a similar vocal timbre, Conway was not as well-received as Rathbone by audiences; he played Holmes for only one season.

He was a leading support actor in Lost Honeymoon (1947) and Repeat Performance (1947) for Eagle-Lion, Fun on a Weekend (1947) for United Artists, and One Touch of Venus (1948) for Universal.

Reliance Pictures, an independent company that distributed through Fox, hired Conway to play Bulldog Drummond in The Challenge (1948) and 13 Lead Soldiers (1948). Independent producer Sam Baerwitz cast Conway in low-budget crime stories released by Fox: The Checkered Coat (1948), Bungalow 13 (1948), I Cheated the Law (1949), and The Great Plane Robbery (1950).

Conway had support parts in Painting the Clouds with Sunshine (1951) and Bride of the Gorilla (1951). He went back to leads for Confidence Girl (1952), and was a villain in Tarzan and the She-Devil (1953).

In 1951, he replaced Vincent Price as star of the radio mystery series The Saint, who had been portrayed by his brother on film a decade earlier.

From 1951 to 1954, Conway played debonair British police detective Mark Saber, who worked in the homicide division of a large American city, in the ABC series entitled Inspector Mark Saber – Homicide Detective.

Conway went to England to star as Berkeley Gray's private detective Norman Conquest in Park Plaza 605 (released in America as Norman Conquest, 1953), and (using his own name instead of the Conquest tag) Blood Orange (1953). He had a support part in Paris Model (1953) and a minor role in Prince Valiant (1954), but leads in the British Barbados Quest (1955), Breakaway (1955), and The Last Man to Hang (1956).

In 1956, Tom Conway and his brother appeared (as brothers) in the film Death of a Scoundrel, with the star brother killing supporting player Conway.

In America, Conway co-starred in The She-Creature (1956) and Voodoo Woman (1957). In England, he did Operation Murder (1957). In 1956, he was briefly hospitalized for an operation.

Conway performed in the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode "The Glass Eye" (1957) as Max Collodi, receiving critical praise.

Conway had supporting roles on The Betty Hutton Show television series (1959–60) and in the feature films The Atomic Submarine (1959), and 12 to the Moon (1960). He provided his voice for Disney's 101 Dalmatians (1961) as a quizmaster in What's My Crime?—a parody of the game show What's My Line?—and as a collie that offers the dalmatians shelter in a barn, later guiding them home. His wife at the time, Queenie Leonard, voiced a cow in the barn.

His final television appearance was in the Perry Mason episode, "The Case of the Simple Simon" (1964), playing the role of Guy Penrose.

Despite having been financially successful in his 24-year film career, Conway later struggled to make ends meet. Failing eyesight and alcoholism took their toll on him in his last years.

His first marriage ended in divorce in 1953. His second wife (Leonard) divorced him in 1963 because of his drinking problem. His alcoholism also cost him his relationship with his brother who broke off all contact with him.

Conway underwent cataract surgery during the winter of 1964–1965. In September 1965, he briefly returned to the headlines, having been discovered living in a $2-a-day room in a Venice, Los Angeles flophouse. Gifts, contributions, and offers of aid poured in for a time. Conway estimated he had earned $900,000 in his career, but was broke. "I don't particularly want to act," he said. He said he lost his last $15,000 to swindlers in a lumber deal. Lew Ayres paid his rent.

His last years were marked with hospitalizations. Former sister-in-law Zsa Zsa Gabor paid Conway a visit there and gave him $200. "Tip the nurses a little bit so they'll be good to you," she told him. The following day, the hospital called her to say that Conway had left with the $200, gone to his girlfriend's house, and become gravely sick in her bed. On April 22, 1967, Tom Conway died from cirrhosis of the liver at the age of 62. His funeral was held in London.

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Who was Tom Conway's more successful bother?

George Sanders

2. A young Barbara Hale appeared with Tom Conway in The Falcon in Hollywood. She was considering retiring from acting when she took one more role on TV that wound up running for nine seasons, 271 episodes.

What was the main title of this long-running TV series?

Perry Mason

3. Barbara Hale's actor husband [his birth name was Herman August Wilhelm Katt] whom she met on the set of West of the Pecos later starred on TV in 105 episodes at Kitt Carson. They were married for forty-six years until his death.

What was Herman August Wilhelm Katt's stage name?

Bill Williams

4. Barbara Hale and Herman August Wilhelm Katt's son played a major character [son of a major character] in several episodes of his mother's long run TV series and later starred in his own series as Ralph Hinkley a school teacher who found a special power suit.

What was his stage and real name [they are the same]?

William Katt

5. Actor Tom Conway's brother [see #1 above] like his brother drank heavily at the end of his career. When he was making the movie with is brother, Tom Conway, he married for his second marriage a famous Hungarian celebrity and actress known for her love of diamonds. He married Ronald Colman's widow, Benita, as his third wife and then in his decline he married the Hungarian actress' older sister.

What were the names of the two Hungarian women?

Zsa Zsa & Magda Gabor

6. The younger Hungarian woman [who was married nine times--one marriage annulled], the second wife of Tom Conway's brother, also had a younger sister who starred opposite Eddie Albert and a pig in a long running TV series [six seasons. 170 episodes] .

What was this younger sister's name and what was the pig's name?

Eva Gabor & Arnold Ziffel

7. Tom Conway's brother's second wife's second husband was hotelier Conrad Hilton. Between her divorce settlements and celebrity career she was quite wealthy. In 1970, she purchased a nearly 9,000-square-foot Hollywood Regency-style home in Bel Air. It had been built by Howard Hughes and featured a French-style copper roof.

The Bel Air home had once been the property of one of America's biggest singing and movie stars during his time in Hollywood in the 1960's-1970's. Who was he?

Elvis Presley

8. Conway's second wife's younger sister kept company [from the mid-1980's through 1995 when she died] with a Hollywood singer, dancer, TV talk show host, and producer who is credited as a creator of two of America's longest running TV game shows [although she claimed they had never been lovers].

Who was this song and dance man and game show king?

Merv Griffin

9. This song and dance man had a famous British actor known particularly as the stereotypical English gentleman's gentleman [i.e., butler] as his announcer and banter buddy 1965-1970. He later loaned his name to a an American fish and chips restaurant chain.

Who was this highly recognizable Brit?

Arthur Treacher

10. This British actor and restaurateur appeared in four movies with a famous American child star and sang and danced with her in the film The Little Princess.

Who was this child star?

Shirley Temple Black

1. Cartoonist Al Capp, creator of "Li'l Abner," also had a comic parody detective, "Fearless Fosdick," usually pictured with several bullet holes in his hat and himself. "Fearless Fosdick," also appeared in comic advertisements for what hair product originally manufactured in Buffalo, NY?

Wildroot Cream Oil

2. What oil company, founded in 1916 originally as a New York Corporation, but reincorporated in Wyoming in 1976, has a dinosaur on its logo?

Sinclair Oil Company

3. The first significant settlement by Europeans in West Jersey was made in 1678 by European settlers who arrived on the ship KENT in 1677 in Salem [NJ] and who canoed up the Delaware River to the Rancocas Creek then settling in Burlington and Rancocas. Why were they being persecuted in England?

Because they were Quakers [Fall, 1677— The ship Kent arrives in Delaware with Quaker settlers fleeing oppression in England, disembarking in Salem and canoeing and walking up the Delaware River to the Rancocas Creek, and then to Burlington, New Jersey. ... the first important settlement in West Jersey was made in 1678, when two hundred and thirty people sailed up the Delaware and founded Burlington, and within two years several hundred more had made their homes in the vicinity.

4. Why don't maps depict the Islands of Langerhans?

Because they are found on the pancreas of vertebrates

5. Who or [what job did the person do] who is usually regarded as the creator of shorthand?

Tiro, a learned freedman in the household of Marcus Tullius Cicero

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