Tim Conway (1933-2019)

They say death comes in three's, and it often happens that way in Hollywood.

This latest celebrity trifecta is complete with news today that Emmy winning actor-comedian Tim Conway had passed away from water on the brain at 85.

For nearly 60 years, Conway made television audiences laugh with his low-key, often improvised, brand of physical slapstick comedy. He first became a regional star in his native Ohio, working alongside another future icon, Ernie Anderson, who would later be Conway's announcer on his CBS variety show, and then was given his first national break when Rose Marie, in town to promote The Dick Van Dyke Show, met Conway, and recommended the comic to Steve Allen, who cast Conway on his 1961 ABC series.

You know the rest of the story. McHale's Navy put Conway on the map, once and for all, as bumbling, naive, often dimwitted Ensign Charles Parker over the course of four seasons (1962-6), including two feature films. However, while he shined as a supporting player, winning a few Emmy awards, Conway for some reason was never able to carry a show by himself as a lead. Rango, a mid-season replacement series from Aaron Spelling & Danny Thomas for ABC in 1967, was the first such attempt. Conway reunited with McHale co-star Joe Flynn for a short-lived, self-titled CBS sitcom in 1970. After making frequent appearances on the Carol Burnett Show during its first 8 seasons, Conway was added to the regular lineup in 1975, and stuck around until the series ended in the spring of 1978.

Conway also parlayed his Burnett run into a series of films with Don Knotts (ex-The Andy Griffith Show), including "The Apple Dumpling Gang" & its sequel for Disney, and the independently produced "The Private Eyes". Conway's first Disney outing, 1973's "The World's Greatest Athlete", was parodied later that year when he guested on The New Scooby-Doo Movies. Conway would continue to work in animation well into recent times, including a DTV series created by Christian author Max Lucado, and a stint on SpongeBob SquarePants, playing a superhero parody alongside McHale co-star Ernest Borgnine.

Here, Tim does a sketch with a most unlikely straight man, Fugitive star David Janssen, on The Hollywood Palace:



Rest in peace.