Anecdotes

Served from 1947 to 1972 in the California Assembly (legislature). He served as Republican minority leader in the late 1960s.

In the mid-1960s, Conrad was hired by the campaign managers of Ronald Reagan, who was running for Governor of California, to coach him on the ways in which the state government worked, as well as to brief him on various issues. Conrad was selected for this task not only because he was an elected politician, but also because he was an actor, and it was felt that this would give him and Reagan a shared bond that would make the tutoring easier. After Reagan's election and during his two terms as Governor, Conrad was one of the only state legislators whom Reagan...who had a notoriously bad memory for names...could ever recall by name.

Wife Grace was an amateur artist, and sold some of her paintings to local art collectors.

Assemblyman Conrad represented much of the South end of the San Fernando Valley including the Sherman Oaks and Encino areas, which areas were home to many film stars.