Conrad Janis, a renowned character actor, rose to fame in the late 1970s as the father of Mindy on the popular television show Mork & Mindy. Born in Manhattan, Janis was the son of renowned art dealer and clothing manufacturer Sidney Janis and his wife Harriet, a writer who penned books about jazz.
As a young teenager, Janis began his acting career with a traveling stock company, before transitioning to radio acting and providing a range of voices for various characters. He made his stage debut in the 1945 Broadway play Dark of the Moon, which caught the attention of a Hollywood talent scout and led to freelance work in motion pictures.
In the early 1950s, Janis ventured into television while pursuing a parallel career as a jazz trombonist, inspired by the music of Kid Ory. He honed his skills by studying under Cab Calloway alumni Tyree Glenn and Herbie Nichols, and went on to front his own Dixieland/trad combo, the Conrad Janis and His Tailgate Five, in the early 1950s.
By the late 1970s, Janis had formed the Beverly Hills Unlisted Jazz Band, which performed at numerous festivals and was often showcased on late-night television programs hosted by David Letterman and Johnny Carson.
Throughout his career, Janis appeared in over 700 anthology TV dramas, many of which have been lost to posterity. He eventually landed his breakout role as music store owner Fred McConnell on Mork & Mindy, and went on to appear in numerous guest roles and recurring parts on shows such as Quark, Murder, She Wrote, and Frasier.
True to his roots, Janis remained involved with the art world and music education throughout his life, and continued to perform with his jazz band until his passing.
