- Born
- Died
- Birth nameThomas Daniel Conway
- Nicknames
- Timmy
- Tom Conway
- Height5′ 6″ (1.68 m)
- Funny man Tim Conway was born on December 15th, 1933 in Willoughby, Ohio, to Sophia (Murgoiu) and Daniel Conway, a pony groomer. He was a fraternity man at Bowling Green State University, served in the army, and started his career working for a radio station.
Conway got into comedy when he started writing and performing comedy skits between morning movies on CBS. Later, Rose Marie "discovered" him and he became a regular performer on The Steve Allen Show (1956). However, Conway would not earn true fame until starring as "Ensign Charles Parker" on McHale's Navy (1962). Conway sought further success in several shows that were failures, including the embarrassingly short-lived, Turn-on (1969), with only one episode. The producers did not even want it back on after the commercial break! Even his own show, The Tim Conway Show (1970) flopped, with only 12 episodes. Conway starred in the Disney film, The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975), and also the films, The Prize Fighter (1979) and The Private Eyes (1980).
Conway became a comical performer on The Carol Burnett Show (1967), with characters such as "The Old Man" and "Mr. Tudball". Even though it is widely thought he was always a regular performer throughout the whole show, he only became a regular performer in 1975. He was a hysterical addition to the team and memorably made co-star Harvey Korman laugh on-screen live many times.
Conway continued comedic roles such as "Dorf", and also had many more television appearances and films.
- IMDb mini biography by: Tony Foster
- SpousesCharlene Conway(May 18, 1984 - May 14, 2019) (his death)Mary Anne Dalton(May 27, 1961 - January 21, 1981) (divorced, 6 children)
- Children
- ParentsDaniel ConwaySophia Conway
- His thick nasally voice
- Frequently worked with Harvey Korman or Don Knotts
- His remarkable ability to ad-lib and cause co-stars to break character.
- His car's license plate reads "13 WKS", a reference to the fact that most of his solo television projects have been cancelled after 13 weeks.
- Received his Bachelor's degree in television and radio from Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio. Was a member of Phi Delta Theta fraternity.
- He became notorious on The Carol Burnett Show (1967) for making the cast members--especially co-star Harvey Korman--break up with laughter during taping, while he remained in character. Unlike most shows, these bits were usually left in the routines when the episodes were aired.
- Comedienne Rose Marie discovered him and arranged for him to audition for The Steve Allen Show (1956). He so impressed Allen that Conway wound up with a regular spot on the show.
- Has been called "the best second-banana in the business".
- People come up to me and start conversations. Dogs sniff me. It's quite an easy life, actually.
- [on his childhood dyslexia] People thought that I was kidding when I would read out loud in school, so they started laughing. For instance, the book "They Were Expendable" I read as "They Were Expandable". People were going, "This guy is great! Expandable! What are you talking about, rubber people?" I thought, "I must be funny, so I might as well continue with this."
- [on the late Harvey Korman, his friend and co-star on The Carol Burnett Show (1967)] Harvey was one of the brightest people I've ever met, but the man could not tie his own shoes. He looked at life from an entirely different angle. I would put him on constantly. We were on an airplane one time, coming back [to Los Angeles] from New York, and we had to land in Arizona to refuel. We were taxiing out to the next runway, and I said to Harvey, "I don't know if the guy put the gas cap back on. It was on the wing and now it's not." Harvey got worried. So he got up and went to the pilot and said, "Your gas cap is not on." And the pilot just looked at him. There is no gas cap!
- It's been such a great ride because I've got to do all the great things I respect in comedy, and met the people I respect in comedy.
- [on his favorite comic heroes of all time] Jackie Gleason, Steve Allen, Tom Poston, Don Knotts. Don Knotts was a really big influence, especially on The Steve Allen Show (1956). I mean, look at the guy, his entire life is in his face. And you can't TV surf without coming across an The Andy Griffith Show (1960) episode, where you've just got to watch Don as "Barney Fife". And that's why I put Don in several of my movies.
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