“The Wild, Wild West” (TV Series) – 3 Trivia Items You Might Not Know!

The Wild, Wild West  was/is one of my all-time favorite shows.  Here are three pieces of trivia about the show you may not know…

ROBERT CONRAD LOVED DOING HIS OWN STUNTS.

The star was always ready for a fake fight. In the book A Sci-Fi Swarm and Horror Horde: Interviews with 62 Filmmakers, series stuntman and stunt coordinator Whitey Hughes fondly recalls Conrad’s zeal for fisticuffs: “Bob’s favorite expression was, ‘Get ’em up, Whitey, get ’em up! Put the needle in ’em!’—meaning ‘Get the [stuntmen’s] adrenaline going.”

CONRAD WAS ALMOST THE STAR OF ‘I DREAM OF JEANNINE’ AND ‘THE A-TEAM.’

The Wild Wild West was just one of many leading roles for Conrad, who also headlined series such as Black Sheep Squadron and the aforementioned Hawaiian Eye. However, his resume could have been drastically different. He was one of the finalists up for the role of astronaut Captain Tony Nelson on I Dream of Jeannie (which eventually went to Larry Hagman) and he reportedly turned down the role of Hannibal on The A-Team.

RICHARD PRYOR’S FIRST SCREEN CREDIT IS PLAYING A VENTRILOQUIST ON THE SHOW.

The groundbreaking stand-up comic appears in “The Night of the Eccentrics,” the season two premiere and first episode broadcast in color. Pryor plays Villar, a creepy ventriloquist. However, it was Ross Martin who provided the voice of the dummy, Giulio.

***These bits of trivia came from a Me-TV article that is no longer available.  I had linked to it in my original post.***