Conrad Janis, Mork & Mindy and The Cable Guy star, dies at 94

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Conrad Janis, a veteran character actor best known as Mindy's dad on the hit sitcom Mork & Mindy, died in Los Angeles on March 1. He was 94.

His business manager Dean A. Avedon confirmed the news to EW.

Mork and Mindy
Mork and Mindy

ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Image Actor Conrad Janis was best known as Mindy's dad on the hit sitcom 'Mork & Mindy'

The multitalented artist was born in Manhattan on Feb. 11, 1928 to two art collectors, Sidney and Harriet Janis, who ran the noted Sidney Janis Gallery.

In 1945, Janis would star in both his first Broadway show The Dark of the Moon and his first movie role in the wartime comedy Snafu. While the rest of the decade would be spent making films like Margie with Jeanne Crain and The Hagan Girl with Ronald Reagan and Shirley Temple, the next few decades would see Janis shift over to acting on television.

The actor guest starred on a wide range of hits from the '50s, '60s, and '70s, from Get Smart and My Favorite Martian, to Maude, The Jeffersons, and Kojak. 1978 is when he finally landed a steady series regular role on the popular sci-fi comedy starring Robin Williams and Pam Dawber.

Mork and Mindy
Mork and Mindy

ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Image Robin Williams, Conrad Janis, and Jonathan Winters on 'Mork and Mindy.'

Janis spent four years on Mork & Mindy playing Fred McConnell, the lovingly overprotective father of Dawber's character. The role would lead to multiple appearances on shows like St. Elsewhere and Murder, She Wrote, plus a recurring character on Frasier named Albert.

While Janis had also been steadily taking film jobs throughout his illustrious career, some of his biggest projects came on the tail end of his time acting, like Billy Crystal's Mr. Saturday Night in 1992 and Ben Stiller's The Cable Guy in 1996. He also would appear in 12 Broadway shows throughout his lifetime.

Janis had a rich creative life outside of acting, working as a jazz trombonist that performed to a sold out crowd at Carnegie Hall in the late 1970s, and taking over the family business at Sidney Janis Gallery with his brother Carroll in the late 1980s.

While his death follows that of his wife Maria Grimm, who died in September, he is survived by son Christopher, daughter Carin, brother Carroll and other extended family.

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