Conrad Bain

Conrad Stafford Bain (born February 4, 1923) is a Canadian-American actor, best known to TV audiences as Phillip Drummond from the sitcom Diff'rent Strokes.

Biography

Personal life

Bain was born in Lethbridge, Alberta, the son of Jean Agnes (née Young) and Stafford Harrison Bain, who was a wholesaler.^[1] Bain studied at the Banff School of Fine Arts before serving in the Canadian Army during World War II.^[2] He then studied in New York at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where his classmates included actor Charles Durning and comedian Don Rickles; he became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1946 before graduating in 1948.^[3]

Bain has three children with Monica Sloan, whom he has been married to since 1945. His identical twin brother is Bonar Bain,^[4] who once played his fictional evil twin ("Hank Bain") on an episode of SCTV.

Career

After a stint at the Stratford (Ontario) Shakespeare Festival, Bain had further success as a stage actor in the 1956 Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh.^[5] The New York Times reviewer noted that his role was "especially well acted."^[6] Bain's other Broadway theatre credits include Candide, Advise and Consent, An Enemy of the People, Uncle Vanya, and On Borrowed Time.^[4]

In the early 1970s, Bain appeared in New York-based films like Lovers and Other Strangers and Woody Allen's Bananas before achieving national recognition for his work in television.^[5] He is best known for his roles as Dr. Arthur Harmon in Maude (1972-78) and Phillip Drummond in Diff'rent Strokes (1978-86). Bain also appeared in Dark Shadows as the hotel clerk, Mr. Wells. His numerous roles in theater and television led to the coining of the phrase "Conrad Bain plays the role".^{[citation needed]}

References

External links

• Conrad Bain at the Internet Movie Database
• Conrad Bain at the Internet Broadway Database
• Conrad Bain at the Internet off-Broadway Database
• Conrad Bain at Allmovie
• Conrad Bain at TV.com
• msn Entertainment biography