In the 1995 western THE QUICK AND THE DEAD, a female gunfighter, “Ellen” (Sharon Stone), returns to the Arizona town of Redemption, where a gun dueling tournament is being held. She enters the tournament in order to avenge the death of her father (Gary Sinise) who died at the hands of town Mayor “John Herod” (Gene Hackman).
A group of veteran actors stylishly play a collection of nefarious figures--Lance Henriksen as the braggart gunslinger “Ace Hanlon;” Keith David as the snobby gunfighter “Cantrell;” Tobin Bell as the sleazy grifter “Dog Kelly;” and Kevin Conway as the scuzzy “Eugene Dred.”
Sam Raimi directed the film. Alan Silvestri’s score was released by Varese Sarabande.
STREETS OF LARADO was a 1995 Western television miniseries directed by Joseph Sargent. It was a three-part adaptation of the 1993 novel of the same name by author Larry McMurtry and was the third installment in the “Lonesome Dove” series serving as a direct sequel to LONESOME DOVE (1989), ignoring the events of RETURN TO LONESOME DOVE (1993). The series is set in the 1890s.
In the film, “Captain Woodrow Call” (James Garner), now retired from the Texas Rangers, is a bounty hunter. He is hired by an eastern rail baron to track down “Joey Garza” (Alexis Cruz), a new kind of killer, only a boy, who kills from a distance with a rifle. Joined by his old compadre “Pea Eye Parker” (Sam Shepard), it is a long ride to south Texas and the Mexican side of the border, where the past, in the form of “Maria Garza” (Sonia Braga), Joey's mother, haunts Call. Kevin Conway plays “Mox Mox,” a confederate of “Blue Duck,” a notorious Mexican/Indian bandit from Call’s Ranger days.
STREETS OF LAREDO aired on CBS in November 1995. David Shire’s score has not had a release.
In THE CONFESSION, high-powered New York litigator “Roy Bleakie” (Alec Baldwin) is hired to defend a murderer (Ben Kingsley) who avenged his young son's death. But Bleakie struggles with his own desires for success versus the moral wishes of his client to choose the path of truth. Kevin Conway plays “Mel Duden,” Bleakie’s co-counsel and investigator.
David Hugh Jones directed the 1999 drama, which did not get a U.S. theatrical release. Mychael Danna’s score has also gone unreleased.
THIRTEEN DAYS was a docudrama set in October 1962, when the Kennedy administration struggles to contain the Cuban Missile Crisis. Bruce Greenwood appears as President John F. Kennedy and Steven Culp is his brother Robert Kennedy, the attorney general. Kevin Costner stars in the role of Kenny O’Donnell, Bobby’s classmate at Harvard and now the special assistant to the president. Kevin Conway plays Air Force Chief of Staff, General Curtis LeMay, who urges an armed response to the Soviet provocation.
Roger Donaldson directed the 2000 film. Trevor Jones’ score was released by New Line Records.
After an attempt to bring back the classic 1963-65 science fiction television series “The Outer Limits” was made during the early 1980s, it was finally relaunched in 1995. The success of television speculative fiction such as “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” “The X-Files,” and anthology shows such as “Tales from the Crypt” convinced rights holder Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to revive “The Outer Limits.” A deal was made with Trilogy Productions, the company behind such cinema hits as BACKDRAFT and ROBIN HOOD: PRINCE OF THIEVES. The show would run on the pay-TV channel Showtime.
The episodes appeared in syndication the following season (the same arrangement as the MGM/Showtime series “Stargate SG-1” and “Poltergeist: The Legacy”). “The Outer Limits” continued on Showtime until 2001, when Sci-Fi quietly took over production for the seventh and final season. As a result, that season, unlike the previous ones, was completely free of any swearing or nudity. The show was canceled in 2002, after a total of 154 episodes—far more than the original incarnation of the show. In the revived show, the Control Voice was supplied by Kevin Conway.
Jeff Daniels reprised his role as Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and Kevin Conway reprised his role as Irish sergeant “Buster Kilrain” in the 2003 prequel to GETTYBURG, GODS AND GENERALS. The film covers the first years of the Civil War, during which legendary war hero Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson (Stephen Lang) leads the Confederacy to great success against the Union from 1861 to 1863, including the battles of Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.
Kevin Conway turned down the supporting role of “Theoden” in THE LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy in order to appear in GODS AND GENERALS. The role went to Bernard Hill instead. Ron Maxwell directed and co-wrote the film. Randy Edelman and John Frizzell provided the score for the film, which had its release on Sony Classical.
INVINCIBLE was based on the true story of Vince Papale (Mark Whalberg), a 30-year-old bartender from South Philadelphia who overcame long odds to play for the NFL's Philadelphia Eagles in 1976. Greg Kinnear co-starred in the film as the Eagles’ new coach Dick Vermeil, and Kevin Conway played Vince’s father, Frank Papale.
Ericson Core directed the 2006 drama. Mark Isham’s score did not make an appearance on the song-track CD released by Hollywood Records.
“The Black Donnellys” was a television series that followed four young Roman Catholic Irish-American brothers in present day New York City's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood, and their involvement with petty and organized crime. The brothers were “Jimmy” (Tom Guiry), “Tommy” (Jonathan Tucker), “Kevin” (Billy Lush), and “Seanny Donnelly” (Michael Stahl-David). Olivia Wilde co-starred as “Jenny Reilly,” a childhood friend of Tommy and rest of the Donnelly boys. Jenny runs a local diner with her father, “Ian Reilly” (Kevin Conway).
“The Black Donnellys” was created by Paul Haggis and Robert Moresco. NBC premiered the series on Monday, 26 February 2007, at 10 PM as a mid-season replacement for the failed Aaron Sorkin drama series “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip.” However, like “Studio 60,” “The Black Donnellys” had to go up against CBS’s “CSI: Miami,” the tenth highest-rated show on television that season. “The Black Donnellys” was cancelled after 6 episodes had aired. The remaining 7 produced episodes were released only online at NBC.com.
THE BRONX IS BURNING was an eight-episode television mini-series adapted from Jonathan Mahler's best-selling book, Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning. The film focuses on baseball's triumph over the turmoil and hysteria of 1977 New York City. The New York Yankees came to embody the hopes and fears of an unforgettable summer, with manager Billy Martin (played by John Turturro) and star Reggie Jackson (Daniel Sunjata) engaging in open warfare under the leadership of team owner George Steinbrenner (Oliver Platt).
Kevin Conway co-starred in the series as Gabe Paul, who became part of George Steinbrenner's syndicate that purchased the Yankees from CBS. Installed as club president in 1973, Paul helped Steinbrenner rebuild the once-proud Yankees into a champion. In 1974, Paul was selected Major League Baseball’s Executive of the Year for the second time in his career, as the Yankees finished second in the American League East Division and improved by nine games from the 1973 edition. Then, the Bronx Bombers won their first American League pennant in 12 years in 1976 and first world championship since 1962 the following year.
The key to re-building the Yankees was a series of trades that Paul pulled off. Paul raised some eyebrows because less than two months before he left Cleveland to join the Yankees, he dealt the Indians’ All-Star third baseman Graig Nettles and catcher Gerry Moses to the Yankees for a group of journeyman players. Once with the Yankees, he acquired in succession: Chris Chambliss, Dick Tidrow and Oscar Gamble from his former team, the Indians; Lou Piniella from the Royals; Mickey Rivers and Ed Figueroa from the Angels; Willie Randolph, Ken Brett and Dock Ellis from the Pirates; and Bucky Dent from the White Sox. He also signed Catfish Hunter and Reggie Jackson as free agents.
THE BRONX IS BURNING aired on ESPN in July 2007. Tree Adams scored the film.
Kevin Conway ended his career acting as the narrator for three short-lived television series: “Who Killed Jane Doe?” (2016-18, Investigation Discovery), “Unmasked” (2018, Investigation Discovery), and “Prairie Dog Manor” (2019, National Geographic).
Conway didn't decide to pursue a career in acting until he was 24. Conway worked as an IBM sales analyst prior to becoming an actor. Surely, his acting has enriched our lives more than his sales work could have. Thanks, Kevin.
