Obituaries

Tim Conway, Legendary Carol Burnett Show Star, Dies at 85

He won six Emmys for his work on television, including guest appearances on ”Coach” and ”30 Rock”.

Kenji Fujishima
Los Angeles
Tim Conway, star of The Carol Burnett Show and McHale's Navy on television, has died.
Tim Conway, star of The Carol Burnett Show and McHale's Navy on television, has died.
(© Alex Erde / Wikimedia Commons)

Comedian and television and film star Tim Conway died Tuesday, May 14, in Los Angeles. He was 85. According to Variety, he died from water on the brain.

Born Thomas Daniel Conway in Willoughby, Ohio, in 1933, he began his show-business career working for radio, and after returning from Army service in 1958, he worked for a couple of Cleveland television stations. After being discovered by comedian Rose Marie, he became a regular for two Steve Allen shows, The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (1960) and The New Steve Allen Show (1961-62). From there, he landed a starring role as Ensign Charles Parker in McHale's Navy (1962-68).

Through the 1970s, he would also star in a slew of Disney family comedies, including The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975) and its 1979 sequel The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again; Gus (1976); and The Shaggy D.A. (1976).

But he is best known for starring in The Carol Burnett Show from 1975-78, earning nine Emmy nominations as a performer and writer, and winning four. He would later earn Emmys for guest appearances on Coach in 1996 and 30 Rock in 2008.

Conway is survived by his second wife, Charlene, and seven children by his first wife, Mary Anne Dalton.