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. The New York Times reviewer noted that his role was "especially well acted." Bain's other Broadway theatre credits include Candide, Advise and Consent, An Enemy of the People, Uncle Vanya, and On Borrowed Time. On Off Broadway, he appeared in the original run of Steambath. While doing stage work in New York City, Bain also found work on television appearing in the soap opera Dark Shadows as the town inkeeper, Mr. Wells, during season 1 and 2. His character was killed off by werewolf Chris Jennings (Don Briscoe).
In the early 1960s, Bain was one of the principal organizers of the Actors Federal Credit Union. In an article in the Credit Union Times, he recalled "...the effort grew out of the fact that, at least in the world of financial services, actors and other performers got no respect and, more importantly, no access to credit."
- "It was at a meeting of the Actors' Equity where a member stood up and asked why we didn't do something about actors not being able to get any credit, much less a mortgage or anything like that. Someone else stood up and echoed what the first member said, pointing out that the issue really was one of equity and actors didn't have any when it came to the banks."
He wrote:
- "Remember this: no share payment is too small. The main objective should be to establish a consistent habit of saving. In return, you can have the security of knowing that there is a place to turn to when you need a loan, a place where you will be met with dignity and respect, rather than suspicion and prejudice."
Bain served as the Credit Union's first president.
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. He is best known for his roles as Dr. Arthur Harmon, Bea Arthur's conservative nemesis, who married her best friend Vivian, in Maude (1972–78) and as Park Avenue millionaire Phillip Drummond in Diff'rent Strokes (1978–86). In 1996, Bain reprised his role of Phillip Drummond on the series finale of the Fresh Prince of Bel Air.
Read more about this topic: Conrad Bain
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“I seemed intent on making it as difficult for myself as possible to pursue my “male” career goal. I not only procrastinated endlessly, submitting my medical school application at the very last minute, but continued to crave a conventional female role even as I moved ahead with my “male” pursuits.”
—Margaret S. Mahler (1897–1985)
“What exacerbates the strain in the working class is the absence of money to pay for services they need, economic insecurity, poor daycare, and lack of dignity and boredom in each partner’s job. What exacerbates it in upper-middle class is the instability of paid help and the enormous demands of the career system in which both partners become willing believers. But the tug between traditional and egalitarian models of marriage runs from top to bottom of the class ladder.”
—Arlie Hochschild (20th century)
“Clearly, society has a tremendous stake in insisting on a woman’s natural fitness for the career of mother: the alternatives are all too expensive.”
—Ann Oakley (b. 1944)