Personal Life
Robert Conrad was married to Joan Kenlay from February 23, 1952 until their divorce in 1977; the couple had five children. His second marriage, to LaVelda Ione Fann, produced three children. After living in Bear Valley in the High Sierra, Conrad and Fann relocated to Thousand Oaks, California in 2006. Conrad and Fann divorced in 2010.
Conrad would be joined on a few of his TV shows by his sons, Shane and Christian, and his daughter Nancy. Another daughter, Joan, is a television producer. In a 2008 interview, Conrad described the late Chicago "made man" and burglar Michael Spilotro as his "best friend". Spilotro's slaying was featured in the movie Casino. He was involved with a volunteer organization in Bear Valley known as Bear Valley Search and Rescue, which later formed the basis for High Mountain Rangers.
On March 31, 2003, while on Highway 4 in the California Sierra foothills near his Alpine County home, Conrad drove his Jaguar over the center median and slammed head-on into a Subaru being driven by 26 year-old Kevin Burnett. Both men suffered serious injuries. He pleaded no contest, and he was convicted of drunk driving (his blood-alcohol level was 0.22 percent, nearly three times the legal limit). He was ordered to six months' house arrest, alcohol counseling, and five years probation.
A civil suit filed by Burnett was settled the following year for an undisclosed sum. In 2005, Kevin Burnett died at age 28 from perforated ulcers, which his family attributes to his difficult recovery from the crash. Conrad suffered severe nerve damage from the crash, which left his right side partially paralyzed.
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